User Reviews

Garden State, written and directed by Zach Braff, is a film that captivates through its simplicity and sincerity, without relying on action or a complex plot. It follows 26-year-old Andrew Largeman, emotionally numb due to medication, who returns to his hometown after his mother’s death and reconnects with his best friend Mark and meets Samantha, sparking a journey of self-discovery. The film excels through its authentic characters and performances, notably Zach Braff and Natalie Portman, supported by a strong secondary cast. Enhanced by a perfectly curated soundtrack, beautiful cinematography, and thoughtful lighting, the film’s quiet moments and heartfelt ending, where Andrew chooses to embrace life, make it a deeply moving and transformative cinematic experience.

It’s what you expect from a low budget romantic comedy. Good acting, good story. Feels authentic.

The Garden State offers a quirky and fantastic movie that I recommend. The movie is very sad at certain points, and the soundtrack is absolutely amazing. It is heartfelt and personal, with great performances, especially by Natalie Portman and Zach Braff. The theme is great, focusing on finding meaning in the small things in life. The dialogue is humorous and authentic, and the script is well-written. The cinematography captures a sense of melancholy. Ultimately, it’s a touching and memorable journey worth taking.

Garden State is arguably a little overly sentimental at times but it's still an effective and enjoyable romantic comedy.

Quirky, bittersweet, and full of wry humor, Garden State is an engaging small drama. Some lovely composed shots and nice touches. Braff and Portman give great performances.

Probably the best coming of age film since The Graduate. Toal control equals total success... Well for Braff's case, in this instance, I should say.

Happy Reunions. Garden State Braff's debut directorial of a major motion picture may not be a home run, but is surely a surprising packet of delight that pleads your to keep a broad smile plastered throughout this sweet mellow journey. Arguably an introvert, revisiting his hometown that mends the broken things, is not a fresh take on drama, but the rudimentary process no matter how gullible, elevates the theme to a bright sunny day. The shady past and social conflicts between friends and family remains mediocre throughout the course, the only overwhelmed experienced to this stay, is Portman in her chirpy persona that keeps her emotions on the surface. Using his strength of the star cast to his best, Braff keeps her on the lead no matter with whom the screen is being shared. The suave and soothing chemistry of theirs along with smart funny conversation keeps arguing back to all of our complaints. After which, the textbook structure and the overridden concept barely matters, Braff makes sure you too, as an audience, communicate with the gravitas of leaving your hometown. Braff as a performer suits in this low lazy boy costume fabricated for humor with aces held in his pocket. Portman, the trump card of this low budget drama soars above all, **** the expectations and setting a new benchmark on a rom-com genre for her. The tightly packed screenplay that flows smoothly in its first act is jaggedly on mark that leaves a long lasting impression, from a hip and happening party to the first meeting with Portman's, each tiny detail factors in majorly on storytelling. Addition to that, the humor never feels stretching the case or even an extra bit of the narration, it all feels like an essential part of the act. Garden State is a merry state, this teenage flick raises the bar to survive as an independent family drama.

Garden State gets better each time I rewatch this melancholic, whimsical film. Zack Braff exhibits a fine ability to stretch his range of character acting. Natalie Portman complements Braff's acting just in a comfortably, organic tone that works perfectly. The main success of this movie, though, is simply the story. Not too dark, not too unreasonable or difficult to suspend disbelief. It's warm-hearted and taps on the funny bone without falling into the fast-food rom-com genre. Tenderness is felt despite, or maybe in-spite of Zach's character existing in a world of slowly fading numbness [after nine years] and stagnation/stillness in an otherwise fast flowing world. Puts me in the mind of Wristcutters. Thoroughly enjoyed Garden State. For those rating this film a 'one' it must be exhaustingly, horribly miserable being that negative of an being. One vital element about writing a review: Be objective and keep your disdain for anything outside of your personal taste away from your review.

One of the worst films I've ever seen. It lacks any conscious effort whatsoever, with simple "moments" to disguise the apparent lack of original ideas. The story is trite and boring, with the worst version of a protagonist and a Manic Pixie Dream Girl as a romantic interest. The acting is poor, and no one seems genuinely interested. The music selections and the directing is good, not perfect but good enough for an independent film. Everything else falls short.

