great movie, awful ending

Rating: 7/10 (21 October 2005)

When I look through the other comments on this movie, I find one REALLY REALLY negative one for fifteen REALLY REALLY positive ones. The truth is, the movie in its entirety is neither that good nor that bad. It's just unusual in that it's REALLY REALLY good for the first 1-1 1/2 hours, and then it takes a sharp turn for REALLY REALLY bad. The majority of "Garden State" is exactly what a great movie should be - visually stunning, a wonderful blend of the surreal and the ironically humorous, great characters, believable and touching. However, the last twenty minutes or so it becomes such sniveling slop that it can, and has ruined the whole movie for some, (not me, I actually own the movie and just disregard all the melodramatic crap). If you think that you're a person that can appreciate seeing Natalie Portman slobber all over herself as she's crying for the last three minutes of the movie and the super-dramatic moment at the very end when Zach Braff returns to her without getting on a plane back to California, if you think you can endure the rambling speech about him feeling something or other and not knowing what's going to happen next, but looking forward to it, then by all means, watch the movie to the end. If you are not a person who likes clichés and melodrama, then turn the movie off just as they are getting to the Bottomless Abyss, you'll miss the scene when Largeman says to the keeper of the hole in the ground, "Good luck exploring the Bottomless Abyss," and the keeper, full of pathos, replies, "HEY!... You too..."