Written, directed and starred in by Zach Braff, star of NBC new doctor comedy "Scrubs," "Garden State" focuses on Andrew Largeman, an overly medicated struggling actor who returns to his suburban-hell New Jersey hometown after an absence of nine years in order to attend his mother's funeral. While he is home, he attempts to heal a troubled relationship with his father/psychiatrist, meets up with some old buddies-some of whom have fared better than others over the years-and even manages to fall in love.
I'm not going to lie-in the first five minutes of the movie, I thought I was going to hate it. The film opens with scenes of an impending plane crash and the slow-motion terror among its passengers, save for a stoic Largeman. A few moments later, Largeman opens his medicine cabinet, which resembles Andy Warhol's Campbell's soup cans, only with little prescription bottles. Having only known his character for five minutes, I didn't know whether to laugh or to deem this film a big downer.
Despite these few uneventful moments-skating between poignancy and humor in an edgy yet subtle way has never been an easy task-"Garden State" comes across as a confident directorial debut for Braff. Those familiar with Braff's character on "Scrubs" will recognize Andrew Largeman's ability to act as though the hilarious chaos that surrounds him is completely commonplace, as in one of the film's best moments of comic relief, where he enjoys a morning-after breakfast of Lucky Charms with his grave-digger friend (Mark Saarsgard), his friend's stoner mom and an armor-clad fellow who is into medieval reenactment. This film's particular brand of somewhat satirical, edgy humor is doubtlessly one of its most valuable assets.
It could be argued that Braff cast himself as Largeman merely for the opportunity to kiss Natalie Portman, who does an excellent job as Samantha, his love interest. Kooky, motor-mouthed and a bit trapped in her childhood, she helps Largeman reconnect with his emotions. Though she skirts the line between annoying and endearing at times, she is just the breath of fresh air needed by the morose Largeman, to say nothing of the audience.
The film's tone changes as the love relationship between Largeman and Samantha blossoms. It becomes clear that "Garden State" is more of a date movie-though hardly a run-of-the-mill one-than it seems at first glance.
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this film is that though its plot includes several movie cliches-e.g., The Young Man Searching for Himself, The Quirky/Unstable Love Interest, the Stoner Best Friend and even The Airport Reunion Scene-it expertly avoids being trite. A fresh, cool and eccentric semi-comedy that channels "The Graduate," both sharply poignant and hilarious, "Garden State" is a semi-comedy with heart that even you out-of-towners will appreciate.