Best movie of this year hands down!

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

OK, first off I'm a baby boomer. If this is the generation of the 80s, I'm troubled. It did start slowly, as others have mentioned. And it did get cheesy at the end. There were good moments and I did watch it all the way through to see how it was resolved. But that's the problem, it could have been a very good movie, a few clicks better, if had NOT been resolved. Andrew should have left, and left us to figure out how it might be resolved. I feel like they caved to the money and added a sappy 'happy' ending. A good try but it's shortfalls were very noticeable. And that's exactly why I worry. Those that claim this as a generation movie need to step back and evaluate a little more objectively.

The only thing that is amiss with this movie is the pacing, but I guess it was part of tone and setting the movie needed.A touching romantic escapade for Portman and Braff. Refreshingly candid with a hitn of irony and even cynicism.All in a great effort and the chemistry between the two leads is tangible.

A quietly troubled young man (Zach Braff) returns home for his mother's funeral after being estranged from his family for a decade.This film hit a generation hard and was in no small way responsible for popularizing indie music, with the Shins in particular. Soundtracks with Shins, the Bravery and more started floating around. Thanks, Zach Braff, you single-handedly changed the music industry.Interestingly, this film features Jim Parsons before his big break. Not that his role is huge, but it is big enough that anyone watching today (2015) will recognize him as Sheldon (and probably not much else).And this was back before Natalie Portman switched from fun films to critically acclaimed work. She does both very well.

When I think of coming of age movies of the last decade, there are several movies that come to mind, and quite possibly Garden State will be in that list. The film does a good job at capturing the time in your life when you are in between school and the real life and still trying to figure out your priorities in life. I really like how Zach Braff directed and wrote this movie. Even though it feels like a lot of other self discovery films, he brought something new to the table.Having Natalie Portman as the lead female is also never a bad choice. Portman is one of the few actresses that bring a tremendous amount of realism to her characters. And she may very well have the best crying face in Hollywood. Her quirky Sam character perfectly complimented Braff's Andrew. Their chemistry is apparent right from the first scene together all the way to the last airport scene. Although I think the ending was one of the few major weak points the movie had. I was also a bit confused on the whole day-dreaming sequence up until the final scene when it started to come together.Peter Sarsgaard was also a good fit with the cast. I'm glad that he didn't turn into just another druggie, and actually had depth to his character. The father felt rather flat to me, and even in the bedroom scene, I didn't feel much compassion for the man. But the real gems are the scenes just between Sam and Andrew. I think for that reason alone is why this film is constantly on top movies of the 2000's lists. What I really enjoyed about this movie, is that it's basically genre-less. It's not a true romance, comedy, drama or adventure. It's simply a pretty good movie about life.+Chemistry between Braff & Portman +No genre +Relatable life situations-Ending falls flat -One note dad character 7.7/10