some promise but not consistent enough

Rating: 4/10 (4 July 2006)

*May contain spoilers* I didn't feel it would be fair to hold a grudge against Garden State until I watched it twice, so after a fair amount of distance I gave it a second try. Okay, returns are in. I'm still frustrated by it.
It's such a shame, this could have been a great movie. A lot of interesting themes to work with - guilt, medication, self discovery, forgiveness, being withdrawn from your past, or indifferent to it. Some of the humor is well-spotted and fits (the mom who's set on doing the real estate tapes, for example), but there's so much over-the-top shite - humping dogs, the retarded quarterback joke that's told over and over.
The long scene that ends in the quarry ("good luck in the infinite abyss") is contrived and poorly written, and the final scene in the airport is kinda trite as well. In the end, Braff's put forth a pretty good draft that could be morphed into a great movie. Unfortunately he found too many shortcuts in New Jersey and the end result is 110 minutes that annoy me more than anything else.