One of the most beatuiful movies I know. The contrast from the rather is really great, the characters are strong and believable. I fell in love with Nathalie Portman immediately because she really turns the overall mood of the movie around.

I wasn't even sure if I should write this review as I struggled to come up with words to describe it. On the one hand there are some good things about it, quality moments where you really empathise with Zach Braff's character and his feelings. The movie really well captures the numbness of depression. And on the opposite spectrum I really liked Natalie Portman's character as she brought a lot of energy to it. There are some funny scenes and interesting characters but after a while the quirkiness becomes old and stale. Just being random doesn't make it funny. But there is a profound emptiness that comes upon me when I think about the Garden State. It left me feeling nothing, as if I had forgotten half the film and now struggled to remember what was good about it. The film's better moments don't come together to a satisfying whole and the plot just feels unfinished. Overall this is by no means a bad film. But it's one of those movies that you watch when there is nothing better on. It's satisfying as long as you don't expect too much.

Visually, the movie fantastic. It moves in a really lovely way. The characters are interesting, and while not typical in movies, they are people I have known. I appreciate this greatly. I love the story and the adventures. I love the writing. I think the moments of terror and sadness are placed well, as are the absurd and silly. The soundtrack is a winner overall. I think that it's a trendy, but solid. Life is a mix of happy and sad, big and little issues. I do think this is a sort of "Graduate" sort of move, and people of this age are kinda all about themselves. That's okay. This is about someone literally waking up. He is coming to grips with his own feelings and dealing with them ...himself. I like that he has to trust other people in the process. That is really what this movie is centered upon.

A lot of people would say that this movie is their favorite. For me, this movie is neither perfect nor okay, it was brilliant. It's no wonder why this movie received cult following. The humor of the movie is funny and charming in its own way without being forced nor trying too hard to be funny. It attributes to Zach Braff's sense of humor in the script. The direction is so top-notch for a debut directorial film and the cinematography is so beautiful in this movie. It took my breathe away. The cast performances from Zach Braff and Natelie Portman were charming and the characters they played are so relatable that you want to be friends with them. I thought the movie had no plot until the end of the movie. The themes in the movie and the message the movie wanted to deliver were very thought-provoking for a comedy-drama movie. I guess this might be the reason why this movie is so loved by many people. I think the best part of this movie was the soundtrack. The songs played during the movie were excellent and I loved how "Don't Panic" by Coldplay and "The Only Living Boy in New York" by Simon & Garfunkel is played. Zach Braff has good music taste. While I wouldn't consider this as one of my top favorite movies I have seen, Garden State is an excellent movie from Zach Braff that I want to see it again.

One of the smartest, perceptive dramas of the last decade. The characters are well developed, and the movie has a totally feel from any other movie. Garden State is one of Natalie Portman's best movies.

As someone who had the chance to meet Zach Braff and live near where he grew up, I connected with this movie because I felt like the storyline could happen to someone like me. But besides my sentiments, this was a very good movie on its own, the performances are great, and its message about adulthood shines bright.

This movie isn't the funniest, the most touching, or the most realistic, yet a lovely and rememberable mixture of all three. I thought that some of the scenes, especially the first scene at the house of Natalie Portman's character, were over-the-top and just didn't hit my sense of humor, but that's fine since the ones that made me smile were definitely predominant. Zach Braff proves to not only have a talent for acting, but also writing and directing and until he finally releases a new movie, we'll have to content ourselves with watching Garden State over and over again something that I am very keen on doing.

Extremely satisfying and depressingly hilarious, Garden State is one of the best comedy dramas ever and gives amazing performances for Natalie Portman and Zach Braff.

What an interesting movie this is. It shows how life is too short to worry about the small things, and be stuck with no sense of direction. Among other lessons that could be learned, the main lesson is emphasized by the main characters major development throughout the movie. Good film, worth seeing.

