horrible

Rating: Null/10 (15 September 2004)

Garden State is by far, one of the most longest, most boring movies ever. It tries to copy life-genre films like American Beauty and tries to be weird, messed up and independent, but it just doesn't work. The characters were such cliché's of already existing character types from other drama films, and Natalie Portman's character is just so outrageous and weird that she doesn't seem real at all. Also, what was with the beginning? Seriously, it did not make any sense at all. Also, the humor was poor and not good, only getting a few chuckles out of me. This film was so long and dull, where there's only talking and talking and talking. What makes drama films like The Station Agent and American Beauty so great is that characters and the plot keep changing, and it's intense, real, different, and original-there's a sense of sincerity to the story and to the characters. But with this film, everything feels like the director was just imitating and trying to copy other drama films, and if you try to make something seem deep and dramatic, chances are it's going to turn out to be cheesy. The main character's problems are only briefly revealed, not clearly stating the reason as to why he's so messsed up in the film. And another thing, compared to a lot of my friends, the main character is not at all messed up and he just seems like a total wimp to me. So, out of ten, I give this film a 0 just because I was led on to believe it was good, and it ended up to be a total bore fest.