Review of Garden State (2004) by Hoops2448 — 11 Dec 2011
Garden State is charming, raw, emotional and even a little bit weird. However most of all, it is a brilliant love story of two incredibly damaged individuals as they learn what they really want from their lives over the space of a 3 day weekend. Garden State is the story of Andrew Largeman (Zach Braff), Large to his friends, who returns home from LA for his mothers funeral and reunites with his estranged father and his childhood friends. He also meets Sam (Natalie Portman) a beautiful girl who just so happens to be a compulsive liar.
Both Large and Sam go on some bizarre adventures along with Large's old friend Mark (Peter Sarsgaard).
The best part of Garden State is the feel of it. Its perfectly crafted tone is one of optimism despite the darkness of the subject matter. For a first time director and writer (Zach Braff too) its thoroughly impressive because the film never loses focus, it has a tender loving feel to it, with the soundtrack being perfectly suited to it.
The acting is great with Braff bringing out the best in himself and his other two leads. Portman gives a quirky yet nuanced portrayal of a girl who got dealt a bad hand in life while Sarsgaard gives his character gravitas while bringing out the loyalty of the character. It's really a special movie. Something well worth seeing even if you don't like romance movies because its so much more.
This review of Garden State (2004) was written by Hoops2448 on 11 Dec 2011.
Garden State has generally received very positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
