Sweet Jesus You People, it's not that Good!

Rating: 7/10 (25 October 2004)

first of all, let me say that I liked Zach Braff's film. It is definitely an impressive first film, and we should all pay attention to whatever he does next. It generally had good production values, and I thought the camera-work was impressive, and its simplicity helped add to the overall drearily-comic effect of the movie. Braff was good, Sarsgaard was great, and Natalie Portman was phenomenal, by far the most engaging character I saw in a film this year, and probably one of the most instantly likable ever.
But good lord, it's not THAT good. An 8.4 rating out of 10? You have to be kidding me! It definitely has its problems, most of them having to do with the script, which is at points underdeveloped. A good third of the movie is spent on a quest, looking for what we don't know, and once the goal is reached, we are only left to wonder why they spent so much time searching for it. It could have been very sweet and moving, but came out as confusing and anticlimactic. And the ending was completely botched, taking the easy way out in my opinion and completely ignoring the development of their characters up to that point.
It's good, but it is nowhere near the icon of indie film-making many say it is, nor is it anywhere near the cultural landmark and ballad of the depressed 20-something generation they want it to be.
Around a 7 is what this film deserves, and that is what it gets from me.