Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4855 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-05-02
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 98 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
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) and joins old friends (including the superb Peter Sarsgaard) in a round of parties. Along the way he meets a girl (Natalie Portman) 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, Amazon.com

Synopsis
Andrew 'Large' Largeman (Zach Braff of TV's Scrubs) is returning home to New Jersey for the first time in nine years to attend his mother's funeral. A struggling actor in Los Angeles, he's been living under clouds of medication prescribed by his psychiatrist father (Ian Holm). After drifting through the funeral with the same emotional numbness he's felt for years, he reconnects with old friends Mark (Peter Sarsgaard), a gravedigger, and Albert (Denis O'Hare), a millionaire who invented noiseless Velcro. In a doctor's office, he meets ebullient Sam (Natalie Portman), an epileptic whose lust for life inspires Andrew to feel things that his medication long denied him. Over four days, he develops feelings for Sam he didn't know he was capable of, and faces up to the resentment his father holds toward him about an accident that happened long ago. Writer, director, and star Zach Braff makes his debut feature with this off-kilter, unusually smart, self-assured coming-of-age film. GARDEN STATE has a knack for sharp-edged humour, character quirks, and finding lovely imagery within the mundaneness of the suburbs. These things combined are abundant evidence to indicate that Braff's filmmaking future is filled with limitless promise.

Customer Reviews

and then you realise you're smiling...
This film suprised me. I went into it knowing very little about the story but thinking it may be interesting to see what Zach Braff had to offer behind the camera (usually a good way of seeing how their mind works). As a consequence of this I starting watching it with a blank mind and no pre-conceived ideas. In retrospect, I think this may have been what they were aiming for as I was in pretty much the same mental state as Andrew (Zach Braff) is in the film - a numb zone where the world seems to be going faster than him, he feels he is always one step behind but doesn't have the energy to get out of the rut. The fact that his psychiatrist father (Ian Holm, I am a big fan!) is the one who's been dosing him all through his childhood is a nice twist and adds an interesting, if slightly underused, subplot.

As the film progresses over the last couple of days before Andrew takes off for pastures new, he stops his meds and this is where the direction and acting come into their own. It would be too easy to ram that fact down the viewers throats, but the very gradual re-awakening of Andrews senses and the bizarre journey he takes to find a suprise present for him with his girlfriend (a very talented Natalie Portman - George Lucas, you should be ashamed) and old friend (an equally excellent Peter Sarsgaard), which include perfectly timed comic moments which you can recognize from your own experiences (the guy in the hardware store anyone?) are dealt with at a strolling pace. Sometimes this pace of enlightenment is difficult to get right, but as the film wends its way from one well shot scene to another, you realize that you've been sucked in on his mental and physical trip and that you are really enjoying the ride. His journey really ends 15 minutes before the end of running time with a moment of release on the edge of a bottomless abyss (it makes sense in the film, honestly) and as I watched this, I realized that I was smiling a big, deep, warm smile. Films like this don't come along too often and when then do they blind-side you in all the right ways. Excellent acting and direction all round, so get yourself a big cup of tea, some chocolate digestives, then settle back, watch and enjoy!

"You are like so freaked out right now"
Since we watched "Leon - The Professional", my wife and I have been dazzled by the performances of Natalie Portman, and continued picking up several movies just because she performed in them. When weighing whether or not to try this film, I knew that it was not the kind of story I liked, but decided to give it a chance anyway because Portman was starring. The overall result was not bad at all, since even though I did not feel strongly identified with the characters, I got to see an interesting story that is mostly driven by its well-written dialogues.

Andrew (Zach Braff) left his parents' house several years ago and traveled to the other side of the country to establish himself in Los Angeles and start an acting career. He was relatively successful at first, but things cooled down and now he is working as a waiter in a Vietnamese restaurant. He has been taking medication for his depression for a long time and lives a vacuous existence. Everything is about to change though, because his father, with whom he has not talked in a while, calls him to reveal that Andrew's mother died. Now he has to go back home to New Jersey and face the world he left behind, including his friends and family. In the process, he meets Sam (Portman) who has issues of her own; but the relationship that begins delivers a thoughtful view of what it feels like to be lost in life when one becomes an adult, and how sometimes we need to shake things up to start moving forward again.

Zach Braff undoubtedly meets expectations in his debut as a director and writer, with an engaging script and a well-filmed movie. His performance as Andrew is inspired and completely believable; but he is assisted in this aspect by the excellent Natalie Portman, who has an uncanny ability to portray extroverted girls that speak their mind. These two guys are complemented by an array of colorful characters that add spice to this film. The result is a production that is filled with funny situations and that has a considerable degree of emotions involved. Even though it was not a film that touched me, I can appreciate its quality, therefore I recommend it.

Great debut film from Braff
This is a great film, especially considering it's Braff's first attempt at writing and direction. It has a slightly melancholic undertone to it which tends to make the relationships and storyline that little bit more poignant. It also has some funny laugh out loud moments, so you get a good mix of emotions in the one film. What's more it has one of the best soundtracks I've heard in a film for ages. Well worth giving a go!