Review of Wish I Was Here (2014) by Kyle R — 30 Sep 2014

As it was director Zach Braff's follow up to his excellent directional debut Garden Staet, Wish I Was Here was a film I could not miss.

Unfortunately, the idea of the film proved to be a bit too good to be true. While the trailer for the film and the general premise suggested that it could be an insightful drama story with a touch of comedy to it, in actual fact the central flaw of the film was that it was largely unable to decide whether to be a comedy or a drama. While Zach Braff's prior effort Garden State was a drama film with a nice gentle atmosphere which allowed some light comedy to slip in, Wish I Was Here instead deviated back and forth between sentimentality and genuine comedy. It made the atmosphere of the film uneasy. It was constantly flipping back and forth between the two genres for the majority of the first act in Wish I Was Here and the two countered the effects of each other. It was difficult to take a lot of the drama seriously in Wish I Was Here because it felt like a cheap comedy while it was challenging to see the film as a comedy as it had so much sentimentality in it. As a whole, Wish I Was Here is largely a misfire with too much ambition instead of sensible structure. It was tonally inconsistent, and while it was able to settle down and establish its intended feel more in the second half, it didn't help the fact that the intro was weak. A bad start to a film is never good because it affects the rest of the experience, and Wish I Was Here is a prime example of that.

While the mood of the film eventually settles down, the structure of its does not. Wish I Was Here is packed with many plot dynamics which consist mainly of themes relating to broken dreams, running from reality, fatherhood, brotherhood, identity, adolesence, love, loss and the nature of our society's schooling system. In short, there is a surplus of concepts in Wish I Was Here which are way too much to handle all at once for both writer-director Zach Braff and the viewers. But worse, the film is packed with more clichesthan The Expendables 3. The Expendables 3 is one of the most predictable films of 2014, but it does so intentionally. With Wish I Was Here, the premise itself is generally familiar but the angle Zach Braff wants to take on it is different. Unfortunately in the process he doesn't make the material itself different and instead makes it all to closely familiar with countless other films. In actual fact, the entire film feels like a mix between Garden State and Scrubs. The Garden State element sees Zach Braff once again playing an unsuccesful actor who cannot find his identity or a purpose in life suddenly brought into the crisis involving his family as he is forced to come to terms with who he and everyone around him is. The Scrubs element is in reference to the way that he must confront his father's illness and spends extensive time at a hospital hammering out messages covered from multiple episodes all within the timeframe of one movie. So Wish I Was Here is less a collaboration of all Zach Braff's experiences and talents than it is just an amalgamation of his many works. This may please fans, but it certainly was not that pleasing to me. The thing about Wish I Was Here is that it has the best intentions, but the narrative feels like everything piles up and is connected by a generic plot underneat. There are some scenes which are touching and quite a few valid messages in the film as well as the fact that its spirit was meaningful, but as a whole it is overrided with cliches and sentimentality which had some decent moments but ended up tedious as a whole.

I found a lot of positive energy in Wish I Was Here, but after I walked away from it the only real message I felt was that Zach Braff was saying it is very difficult to be a father or a husband or even a son. It is difficult to have any close relationship in general, especially when you cannot find yourself. This is a sensible message which many viewers will be able to sympathise with, it just seems like it needs to have been told better. The screenplay in Wish I Was Here is largely the problem because it feeds the characters dialogue which ranges from being in the comic spirit of Scrubs to thge dramatic spirit of Garden State in its more melancholic scenes. This means that the characters end up bipolar and largely do not end up ready for just as well as the actors can act them out. The cast in the film are talented beyond the roles that the script supplies them, and they remain in tune with the atmosphere consistently. In terms of the film's actual atmosphere, even though the script requires it to deviate between sentimental drama and straight up comedy. I will admit that Zach Braff's direction was able to bring out the intended atmosphere at the right moments, even if it was uneasy. And he does make the film a stylish affair by giving it a lot of strong scenery and atmospheric cinematography. The soundtrack is rather repetitive though.

And although the material in the script is uneasy, the cast in Wish I Was Here do prove to be mostly talented.

Zach Braff's leading performance attains a mixed response. As the entire film centres around him as he experiences everything, he has a lot of a load to carry on his shoulders. Unfortunately, the role is a bit too much for him. He becomes likable easily and says all his comedically oriented lines with humourous charisma as well as having the correct dramatic spirit, but he has a lot to do and cannot get it all right. His role as actor, writer and director is a bit much for him in Wish I Was Here because he can only do so much for the character and hits the limit for it. His presence is a genial one, but the film is far from simplistic because it is jam packed with too much for even him to handle when he tackles the character. All in all, his performance is disjointed. It is good in scenes, but as a whole it never connects to the narrative because it is constantly changing in a stiff manner. He keeps up with the pace and engages with the other actors well, but all in all he delivers an effort which is half decent at best.

Joey King is good in Wish I Was Here. Her role is a thin one, but she is able to transcend it because she injects pure emotion into the part which is just excellent. It is easy to sympathise with her the entire time because she grips the role with surprising strength and passion. She makes a truly compelling effort and channels her inner emotions into the physicality of her role really well which means she passes on surface level and beyond. Joey King's role in Wish I Was Here is pivotal, and it stands out as the most talented of the cast.

Kate Hudson is likable in her role, but her performance is a fairly routine one which demands nothing from her. There is little she can put in the role, but even then she does nothing but say all her words with a single tone of voice and the one facial expression. She would need a bigger role to make an impact on the story, but even in her small part she just fails to illuminate any sort of acting charisma that once scored her an Academy Award nomination. Kate Hudson is forgettable in Wish I Was Here, and while she could have at least brought something to her small role, she chose to do otherwise.

Pierce Gagnon is ok. The problem is that his role is a repetitive and thinly sketched juvenile archetype, and considering that the actor is merely 9 years old there is only so much he can do. The problem is that the role is a weak one, but the thing is that he gets it right. What he brings to the part is exactly what is required which means that he has some cringe-worthy moments. Essentially, any flaw in Pierce Gagnon's role comes from the character and not from his performance because he tries hard and succeeds mostly.

Mandy Patinkin is a good supporting presence. The chemistry he shares with Zach Braff is nice because it does feel genuinely like a father son relationship, and the kind of dynamics that draw from this end up being a touching sentiment. Mandy Patinkin makes a compelling character out of his role which makes the dramatic spirit of the story a lot better, and his line delivery is simple yet effective.

Donald Faison's cameo is excellent for anyone who is a fan of Scrubs, Jim Parson's small role is a really nice touch and Leslie David Baker is good to see on board.

But despite best intentions and a good cast, Wish I Was Here turns into an overly familiar and cliche film which walks the line between comedy and drama poorly and is left with an inconsistent atmosphere which fails to amount to the quality of Garden State.