The "Empty Calorie Movie"

Rating: 2/10 (20 July 2007)

Unfortunately I didn't see "Garden State" until it was out on DVD and I'd heard how great a movie it was. Perhaps I wouldn't have been as disappointed had I gone into it with few expectations. However, I have never walked away from a movie where I felt that there was more of an illusion of substance compared to what really existed. I felt like I was trying to be manipulated into thinking that I was experiencing something powerful and deep, when in reality there was no substance to the characters or their relationships to each other. Everything seemed way overdone (I just couldn't buy into the drug scenes and "hopeless lives" of some of the characters--they just weren't real enough to me), and the circumstances of the main characters' first kiss was simply laughable. The movie left me questioning why I should feel anything for a story and characters that were so shallow (but that the writer, actors, director, producers, and myriad fans thought were really deep). It could have been so much more--some of the ideas that the story tried to flesh out could have added some real meat to the experience (instead I felt like I'd eaten a rice cake). The only aspect (not even a full scene) that was handled well was when the grave-robber handed over the main character's mother's jewelry--there was something more real about that exchange than anything else in the film. It has been over 2 years since I saw the movie, and I do not recall the character's names (and don't have a desire to ever see it again). However, "Garden State" was not a complete waste of time for me, as it helped to provide a term for movies that have an illusion of substance--one that I've used to describe other movies that appear to have a depth that isn't really there. Indeed, while "Garden State" is not by far the worst movie I've ever seen, it is perhaps the epitome of an "Empty Calorie" movie.