Derivative Cliché' Fest

Rating: 4/10 (4 January 2005)

I was with this film for the first 25 minutes before the depressing reality that it was nothing but another "slacker Sundance young director" clone sank in. Zack Braff--from SCRUBS, the only sitcom that I watch--stars, writes & directs this painfully derivative flick about a bunch of aimless & quirky twentysomethings who stumble aimlessly through life while treacly awful alternative folk music is strummed & bleated from the soundtrack. Natalie Portman seems to be channeling her former costar Jar Jar Binks as the most annoying person in New Jersey (& NJ is a state that produced both Joe Piscopo & Jon Bon Jovi) while Peter Sarsgaard barely maintains his dignity in the well worn cliché of the wise, quick witted & jaded loser/stoner.
How many clinches can you jam into one movie? I stopped counting at 18 but that's only because I picked up a magazine & began reading it during the film's last 10 minutes. I just didn't care anymore what happened to these cartoon characters & only left the movie on in the vain hope that there would be another scene with Sarsgaard shirtless (there wasn't).
Jeezus, didn't they stop making movies like this back in the 1990s? Unfortunately this tepid crapola got some decent reviews, awards at Sundance & did OK box office (for an indie) so I guess we can all look forward to another slew of inoffensive, slice of life, twentysomething, slacker, disaffected, quirky, small town yarns with neo-folkie alterna "rock" cooing from the soundtrack.
Suddenly an Adam Sandler/Meg Ryan marathon doesn't seem so unendurable.