A quirky little film -- well worth seeing

Rating: 9/10 (24 October 2005)

I'm frankly astounded that so many people on IMDb have given "Garden State" this high a rating. It was not widely distributed, and it is decidedly not mainstream. It's difficult to describe as "fun" a film in which the principal character, played by Zach Braff (who is also the author/director), is addicted to anti-depressants; has the weirdest set of friends to be encountered anywhere this side of an asylum; has come home to bury his mother and eventually to have a heart-to-heart with his psychiatrist father; and who doesn't begin to recover his footing until he comes into contact with another strange little creature played by Natalie Portman and eventually falls in love with her and she with him. So I won't say the movie is "fun" or even "endearing," a phrase someone else applied. What I'd call it is an engaging, odd-angled take on the road to maturity taken by a damaged young man and a lovely, if slightly deranged young woman. Braff is very good as the young man and Natalie Portman is "adorable." I use that word advisedly because it suggests that she's kind of a soft and cuddly little doll who you could easily imagine loving if you were the age of Braff's character. I wish, however, that some director would take the trouble to teach Natalie Portman to enunciate clearly enough so that she can be understood at all times. She tends to swallow words and even whole sentences so that they are unintelligible. Her "adorableness" has made her a star and she will survive on her adorableness for a time; but if she hopes to become an actress some day, she needs to concentrate on the words she's supposed to be saying.