Movie
There are some movies that you just love because you “get it.” You know your parents would think that the movie would be incredibly lame. You know that younger siblings or friends with less “mature” (for lack of a better word) taste in movies would find it very boorish. Many of the Wes Anderson flicks would fit precisely in this category as would many Charlie Kaufman movies. Garden State, the directorial debut of Scrubs star Zach Braff, is one such movie.
Andrew (Zach Braff, also in the starring role) is a 26-year old aspiring actor who moved away from New Jersey nine years ago and hasn’t been back to see his friends or family since. After his mother dies, he decides to finally come back for her funeral. His father is anxious to tie up loose ends, but Andrew isn’t all that excited about talking with his father. When he was a child, his father, who happens to also be his psychiatrist, put him on a grocery list of prescription drugs which has basically numbed him from feeling any emotions since he was a child.
As he comes back to New Jersey, he surprised to see many of his friends haven’t grown up at all. He also noticed that even though he’s around all his old friends and staying in his old house, everything feels strangely distant. Almost as soon as he steps foot in his old home, he wanted to leave. Until one day when he went to the doctor…
In an attempt to heal his chronic headaches, Andrew headed to the doctor. While there, he met an eccentric girl Sam (Natalie Portman). Enter very non-traditional love story. As different as Andrew might be, Sam is the ying to his yang. The only problem is Andrew doesn’t know what to do. He’s never loved. He’s never really ever even felt real human emotions because of all the meds he’s been on his whole life.

Video & Sound
Presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, Garden State looks okay but that’s about it. It definitely doesn’t look like one of the reference flicks like Master & Commander or any of the Lord of the Rings flicks. The sound is okay, but it’s mostly a dialogue driven film with few scenes that will give the surround sound a workout. The soundtrack is absolutely brilliant, though. If you are into a little more mellow music, definitely pick up the cd as well as the movie because it probably is the best movie soundtrack since Above the Rim.

Extras
There are two commentaries on this disc. The first features Zach Braff and Natalie Portman. Unfortunately, Natalie doesn’t have a whole lot to add, but it is a fun track and Braff talks a lot about what it was like directing a first flick. It’s kind of neat because he admits mistakes he made and challenges he faced. Surprisingly, the second commentary, which features Braff and a few more technical people, is actually the funnier of the two. As much as I like Natalie, the second is the better of the two commentaries.
There are 16 deleted scenes available for your viewing. As with almost any set of deleted scenes, there are some good scenes and there are some terrible scenes. It’s maybe worth a watch once, but nothing of real value.

Probably my favorite feature is a 27-minute behind the scenes documentary. Again, like most making of docs, it features interviews and behind the scenes stuff. Unlike many other discs, though, this one is actually pretty decent. I’m a huge fan of the whole indie film scene, so it’s cool to see how they can make a great flick like this while shooting for only a short period of time.

Closing thoughts…
I really don’t know where I stand on Garden State. It was a very excellent movie, but I don’t know that it’s a classic. It might sneak somewhere into the upper part of the top 100’s. It was most certainly one of the better movies I saw in 2004… even though I didn’t see it until 2005.