Garden State: A state of mind.

Rating: Null/10 (3 July 2005)

This is a love story done right. A quiet little film that carries a substantial emotional punch, Braff is excellent as s drifting, aimless, 20 something with a huge amount of emotional baggage. Portman is the quirky, perky, flirty love interest who lights up every scene like a torch in the dark.
Braff's character, Andrew Largeman, is an understated, over medicated, and depressed career failure. He's drifting, and one would think nearly suicidal. Portman, an epileptic with a tendency to chronic lying, at least has a means to center herself. When things start getting difficult, she does something unique. Anything unique. And she's very good at it. There's a lesson here for all of us.
I can't help but compare this to "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." For all it's brilliance, "Spotless Mind" was very difficult to watch. "Garden State" deals with similar issues, and makes them highly watchable in the process.
The film looks pretty depressing at first, but Portman changes everything for Andrew and for us. Every once in a while, it's important to think about who you are, who you love, and why. It's an absolute pleasure to watch it happen here. The payoff for the viewer is realize that it may be time to take stock of his or her own life. As Largeman learns, this is it; this is life. Live it, don't observe it.
If there's a flaw here (and there almost always is at least one), it's the ending. I won't give it away, but suffice it to say that they were one more rewrite away from brilliance. That doesn't mean they didn't get 98% of this story dead on. They did.