“whoa, it’s that dude from scrubs!” sadly, that my was first thought when i saw the trailer for this film a while back. that, and “whoa, this song [frou frou’s ‘let go’] is pretty good!”. garden state was a well-casted and beautifully shot film. zach braff is a funny guy. but looking past all that, i didn’t find much more.

the script itself, although unique and filled with nicely timed comic relief, didn’t captivate my interest wholly. i loved natalie portman’s character and zach braff’s story from his childhood was heart-wrenching, but besides those emotions that i felt for the two characters, there wasn’t much else. i felt that there was a moral to the film but no perceptible denouement to pique it or, at least, wrestle it out of the fibres of the story. it all got a little jumbled, and at the end i didn’t even know what i was cheering for anymore. go or stay. what difference would it make, really? for a movie that initially had its uniqueness going for it, the ending was rather bland and — here it comes again — cheesy.

“wanna see me tap-dance?”

in no way am i trying to detract from the greatness of the film. there are so many gorgeous scenes that i wish i could just capture and replay in my own life. zach braff definitely has an eye for filmmaking that a lot of the bigger-name directors and actors out there feign. he’s most certainly proven himself worthy of a title much larger than simply “that dude from scrubs.”