Kudos to Braff

Rating: 8/10 (29 December 2004)

Zach Braff put forth an exceptional effort in his directorial/writing debut about a forced-out son (Braff) who returns to his New Jersey home after a decade for his mom's funeral, only to meet the one girl (Portman) that made him feel again.
The movie flowed very well, and the characters were believable. I will admit that I despise the standard romantic comedy, but this was far from standard. The bittersweet approach to the romantic story by the characters made this movie more than tolerable for me, it made the movie downright lovable.
The only bit of resistance I have towards the movie comes from the overall feel I got from it. It seemed to be Lost In Translation meets Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in a few aspects. Andrew Largeman could be compared to Joel Barish in that they both have difficulties with emotions and feeling happy/satisfied (clearly for two very separate reasons). And Sam could be compared to Clementine through the ideas that they were both very quirky, fumbling, but also very cute (again, through different ways). And this movie reminds me of Lost In Translation primarily because it's about two people who meet each other and through the course of a few days, manage to change each other's life. Granted, the ending here is a bit different from the ending in Lost In Translation, but the similarities are hard for me to ignore.
I give high praise to Braff for this movie. It's nearly flawless, and that's a feat for any a veteran director/writer. I give it an 8/10 solely because I felt something at the end, but it wasn't something I haven't experience before.