MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Garden State’ sells a perfect imperfection
Grade: B+
Regardless of its predictable, ho-hum ending, “Garden State’s” peculiar brand of generation X dramedy, sets it apart from the lackluster, weight-less material usually pumped out of Hollywood.
It’s a sincere story about estranged relationships, awkward conversation pauses, the oddities of normalness and self discovery – done in a “Reality Bites” meets “The Royal Tenenbuams,” meets “Benny and June” sort of way.
First time writer/director Zack Braff, star of NBC’s Scrubs entered “Garden State” in the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year scoring a $4 million contract with distributor, Fox Searchlight Pictures.
Fox Searchlight, who also picked up the small-town ‘nerdsploitation’ film, “Napoleon Dynamite” for $3 million, got some tremendous return in its investments. Collectively, the two low budget gems are nearing $80 million and have been the hot topic films of the summer.
Unlike its sleeper-hit brother, “Dynamite,” “Garden State” actually has a plot and works on more than just token lines from an eccentric, self-hating character. It is primarily character driven but not in the lone-gunman way Dynamite is.
The main difference between the two odd, lead-role personalities of each film is that Andrew Largeman (Braff) of “Garden State” has a sufficient character arc and pivotal moments of positive change. In contrast “Dynamite’s” title character says ‘heck’ and ‘gosh’ a lot and the only changes he makes has to do with iron-on T-shirts.
Granted “Dynamite,” is a funny movie, but “Garden State” blows it away in substance.
Largeman, 26, an actor living in L.A. hasn’t seen his family in nine years. When his father calls about his mother’s death, Large (as his friends call him) decides to head back home to New Jersey for the funeral.
Drugged to the brim since the age of 10 with an assortment of anti-depressants prescribed to him by his psychiatrist father, Large feels completely out-of-touch with who he is and uses this homeward journey as a chance to find himself.
Often starring off into space in a comatose like trance, Large decides to accompany his trip home with a clear mind and for the first time in nine years stops popping pills.
Large’s homecoming is filled with happenstance run-ins with the old crowd he used to hang with; mostly dead beat, weekend drug users, trapped in life gridlock.
In the midst of these circumstantial contacts, Large meets Samantha, (Natalie Portman) an epileptic, ex-competitive ice skater who has a rather unique way of dealing with disobedient dogs. “Kick ‘um in the balls,” she tells Large when a random dog takes advantage of his leg. “It always works for me,” she says.
Samantha, who is a wreck in social situations, emotionally unstable and often firing-off comments without thinking them through appeals to Large in the purest, nobody’s-perfect sort of way. The two hit it off instantly and spend every possible minute together. Theirs is a kind of “Benny and June” love. A so wrong its right kind of love. Everything about it is so awkwardly imperfect. From the way they meet, to their first kiss-their interactions are so realistic and unkempt, the film is carried through their blundering chemistry. It’s this imperfection that makes “Garden State” work.
Dialogue in a contemporary, realistic film such as this can be the make or break point of the movie; often times shattering actuality with overly witty lines. But with “Garden State,” the wit is subtle and indirect. The character’s lines are delivered discreetly and slight; and although the characters come across sidesplitting silly at times their believable and honest.
The character’s oddities and quirks, which seem abundant don’t exaggerate their personalities. There’s the grave digging drug addicts, the millionaire silent-Velcro inventor and a family obsessed with pet hamsters.
If the ending stayed consistent with this film’s imperfection theme, “Garden State” would be near perfect. But with a completely out-of-pace and out-of-place ending, it certainly isn’t what it could be.
Jack’s Weekly DVD Recommendation: “In America”
“In America” is a heart warming tale of an immigrant Irish family searching for the American dream. The two children in the family played by real-life sisters Emma and Sarah Bolger completely steal the show as Ariel and Christy Sullivan. While trying to acclimate to American culture so to fit in with peers, Ariel, 7, who has just heard The Star Spangled Banner for the first time asks her 10-year-old sister Christy: “why can’t Jose see?”
“No, not Jose can you see,” replies Christy, “it’s ‘oh, say can you see.’
Jack Saunders is a movie reviewer for the Utah Statesman. He is a junior majoring in print journalism. Comments, or movies to review may be sent to jrsaunders@cc.usu.edu.