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Garden State (2004)
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He's just a fast-food knight.
I was holding back on watching this movie because it is written, directed and stars Zack Braff and it takes place in New Jersey. First of all I have become a fan of Braff because I have accepted the idea that he and I are a lot alike in personality. The characters he portrays on TV and in films are basically who I would get type-cast in playing because they are, for all intents and purposes, dorks. I have seen interviews with him and a Youtube vlog from him and I just can't help but think we aren't that different. Secondly, Jersey is rarely shown in a good light in "dramadies" (dramatic comedies. That is what I am calling this movie anyway.) There tends to be the stereotype of men having backwards baseball caps, hockey jerseys, acid wash jeans and mullets while the women have the same jeans with gaping wholes in the knees, denim jackets, big hair and they both have unrealistically thick east coast accents. Jersey has been pigeon-holed as the "New York light" and never given proper credence in my opinion. That being said, Braff treated it as though it was any other location with the same respect.
After receiving word from his father about his paraplegic mother passing away, Andrew Largeman must return to the house he grew up in for the first time in nine years. What should be a nice break from his mundane life in LA where he worked at an Asian themed restaurant and the occasional acting, he found it as a way to reconnect with his past and reconcile things in his life. He got help from Sam, a woman he met at the doctor's office who helped him open up and feel for the first time since childhood..
At one point in the movie Zach Braff says something along the lines of, "At one point the house I grew up in stopped being a home and was just an empty place." I could see what he meant by that and it really hit home for me. There were a lot of things that did that for me in this movie, especially his character meeting up with Sam and then having to go back to his life after spending 4 days with her (more or less.)
Zach Braff (LAST KISS) impressed me in this movie. Aside from being the aloof loveable dork in this movie, he showed something I was hoping to see from him; depth and emotion. He was way more than just being mildly clever/stupid and that helped the feel of the movie. Natalie Portman (V FOR VENDETTA) as Samantha started off as annoying and childish in the beginning of this movie, but slowly grew on me. She seemed so young when she is introduced and almost grew up during the course of the movie. Ian Holm (THE TREATMENT) as Gideon Largeman was good, but had little screen time. Peter Sarsgaard (YEAR OF THE DOG) as Mark seemed very sketchy, but you really come to find out what loyalty in friendship is all about when you see what his gift to Largeman is. This is one of the movies I have seen lately that pulled me in and really made me feel in touch with the story, as though I was living it. That is a truer testament to a movie to me.
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