Stars: Zach Braff, Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Ian Holm, Jean Smart

Director: Zach Braff

Summary: Andrew 'Large' Largeman is blamed by his father for the freak accident which left his mother a paraplegic. Leaving his hometown of New Jersey, Large isolates himself from the world and drifts in Los Angeles. When he hears of his mother's death, however, he is forced to return to the 'Garden State' and reconsider his own life...

Andrew 'Large' Largeman (Zach Braff of TV's Scrubs) is returning home to New Jersey for the first time in nine years to attend his mother's funeral. A struggling actor in Los Angeles, he's been living under clouds of medication prescribed by his psychiatrist father (Ian Holm). After drifting through the funeral with the same emotional numbness he's felt for years, he reconnects with old friends Mark (Peter Sarsgaard), a gravedigger, and Albert (Denis O'Hare), a millionaire who invented noiseless Velcro. In a doctor's office, he meets ebullient Sam (Natalie Portman), an epileptic whose lust for life inspires Andrew to feel things that his medication long denied him. Over four days, he develops feelings for Sam he didn't know he was capable of, and faces up to the resentment his father holds toward him about an accident that happened long ago. Writer, director, and star Zach Braff makes his debut feature with this off-kilter, unusually smart, self-assured coming-of-age film. GARDEN STATE has a knack for sharp-edged humour, character quirks, and finding lovely imagery within the mundaneness of the suburbs. These things combined are abundant evidence to indicate that Braff's filmmaking future is filled with limitless promise.

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Reviewed by: cooljimbop
Posted on October 8, 2005 9:40 AM

Not as random as Scrubs, Zach Braff still maintains his warm appeal in this movie. Often a different brand of humour to his previous work, this wanders between subtle humour and laugh out loud moments, with poignant moments along the way. If you like films like Lost in Translation or Eternal Sunshine I recommend this. At it's heart this is a feel good movie and the story is engaging with some brilliant characters. Some may complain this is nothing but a prestige movie but give it a chance and you will be pleased.

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Aspect Ratio:	2.35 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Feature Commentary By Zach Braff And Actor Natalie Portman, Feature Commentary By Zach Braff And Lawrence Sher Also Myron Kerstein And Judy Becker, Deleted Scenes With Optional Commentary, Making Of Garden State Featurette, Out Takes And Bloopers, Soundtrack P
Subtitles:	English
Year:	2004
Release Date:	May 2, 2005
Runtime:	109 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	B E D 881620
Keywords:	General, State, Garden, Drama
Genre:	Drama