Review of Wish I Was Here (2014) by Celine M — 24 Jul 2014

My expectations for another film as great as Garden State definitely hampered my experience of viewing Wish I Was Here for the first time. But I didn't completely fall in love with Garden State on the first viewing either. So maybe there's something more to this movie that'll grab me the next time I see it. Some subtle details I overlooked. Or maybe this movie really just isn't as good. The cinematography, editing, music, and production design all felt familiar to Braff's stylistic flourishes and personality, but the acting stood out this time as a bit amateurish and too whimsical. The performances from Braff's kids especially felt forced and flimsy. And Kate Hudson's harassing co-worker played by Michael Weston really didn't work for me. It was so obvious and poorly performed in a way too over-the-top manner by Weston as opposed to his much better performance in Garden State. Josh Gad was good as Braff's brother, but Jim Parsons lacked the depth of funny that he had in Garden State. Kate Hudson finally gave a performance that lives up to her potential for something as good as what she gave us in Almost Famous. Her character just didn't have that much screen time or development unfortunately.

As one of Braff's 46,520 Kickstarter backers who helped make this film possible, I can't help but feel a little let down with Wish I Was Here. But I have no regrets in helping Braff bring this story to the screen. I donated my $40 on Day 1 of his request and wanted to see what he could do 10 years after Garden State. I hope he takes a stab at another feature film sooner vs. later, and then we can have a better sense maybe of whether Garden State was a one-off fluke, or the masterful debut of a really talented actor/writer/director.