Review of Garden State (2004) by Blake P — 22 Sep 2015

The years haven't been so kind to 2004 indie wunderkind "Garden State". While it was a gargantuan success upon release (it made back its budget a nauseating amount of times, got a Grammy for its soundtrack, and defined the twee indie romantic drama for a generation), critics, along with the public, have decided that it wasn't so good after all, preferring to be believe that it's actually a sickening, uninspired piece of whining hipster clichés. If it starred Zooey Deschanel instead of Natalie Portman, backlash prone audiences might roll their eyes with sarcastically lethal force.

Maybe it's the fact that I was born too late to consider it a masterpiece during its prime shelf life or maybe it's because I don't find quirky indie sparkle to be all too annoying unless whimsy becomes cloying - but I liked "Garden State", now-dated Coldplay songs, Manic Pixie Dream Girl-ness and all. I can understand the newfound hate - its tropes have become paralyzingly tired ever since Michael Cera's career died - but one has to remember that things weren't all cutely kooky before it crash landed into theaters, unless you count Hal Ashby's most eccentric moments of the 1970s. It stands as a likable product of the times, aged in its soundtrack but not in its emotional expression.

Writer/director Zach Braff, making his filmmaking debut, stars as Andrew Largeman, an immensely depressed 20-something living in Los Angeles in pursuit of a currently fledgling acting career. (His only screen credit consists of a retarded football player in a lackluster TV-movie). His heavily medicated world is rocked when his father (Ian Holm) brings news that his paraplegic mother has died, sending him back to New Jersey after nine years of intentionally staying far away from it. Emotionally numb, Andrew catches up with old friends with the enthusiasm of a cartoon donkey; he can hardly wait to escape his past once again and continue living miserably alone.

That all changes when he unintentionally meets Sam (Natalie Portman), an exuberant young woman with a habit of pathologically lying. With a charmingly outlandish outlook on life, she may be the bright spot needed to dig Andrew out of the pitch black well he's been living in for his entire existence; their mutual idiosyncrasies could repair themselves with a plentiful serving of cinematic love.

"Garden State" isn't perfect - it drifts back and forth between offbeat humor and sad-sack drama with a questionably twee exterior - but it has moments of relatable brilliance; thank God those moments are frequent instead of rare. Braff's sensitive but touchingly personal writing is vulnerable without being wimpy, funny without being crass; his direction, with just enough visual flair, travels along with impressive perceptiveness. His soundtrack has, in no doubt, aged, but we can't imagine a different sort of music playing as the characters reach thousands of mini-climaxes and discover themselves after years of believing the world had given up on them.

And while it may be Braff's vanity project, his acting is not what makes "Garden State" such an immediately likable film - its biggest asset is Portman, who brings a vivacious energy needed to make both Braff's Andrew, and the film's, mood go from blaring gloominess to infectious hope. She is lovable when everything else threatens to be a major downer. So say what you will about "Garden State": it works; the dusty soundtrack is as fitting as the inclusion of Portman's archetypal Manic Pixie Dream Girl. The backlash makes a certain sort of sense, but it's much too harsh when we live in a world that Iggy Azalea also inhabits. Don't run away in fear of incurring the wrath of Tumblr users - see this early-2000s classic. It'll be worth it.