Slow moving and not particularly believable, although the acting is good

Rating: 5/10 (3 April 2009)

Andrew Largeman (Zach Braff), a Hollywood TV actor between roles and working as a waiter, is estranged from his family, and on tons of antidepressants (I think Effexor, Zoloft and Prozac are mentioned) and antidepressant boosters (including lithium and Depakote).* Largeman returns to his small town home for the first time in years to attend his mother's funeral. He plans to be there only a few days. He goes to a neurologist's office because he's been experiencing brief but intense headaches) where he meets Sam (Natalie Portman), who has a quirk of constantly fibbing.
Eventually we learn that his father is his psychiatrist and the one who prescribed all the drugs. (The film doesn't go into how the father justifies renewing prescriptions without examining the patient in 9 years. It does have another doctor point out that the father knows it is improper for him to be his son's psychiatrist.) We also learn that Largeman was shipped away to a boarding school after he caused an accident that left his mother paraplegic.
Largeman is recognized by his old friends in town and spends most of the visit with them and new friend Sam and avoids his father. His friends consider him somewhat of a celebratory because he was on TV. Sam is helping him deal with his psychological problems and a romance is developing.
I found the film to be slow moving and serious with relatively little comic relief,although it does have a romantic comedy end.
* Depakote is FDA approved as an anti-seizure medicine. Lithium is approved for bipolar disorder. However, psychiatrists sometimes use one or both of these in combination with an antidepressant because they tend to boost the effectiveness of the antidepressant. Although Largeman decided to quit them cold turkey, in reality there is mental health danger if one is not weaned slowly from them. In addition, people using these drugs need to have their blood tested periodically because of a dangerous muscle wasting side effect they can cause as well as potential kidney damage. Furthermore, there are strong cautions about using alcohol or other recreational drugs when on these medicines. Having personal experience with such medications caused me to see the film as unbelievable.