I'll take it

Rating: 8/10 (22 August 2004)

First and foremost, Braff is very good with his camera especially for a first time director. He has some beautiful shots that don't look like a freshman effort. Aside from this, he's an excellent quirky writer. The way he develops Largeman is well thought out and semi-brilliant. The same goes for Natalie Portman's character. You have a sense of understanding of these two characters that Braff orchestrated wonderfully. He does need to spend more time working on the supporting cast. Besides these two main characters, the rest is left for simple minded, walk-on roles that do not fit well with the others. Also he tends to focus on a few occurrences that are closer to meaningless than essential. I can overlook these few mistakes because the rest of the film holds water well. I loved his writing and his direction and am already looking forward to seeing a sophomore effort from Braff. "Garden State" truly is one of the better films of the summer even though it may be slightly flawed, but no one is perfect.