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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: 20th Century Fox
Salesrank: 4350
Released: December 28, 2004 |
| Our Price: $5.32 |
| Used Price: $1.98 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Writer/Director Zach Braff delivers "an Oscar®-worthy performance" (CBS-TV Chicago) opposite a "wacky and endearing" (Newsweek) Natalie Portman in this quirky, coming-of-age comedy. Twentysomething, emotionally detached Andrew "Large" Largeman (Braff) hasn’t been home to New Jersey in nine years. Now, as Large attempts to re-connect with a variety of odd acquaintances – including his father – he decides to risk getting high on the most potent and unpredictable drug there is…life! Co-starring Peter Sarsgaard, Ian Holm and Method Man, Garden State is "marvelous fun" (Rolling Stone)
Description of Garden State:
Zach Braff (from the TV show Scrubs) stars in his writing/directing debut, Garden State--normally a doomed act of hubris, but Braff pulls it off with unassuming charm. An emotionally numb actor in L.A., Andrew (Braff) comes back to New Jersey after nine years away for his mother's funeral. Andrew avoids his bitter father (Ian Holm, The Sweet Hereafter) and joins old friends (including the superb Peter Sarsgaard, Boys Don't Cry) in a round of parties. Along the way he meets a girl (Natalie Portman, Beautiful Girls) with demons of her own; bit by bit the two offer each other a little healing. Plotwise, Garden State is familiar stuff, a cross between The Graduate and a Meg Ryan movie, but Braff has an eye for goofy but resonant visual images, an ear for lively dialogue, and a great cast. The result is surprisingly fresh and funny. --Bret Fetzer
Garden State Reviews:
A shockingly forgettable state of mind... 
2009-11-04 - Continuing on in my `all things Sarsgaard' I'm actually getting to one of his greatest performances; yet sadly it is not in one of his better films.
Coming off as more of a gimmick than anything substantial, `Garden State' is one of those cult films with very rabid and devoted fans as well as very cruel and hatful detractors. I am one on the fence. I enjoy the film, and I remember when it came out I actually loved it and found it an amalgam of jovial fun; but as the years have gone by my adoration for the film has melted away to uncover a mere toleration of it. It remains one of those clever films that, over time, proves itself less clever and more pretentious and even superficial.
The film follows an actor who is distanced from his former life only to get thrust back in when his mother dies. Nine years removed from all he used to know he is know stuck in a town he wants to forget, with an angry father and aimless friends and an intriguing girl who holds the key to release his inner contentment.
I really like Zach Braff as an actor. In fact, even here I really like him. In fact, to be honest, the acting in this film is rather remarkable from all parties. The thing is, Zach doesn't understand how to make a complete story. He was so focused on creating a visually appealing film complete with `hip' music and clever tricks that he lost focus on creating a moving STORY. It is generic and serviceable, but it becomes overwhelmed by the visual impact of the film. I do wholly believe that some of the best films are built around beautifully constructed sequences of memorable events, even if those events are mere images that burrow themselves in our mind and keep us in rapt attention, but where `Garden State' fails to live up is in the area of cementing those `sequences' with heartfelt purpose.
The film winds up becoming forgettable. I remember the pool sequence (a sublime example of `beautifully constructed sequences') but I don't know why (thus proving that it wasn't a `memorable event').
Like I said, the acting is sublime. Natalie Portman was nominated for an Oscar this year for her work in `Closer'. Both her performances are vastly different and both are career highlights for her. She is stunning here as the hyper Sam, an intriguing character with flaws and demons of her own. To me though, this film belongs to Sarsgaard, who just shimmers in all sorts of glory as the aimlessly charismatic Mark. He steals every scene he is in and just proves that a great performance can help carry a rather shallow film. When you couple this with his breathtaking work in `Kinsey' it becomes clear that Sarsgaard was the man in 2004.
How Oscar eludes him still is baffling to me.
So, I can understand the draw for this film, but I strongly feel that the love for it is blind. It is visually compelling, and the acting is stellar, and that soundtrack is very, very likable; but the lack of substance becomes apparent ones the glossy veneer fades away and we are left with only half the movie we vaguely remember enjoying.
