Garden State

"Garden State" is easily the quirkiest, and perhaps best-written, movie of the summer. Touted as a comedy, you will also find quite a bit of drama and sadness interspersed throughout this well-balanced story.

Zach Braff wrote, directed, and stars as Andrew Largeman, a struggling Los Angeles actor who returns home to New Jersey for the first time in ten years to attend his mother's funeral. Andrew's struggle really isn't with getting an acting gig. Rather, his struggle is in determining exactly who he is and what his life's calling is. His strained relationship with his father is only compounded by the fact that his psychiatrist dad has had Andrew on medication for the better part of life. Upon returning home, Andrew decides to stop taking the pills to truly feel things again for the first time. It's at this point when he realizes that he has just been watching the world go by without really participating. He also discovers Samantha (a very cool Natalie Portman), who helps him through his quest to find direction.

"Garden State" is a very offbeat comedy that some, including three in the theater that left and did not return, may not care for. Plus, with a lot of swearing and drug use, others may be turned off. However, for those of you that really get into the random-out-there kind of comedies (and you know who you are) this is one you will enjoy. Wait to rent it, but enjoy. I give it a B+.

"Garden State" is rated R with a running time of 118 minutes.