Movie Review - Garden State

[Ulysses]

I liked it a lot. Well acted. Decent dialogue, not great. Good plot overall. Interesting characters, though a couple could have been developed a little more. All in all, a very entertaining movie. Funny, sad, and romantic. If you are or have friends who are on antidepressants, you might find some parts of it especially interesting. I liked it and would recommend it, though I don't know that it was as superb as many of the reviewers found it to be.

[astroglide]

i've shied away from seeing it in mixed company because it looked like a date movie. is it?

[Schneids]

Natalie Portman == Awesome job in this movie. That role was perfect for her.

This movie was one of my favorite movies so far this year. I saw it one of the first nights it came out and will not hesitate to see it again.

My only minor gripe is the movie seemed to lose its focus in the last third or so of it, as it turned from a quirky adventure about life, into a "sappy predictable love story."

In many scenes there's some great symbolism that you may not catch the first time, and the subtle ways the music gets used enhances many scenes ten-fold.

A perfect date movie, ala Jerry McGuire.

[Jett Rink]

This is a great movie. A hidden gem. Natalie Portman is always so good. Anyone who has seen Beautiful Girls or The Professional knows how wonderful she is as an actress.

I love quirky offbeat movies but I know plenty of people won't like it. I'm right and they're wrong of course!

[Ulysses]

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This is a great movie. A hidden gem. Natalie Portman is always so good. Anyone who has seen Beautiful Girls or The Professional knows how wonderful she is as an actress.

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In a lot of ways, this reminded me of her role in Beautiful Girls.

[Ulysses]

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i've shied away from seeing it in mixed company because it looked like a date movie. is it?

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Nah, not necessarily. This would be fine to just go see, though maybe not the ideal movie for you and one of your macho beer-drinking buddies.

[ThaSaltCracka]

Just saw it, good flick. A little slow at times, but worth seeing.

[The Dude]

I agree, it was well done. One of the better movies I've seen this year.

[Ray Zee]

thanks for the review. we use to get a bunch, but of lately none. boris gave good ones as well as others. what happened. and mark heide who hasnt posted much was a great person for reviews as he watched anything they would let him. but he must have gotten sick from the bad pizza he was getting in chicago.

[scrub]

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In a lot of ways, this reminded me of her role in Beautiful Girls.

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Beautiful Girls was a much better movie, though. Better cast and a more complete script.

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This is a great movie. A hidden gem. Natalie Portman is always so good. Anyone who has seen Beautiful Girls or The Professional knows how wonderful she is as an actress.

[/ QUOTE ]

She was fantastic in both of those movies, but I didn't think she was nearly as good in Garden State. I always thought the appeal of her characters in those movies was how eerily old she was for her age. I was less taken in by her playing someone eerily young for her age. I thought her sexuality was weirder in Garden State than it was in The Professional, strange as that sounds...

I thought the Scrubs guy overdid it with some of the camera gags, but I guess you're supposed to overdo it the first time you get to be in charge.

I liked it a lot, though. The last 15 minutes or so were a disaster, though, and that really hurt it.

scrub

[Thythe]

I really liked the movie also. With so much crap out there it was actually nice to have a good movie.

[mikech]

I haven't gotten around to seeing this movie yet, but I think calling Natalie Portman a wonderful actress is a stretch. She's certainly beautiful, disturbingly so in "Beautiful Girls" due to her age at the time, but I can't think of any role she's truly impressed me in. A few summers ago, she was in a production of Chekhov's "The Seagull" in Central Park, along with Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and others, and by being on the same stage as those actors her lack of range and emotional gravitas was all too apparent; she was clearly out of her league. She may perhaps become a wonderful actress someday, she just isn't yet.

[astroglide]

perhaps you could try watching the NEW MOVIE to make a judgement?

[mikech]

I said that my comment wasn't about the new movie or the job she does in it. I'm sure she's competent, even charming probably, but from her past performances I highly doubt she'll be landing any Oscar nominations for it. Is that opinion indefensible without having seen her latest film?