The reasons why I wanted to watch Garden State were simple. First of all, it starred Natalie Portman. Second, it got a decent IMDB rating. Some guy left his home town when he was young, only to return a decade later for his mother’s funeral.
Interesting story line
So the guy, Andrew Largeman, is coming home to meet all his old friends and to find out what became of them, what became of his family and to reflect what became of himself. Sounds like an interesting story line to make great movie, doesn’t it? Well, it didn’t really. Natalie Portman was great and I like the movie enough because of the interesting story line and because of her acting. But at the end it feels like a missed opportunity for something really good.
The day after watching the movie I found out that the then 29 year old Zach Braff wasn’t just the main actor, but also the writer and the director. Maybe that was just too much.
I rate Garden State with a 7.