Touching while being real. 
2009-10-27 - Garden State was a movie I had not heard of when I first watched it. I found myself drawn in by real down to Earth characters with believe problems, like self esteem, death and changes in ones self. Zach Braff and Natalie Portman give performances that are hilarious and touching. You get the sadness in Sam's eyes and you can see how annoyed Andrew is with his friends that just haven't learned to grow up. I would recommend this movie to anyone who like a good story to add to their collection.
Coming to Life Story
2009-09-25 - Another reviewer called this a "coming of age" story. I think it's a coming-to-life story....something that some people never do, at any age. I've read the staggering statisics of the number of people on medication, legal and illegal in our fair land, and it's not a pretty fact. To reduce the film to it's basic message: it's better to face the pain of life--that's where the joy is. But it's so much more than a message film.
This is a deceptively simple story but it's so wise and so well told that it really touches the heart. I don't have TV so I didn't know who Zach Braff was. Now I do! I will look for his work in the future.
I won't re-tell the story because it's been told enough times here.
I just want to add my applause to the others'. Braff very skillfully walks the line between humour and pathos. His character has been likened to that of Dustin Hoffman in "The Graduate" but I think this is much better. The whole cast is super. It was great to see the wonderful Jean Smart in a small role, as the mom of his grave-robbing buddy. Ian Holm plays his father, an unsympathetic character, in a very human way that does give the viewer the glimpse of a fundamentally decent man who is as lost in the events of his life as everyone else.
Much of the joy and magic of the film goes to Natalie Portman who plays the wonderfully screwy epileptic girl, Sam, who helps the Braff character come back to life. The role is well written but it could have been butchered in the hands of a lesser actress. I just saw her in "The Other Boleyn Girl" where I didn't much like her, so I was amazed at how good she was here. Her naturalness really made the character touch your heart. This is the sign of a good actress and good direction.
There's more I could say but there are a lot of excellent reviews here. I predict this film will become a classic, 'cuz it has such enduring qualities of real humanity, humour, wisdom and warmth. My favorite scene: the family watching the video of Sam ice-skating in her alligator outfit---so dear!
Great movie
2009-08-07 - I love this movie. It is one of my top 5 movies. Its original, touching, and funny, and has 2 of my favorite actors in it (Zach Braff and Natalie Portman). I highly recommend this movie.
Life-Affirming
2009-07-06 - Garden State is a flat-out great film. I often talk about films with simple but altogether moving stories, like The Breakfast Club and Adventureland. This more than falls into that category. This is one of the finest first features from any director since Sam Mendes' American Beauty. I know that's saying alot, but Braff lives up to it. It's nothing less than a stroke of genius when a filmmaker so clearly defines himself with only one picture under his belt.
The film centers around the homecoming of Andrew Largeman, a second-rate Hollywood actor who's been over-medicated by his psychiatrist father since his pre-teen years when he was blamed for the crippling of his mother. Now his mother had died, and Andrew is coming back to Jersey for the first time in 9 years. He encounters high school friends, many of them trying to mooch off his "status" back in Hollywood(possibly a commentary on Braff's own personal life being a well known actor), but he also meet a few worthwhile people, one of them being Sam, a quirkier-than-thou girl(but one with a true soul that's uncovered not-too-late in the film) who seems to be the first person in Andrew's life that tries to dig deep into him to find his true spirit. She is MUCH more than a "love interest".
This film is truly about renewed life; Andrew gets rid of the drugs that has paralyzed his mind in the same way his mother's body was, he breathes true air for the first time, and finds that life might actually be worth living. That last message should be enough to warrant that you see this film if you haven't; it's inspired me to find the joy in life more than anything in recent memory. As for Zach Braff, I owe a huge debt to him; his next directorial project might be upcoming in 2 years(though it's been put on hold numerous times), but even if he never does direct another film, then I will still be eternally satisfied by this golden staple of independent film.
