Near perfect portrayal of real life education of one's self

Rating: 9/10 (22 January 2005)

Zach Braff is pretty unknown to me, as an actor, but I have heard of the TV show he was on, "Scrubs." Had this movie never showcased his acting capabilities as a socially withdrawn and heavily-medicated, lost "child" ("Andrew Largeman"), he probably would've struggled like the rest of his ill-fated peers.
Luckily (or unluckily; maybe someone in Hollywood is still talented) he was cast in this wonderful film which captured a strength within this character to turn his life around in four days after meeting the love-of-his-life character "Sam" (beautifully innocently played by the great actress, Natalie Portman). After Sam shows Andrew that everything is going to be alright after his mother's death, his attitude and philosophies on what life was for the last 16 years of his existence change into the universal cycle of what growing up is all about. He drops his medication that he'd been on for the last nine years, and he learns what life is like to include pain and sadness into his palette of emotions. He learns to communicate with his father after he is, more or less, kicked out of the house for fears that there is something seriously wrong with Andrew.
Everything collides so beautifully, in fact, that even writing this all down seems like a trite thing to portray this story to others who may read this. The music was absolutely flawless with every scene which the musical director placed it. The great songs were chosen with great emotion in mind and helped the audience to really feel the changes within Andrew. The director did an amazing job with every nuance and shot being like a fresh breath of oxygen for every character. (You even felt the friends of Andrew grow around him and his new persona) Just seeing how much everything is really universal and included in everyone's lives really made this DVD hit home when I saw it; the simplest things are often the most overlooked, and the director (also Zach Braff, "Andrew") knows this in every scene.
I gave it a necessary 9/10. The poignancy on how everything was done was superb, and if this doesn't get nominated for something big, I will be greatly surprised. BUY IT TODAY!