Havnt seen this posted anywhere, checked back a few pages too, sorry if it was. Friday, my girl.....friend ( : D ) and I went to the river oaks theatre to watch Napoleon Dynamite, and even bought tickets to that movie, but at the last second decided to wait until the 5 pm showing for Garden State. I don't know why we changed our minds. To pass time before the movie started we went to play pool over at the bar close by ( Sherlocks??? never been... you have to walk up three flights of steps) anyhoo , back to the whole point of this thread.... Garden State was a terrific movie. I mean, I am an overanalytical guy who is sensitive to many things so beware car chase , gun fight fans... but I just can't believe Zach Braff was able to write and direct this movie AND film Scrubs. The start of the movie was kind of quick and sketchy, but after the first few minutes it picks up, especially after Natalie Portman enters. There was a lot of dry humor in this as well. Her "brother" is hilarious ! Especially how he came about... I dont want to give anything away but the ending is very fulfilling. It kind of went in the opposite direction of how the movie started.. I cant explain without giving away the details. Let me be clear in this though, Garden State isnt a earth moving, change your life movie. I honestly cant stand movies like that. It's a story of a guy who struggles and is just trying to get by.. I'd call it a "slice of life" film, but it's not. So why did I suggest that? I dont know. It's good. If you have a girl to take, it's even better because you can talk about it afterwards. Ciao!!!!
Oh, and Natalie Portman , as always, is amazing. When she laughs you laugh, when she cries you cry. She is not an actress but a puppetmaster pulling the (heart) strings of the audience. Uhhhhh... okay.
Bill Simmons (Sports Guy) is right. Every man in America has wanted Natalie Portman from the second she appeared on the screen in "Beautiful Girls."
Yea, I also saw Garden State last week. It is easily, for me one of the year's best movies. Plus the soundtrack was simply amazing. Too bad you didn't get a chance to see Napoleon Dynamite. This has been the funniest movie I have seen in the past 5 years. Actually I've seen it three times, and I'm a person who never does that. But back to Garden State, alot of my friends and myself could relate to Zach Braff's character, so it made it all the better.
Damn, I thought I was the only person that thought that. Anyways, im dying to see this movie after seeing the commcercial with him getting a sweater that was the same design as the wallpaper, I never laughed so hard at a movie commcercial before I saw that.
Basically just gotta agree with everyone else... this is a really excellent film. I highly recommend it.
Its not depressing, is it? My wife really wants to see a movie that makes her feel happy....we saw Hero on Friday, not a feel-good movie. (however we really dug Hero)
with a dead hamster! sorry, Danzel, its a feel good movie, not a sex romp. i was worried about her character (SPOILERS) having an epilectic seizure at the end of the film and dying, thank God Braff ended it on a positive note. what i like about the film was you could see Braff's character literally "waking up" from his numbness. in the beginning he is timid and everything happens around him. the scene in which he and his buddies play Spin the bottle on Ecstacy, he never moves off the couch for the whole night. one of my favorite characters was Jesse, played by a great actor I met in the city, his name is Armando Riesco. he was in 25th hour and i saw him in an off Broadway play, it was great to see him playing a meaty role.
Garden state is definitely not depressing. It's funny and sweet and the textbook example of a feel-good movie.
Ehhhhh... not exactly textbook. It has a happy enough ending, but it could be interpreted in a semi-negative light, depending on how you feel about being in the situations all those people were in. Very open to interpretation, but definitely not a total bummer or anything (like Hero).
Okay, maybe not completely textbook, but considering the entire journey and overcoming of emotional obstacles, I'd definitely consider it a "feel good movie".
One of the best films I've seen in a long time. My wife and I got to go out ("baby sitter") and she wanted to see something else. I talked her into seeing Garden State and we were both blown away. Much, much better than we expected. Go see it. BTW, it reminded me a lot of The Graduate. And that's a compliment.
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!DO NOT READ IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE MOVIE!!!!!!SPOILER SPOILER SPOILERSPOILER Did anyone think when he got on the plane at the end it was going to crash as if the start of the film was foretelling instead of just a dream ? A dumb guy like me bought that hook, line, and sinker. I was just so happy when he went back. OH YEAH !!!! The soundtrack is terrific !
My friend pissed me off by saying I always act like that at parties or where ever we go....plus I cant swim well either. I think that character is probably similar to a lot of people who will go watch the film. I just dont understand how a film like this doesnt make the money a film like the Exorcist 2 makes... Americans ( a lot, not all) are kind of dumb.
Yea, when I saw the movie with my friends they all pointed to me and said they just showed my life story on film. I could relate with Braff so well due to his battles with chemical dependency which causes his non-emotional, robot-like demeanor.
For those who have seen the movie and have seen anything regarding the show 'Punked', was it hard watching him (can't remember the main actor's name) in a semi-serious role or was it hard to take him seriously with his background on MTV? I'm actually some what interested about this movie because of the responses in this thread.
I dont think Zach Braff was ever in Punk'd. I think you are mistaking this movie for Without a Puddle. A waste of film role, from what I've heard. Dax from Punk'd is in that movie. Even though Braff is in the show Scrubs he was very believable in the movie. This film is better than 95% of those crap movies they put out these days.
OOOHHH! In the commercials, he looks just like Dax to me. I was mistaken then. Thanks for correcting me. I like Zach in Scrubs and, because of that, I am more interested to go see it now. Thanks for the correction again.
