garden state.

2045hrs

Everyone, meet Zach Braff.

For those of you who watch lots of TV, you may recognise him as the goofy Dr John “J.D.” Dorian from the medical dramedy Scrubs. Here are a few more handy facts about 31-year-old Braff:

1) He was the voice of Chicken Little in that movie
2) He’s currently dating Mandy Moore (!)
3) He has won a Grammy (!!)
4) He directed, produced and starred in Garden State, which I happened to watch last night/this morning.

Garden State (2004)

I’ve previously written about how brilliant the soundtrack to this movie was; indeed, it was what garnered Braff the Grammy (for best OST) in 2005. The film doesn’t disappoint either… filled with equal portions of dark humour and bright spots of sweetness, Garden State is, honestly, pretty brilliant.

Braff plays Andrew Largeman, a struggling actor in Hollywood who returns home to New Jersey (aka the “Garden State”) for his mother’s funeral. He bumps into some old buddies from a long time ago, who have now become all sorts ranging from a policeman, a guy who invented silent Velcro (!), and a gravedigger (played by Peter Sarsgaard, above left). New friends are also made, in the form of Samantha (the lovely Natalie Portman, above centre), whom Andrew meets in a hospital waiting room.

Guess what happens next? Heheh. Braff and Portman have a delightfully easy chemistry, with Samantha’s sunny disposition rubbing off on the perpetually depressed Andrew.

What I like about this film is how quickly the story progresses. There are almost no subplots involved, everything moves fast and furious. And of course, with Zach Braff around, we can definitely expect sight gags like the one above, haha. XD

Have I mentioned that I love the soundtrack? Let me say it one more time: this is the best movie soundtrack I’ve heard since That Thing You Do! about ten years back. With lots of acoustic gems from Zero 7, Colin Hay, The Shins and even Simon and Garfunkel, it’s precisely the sort of stuff I crave. ;)

Rating: 4.5/5 stars (and a full 5 stars for the OST, heheh)