Zach Braff directs and stars in the 2004 dramedy "Garden State". The movie follows the story of a a 26-year-old actor/waiter (Braff) who returns to his hometown in New Jersey after his mother dies. First off, for a first-time attempt at directing a film, Zach Braff does an incredible job. I found the majority of this film to be entertaining. One of the best aspects of the film, is its really clever screenplay written, of course, by Braff. It features a lot of real witty and endearing dialogue between characters. Which brings me to another great aspect of the film - the performances. I found pretty much every performance in the film to be very very well done. Braff does a really great job of depicting what a person would be like if they've been taking lithium carbonate for most of their life. I also found Natalie Portman's portrayal of Sam to be adorable. Whenever her and Braff are interacting on screen their chemistry is just palpable. The film also features a very great licensed soundtrack. In the end, I found Zach Braff's "Garden State" to be a very intelligent romantic comedy that doubles as a very effective mood piece.

Such acclaim and gushing on this movie, I had to watch it. And, "quirky" story telling is a good way to describe the rather macabre themes. Which makes light of the subject, which may be good, or bad. I found the movie worth a few chuckles but found myself more so trying to understand this movie was going. ANd, after watching it I am still not sure what the point was other than "accepting" or "moving on." I don't think I will keep it in my movie collection tho.' And if you don't like Zach's "acting" style (i.e. Scrubs) you won't much like this flick either.

simply a must see movie, zach braffs acting is phenominal, the general feel and brilliant timing of the movie makes it a movie you must see before you die, simply awesome.

Garden State is charming, raw, emotional and even a little bit weird. However most of all, it is a brilliant love story of two incredibly damaged individuals as they learn what they really want from their lives over the space of a 3 day weekend. Garden State is the story of Andrew Largeman (Zach Braff), Large to his friends, who returns home from LA for his mothers funeral and reunites with his estranged father and his childhood friends. He also meets Sam (Natalie Portman) a beautiful girl who just so happens to be a compulsive liar. Both Large and Sam go on some bizarre adventures along with Large's old friend Mark (Peter Sarsgaard) The best part of Garden State is the feel of it. Its perfectly crafted tone is one of optimism despite the darkness of the subject matter. For a first time director and writer (Zach Braff too) its thoroughly impressive because the film never loses focus, it has a tender loving feel to it, with the soundtrack being perfectly suited to it. The acting is great with Braff bringing out the best in himself and his other two leads. Portman gives a quirky yet nuanced portrayal **** who got dealt a bad hand in life while Sarsgaard gives his character gravitas while bringing out the loyalty of the character. It's really a special movie. Something well worth seeing even if you don't like romance movies because its so much more.

The best, and possibly, the only way to accurately describe Garden State is "cheerfully melancholic". That is to say it deals with some really depressing issues that have a profound impact on numerous people's lives, but in a positive, matter-of-fact way. It's well written, in a naturalistic and believable sort of style, and well-directed by Zach Braff, who also chose the music for the excellent soundtrack. In short, Braff has proved himself to be an extremely versatile talent. Performance-wise, Natalie Portman impresses, playing a quirky character with a capital Q, as does Peter Sarsgaard's heavily layered and complex performance, and Ian Holm, who, while not on screen for long, stands out as an extremely believable estranged father to Braff's Andrew Largeman. The film is also extremely funny, demonstrating a masterclass in deadpan comedy. Garden State is about life, living in the moment and dealing with the various crises that you encounter. You'll find yourself in a constant flux between laughter and weeping - the film expertly judges the mood of the moment, and touches the very core of your being. It's a film about humanity, and how life often isn't all it's cracked up to be. But it's the only life you'll ever have, so you'd better enjoy it while it lasts. It's not a particularly happy film, but it's often profound, and, rarely for what is essentially (and admittedly extremely dark) rom-com, it makes you think.

Garden State is a remarkably satisfying, pleasingly original take on familiar territory. Some will say it's merely The Graduate done for this generation. Fortunately, many will recognize that as a pro.

A great movie, I recommend this to almost anyone. Zach does a good job and so does Natalie. The movie introduced me to great music and I hold it in high regard for that and the fact that it's a great film all around.

Garden State is a great movie. Natalie Portman rocks! This movie is perfect for the sociology student. Don't miss it. It's one of Natalie Portman's best movies.