Middling low-level relations drama which suffices more-so blows away.

Rating: 6/10 (30 June 2013)

Sad to say, Garden State is one of THOSE sorts of American independent films; the kind wherein its characters perform tap-dances for their sweethearts and will suddenly make strange, random noises with movements because they're "unique" and "no one has ever done that before, nor will they ever". This, the character deduces, is the credence behind doing such a thing – a justification born out of the fact what you've just witnessed is unique in the history of humankind and it makes them stand out in history as a result. In spite of its own erratic and eccentric nature, Garden State is far from something you have neither seen nor heard before: a sweet, although often trying film; one made with the best of intentions that doesn't work all of the time but one with a regimented character study and a proper attitude towards those with special needs.
The film's jarring opening, to a physical extent, in its depiction of a passenger jet full of people going nuts in the midst of what appears to be a failed on board terrorist attack put to some Arabic music does not match where the film thinks it is being equally jarring in a spiritual sense later on. Crammed into the middle of the plethora terrified people desperately trying to remedy the situation sits Andrew Largeman, played by Zach Braff. Andrew sits and does exactly that, sits and stares dead-ahead as if nothing at all were happening. When it's revealed to us that he was merely dreaming, we're aware that for such a nightmare to be accepted during its runtime suggests a seriously spaced out individual. Andrew is an actor living in Los Angeles, but he moonlights as a waiter in an oriental restaurant on account of not being in the big time. Here, he must suffer the foolhardy patrons of a place which attracts the kinds of people who believe "ASAP" constitutes a word and enjoy their fair share of racial slurs aimed at the place.
Disconnected but not yet totally out of it, Andrew is hit with the news that his mother has died back home in New Jersey, and he takes it on himself to travel back for the formalities. Once back, we are struck by how buoyed and exuberant all of his old friends are at seeing him; Andrew, by comparison, is understated and hushed – he has been desensitised by his Hollywood escapade, and it shows. One spends the briefest of moments looking for parallels between the Studio dominated American film-making West and cheaper, less fame dominated projects such as Garden State, and how the former can have the effect that it does on Andrew when all around him are more normalised and more down to Earth people merely greeting their respective friend.
It is during an unfortunate incident involving a dog in a doctor's surgery that introduces the one person who lives in his town who'll come to affect Andrew's stay here more than any fallout from a bereavement seemingly will. She is Natalie Portman's character named Sam, someone who's familiar with Andrew's work back in California and singles out his performances as a person with special needs the most. Things progress and we discover why it is that this may have touched her as much as it did, whereas Andrew man is quite enjoying the authenticity that comes with communicating with someone like Sam. Sam is scatty, perky and random – someone seemingly too autistic to feel the anxiety which comes with communicating with someone you recognise. Her core characteristic of lying compulsively is dwarfed only by the fact she still has a Christmas tree up in the corner of her house in spite of the fact it's far from being in season. Andrew does, of course, have the potential for partners at one of the many parties his old friend hosts, but these are fast and loose women - Sam is more "O.C.D." than she is "L.S.D." and this encourages Andrew all the more.
The film is, of course, a love story about someone buoyant and quirky meeting someone the polar opposite but having them fall in with one another anyway. The feminine participant in this case is the talkative, energetic one and this provides the film opportunity to have its exchanges driven by the woman who's ultimately opening up the man's world to conversation; interaction and socialisation where previously there was something more meek. Everything good about the film aside, it does fall back into the sorts of gnawing clichés often synonymous with works such as these while a lot of the behaviour of the characters away from the central pairing and in regards to the supporting acts seems inconsistent with how they'd truthfully react. When Andrew encounters what might be classified as 'grave robbing', I'd expect him to react a little more forcefully and never return to those circles again. But there is enough there to enjoy in the department of key character dynamic, a film that is light and watchable despite a subject matter veering on pretending to be more hard-line and a film that worked better than it should.