Garden State (2003) 7/10

Starring : Zach Braff, Natalie Portman, Ian Holm, Peter Sarsgaard, Jackie Hoffman, Jean Smart
Director : Zach Braff
Running Time : 99 mins

Aspiring actor Andrew Largeman (Braff) returns to his home town in New Jersey to attend his mother’s funeral and, faced once again with his controlling father (Holm), decides to lay off the drugs he’s been prescribed since childhood and starts to realise that his life isn’t what he imagined it to be, and starts to change his attitude when he meets a similarly troubled young woman named Sam (Portman).

This was an odd little movie, but still quite enjoyable. Some of the characters didn’t really get fleshed out enough for my liking, but the main two characters, Braff and Portman, were likeable in a strange way. The ending was a little too Hollywood for my liking, but the overall effect was pleasant enough and made for an entertaining, though subdued, 90 minutes.

You’ll like this if you liked : Little Miss Sunshine