The great thing about the Blind Spot project is you get to catch up on movies of great acclaim you missed out on when they were first released. Sometimes I end up loving the film in question and other times I’m left scratching my head at why the film is so beloved. This month’s movie, Garden State, I must admit is the latter experience. I was looking forward to it because I love quirky romances but it just did not do it for me at all.
Garden State is written and directed by Zach Braff and he plays a young man named Andrew who returns home to New Jersey (hence the title) to attend his Mother’s funeral. While there he becomes reacquainted with his childhood friends including Mark (Peter Sarsgaard), a perpetually high grave digger who steals jewelry from the people he buries. I know the playful shenanigans of the these stoners is supposed to be charming but I found it very boring and repetitive. I get it. They get high a lot. Let’s move on…
Then Andrew meets a young lady named Sam (Natalie Portman) who is a compulsive liar but only in the ways that make her adorable and precocious. I think her character literally created the term ‘manic pixie dream girl’. This would all be fine if they gave her anything interesting to do or say (ala Summer in 500 Days of Summer). Portman and Braff have decent chemistry but I just was not interested in their characters or anything that happened to them.
The best thing about Garden State is the soundtrack featuring bands like Cold Play, The Shins, Simon & Garfunkel and more. That is definitely worth checking out. The rest of the movie you can give a pass too. It was definitely not for me.
2 out of 10
Frown Worthy
The first time I watched this movie I think I actually kinda convinced myself I liked it because I thought I had to, it was that weird moment in one’s mid-teens where one is convinced that to grow up you must like stuff you’re SUPPOSED to like instead of, you know, making your own entertainment decisions (which I of course do now.) On re-watch it just really got annoying to me and I found it very self-indulgent and annoying and basically is one of many reasons I’m wary with ‘indie’ movies. Stuff like the ‘great void’ bit and the ‘song will change your life’ scene just seem so full of themselves to me, and I thought the one scene where they go the hotel involved sexual content that was unnecessary and I feel like if it wasn’t in an indie film that kept telling you it was smart, that scene would’ve been considered crass. So basically you’ll face no judgment for me on your dislike of this movie. lol
That’s true about the sensuality being very off putting. I must admit I fast forwarded through that because what’s the point of watching that garbage?
Yeah, I was actually thinking you would’ve probably understood my gripe with that. I feel like if it was a lowbrow teen comedy or a Hollywood blockbuster with a pointless moment like that everyone would’ve called it out but I feel like some people give it a pass here because it’s indie or something. lol
I probably wouldn’t like this film as I’m not a fan of Zach Braff. When I was at uni, my housemates were all big fans of Scrubs but I hated it!
You definitely wont like this then. It’s all of those irritating things with an indie pretentiousness