Garden State

 Garden State 2004

• Director: Zach Braff
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Zach Braff, Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Ian Holm, Jim Parsons
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Natalie Portman – Annihilation, Thor, Black Swan, The Other Boleyn Girl, Darjeeling Ltd, Paris je t’aime, V for Vendetta, Star Wars, Closer, Cold Mountain, Anywhere but Here, Mars Attacks!, Beautiful Girls, Léon
• Peter Sarsgaard – An Education, Elegy, Dead Man Walking
• Ian Holm – The Hobbit/LotR, Day after Tomorrow, From Hell, eXistenZ, A Life Less Ordinary, The Fifth Element, The Madness of King George, Frankenstein, Kafka, Hamlet, Henry V, Dance with a Stranger, Chariots of Fire, Alien, O What a Lovely War
• Jim Parsons – The Big Bang Theory, Hidden Figures
• Why? Natalie Portman
• Seen: 7 January 2022      

       Andrew (Braff) has been on tranquilisers most of his life so he’s more than out of it. He returns home for his mother’s funeral after ten years in Hollywood. He meets up with old friends and a new friend, flaky Sam (Portman).

       Drugs and parties ensue. Boring.

       Zack Braff wrote and directed this as well as starring in it. It’s clearly a labour of love and I’m glad for him that the critics liked it but sorry, it doesn’t do much for me. Nice cats, though. 

2* of 5.