Overrated

Rating: 5/10 (19 December 2004)

Now, i don't think "Garden State" is a terrible film. It's actually not bad. But to me it just felt very 'forced' and contrived/convoluted/you get the idea, like the filmmakers were 'trying' way too hard. I mean, on a surface level i liked it, but it felt sort of phony and unnatural. Also, it blows my mind that this film is got such rave reviews and overwhelming fan response, but the very similar (and in my opinion better) film from a few years ago "All the Real Girls" got rather lukewarm reviews and no overwhelming word-of-mouth. It's really a crime, because whereas "Garden State" felt overreaching and sort of manipulative, "All the Real Girls" felt totally natural and organic. To put it bluntly, "All the Real Girld" was everything "Garden State" wanted to be. Almost to an uneasy extent, i find. Whereas that film was romantic and moving and funny all at the same time, moving effortlessly between moods, i found "Garden State" a bit schizophrenic, jerking uneasily between out-of-place and often unfunny humor, and overwrought melodrama. Overall though, i think my biggest problem with it is that to me it felt very calculated. That's the best word i can think of to describe it. Also, it didn't help that the story seemed to lack any true dramatics. The only obstacle getting in the way of the protagonist's unfalteringly upward blissed-out self-discovery trip was his dad, who is easily brushed aside until, towards the end of the film, we're treated to a rather half-assed condemnation. Also, the film had what must be the stupidest, most badly-done drug sequence i think i've ever seen. I know, after all this, that it's hard for someone reading this to believe that i actually enjoyed this film, but i did. In a weird way i did. After leaving the theater i felt good, probably in the same way that a lobotomy feels good. That may sound like an insult, but it's really not. It was as if "Garden State" was a film that contained all the right elements, had all the right pieces, but somehow ended up being just a little too perfect, to the point that it felt uncomfortably pre-meditated. Don't get me wrong, if the film had come out five years ago it would have probably been the greatest thing i'd ever seen, but in this post-"American Beauty", post-"Donnie Darko" world, i'm just a little bit too familiar with this kind of thing to be able to swallow it all over again in regurgitated form.