A Great Portrait of Mid-Twenties Life

Rating: 7/10 (8 September 2004)

This is a sweet little movie and it captures the modern mid-twenties life perfectly. This is probably because it was written and directed by a guy who is in his mid-twenties: Zach Braff. He's the weird character J.D. "Scrubs," a great television show. The movie does a lot of things right: it explores how one childhood trauma can ruin your life, how you easily can become disillusioned with your parents (or embarrassed by them), and how there is a desire to get away from everything in your life - be it with drugs, moving to another state, or ignoring what bothers you most. I can identify with most of it - but that doesn't mean that I really wanted to watch it. There are some little funny vignettes but they are far apart. Portman is at her best though here - she definitely is the highlight of the movie and without her I don't know if I could have bared to watch. It was good BUT I thought the ending was a bit cliché and it just didn't seem to fit for me - maybe because it just didn't match some of the other realism in the film.