Garden State’s original sin is abandoning the original story of how to resolve the numbness of the beginning with tropes like stop taking your prescription medicine, socialize and live. Braff treats the central concept, why the protagonist is so numb

| Jun 12, 2024

The fact that the pinnacle of this film puts the three lead characters in garbage bags yelling nonsense into the air is much more scathing than any review that could ever be written.

| Jun 15, 2022

I found myself experiencing fits of laughter and tears for a good two hours following my viewing of Garden State.

| Original Score: 4.0/4.0 | Sep 8, 2020

On the basis that it behoves all of us to keep a little nugget of our 15-year-old selves locked up in our breasts, I'm going to say this is a loveable film and that you should all go and see it to awake your inner adolescent.

| Dec 20, 2017

Braff captures the specific, self-involved ennui of the aimless 20-something, and he doesn't do it from a point of smug detachment.

| Jun 21, 2016

Although flawed, Garden State is a good-natured film whose very likeability leaves you willing to overlook its shortcomings.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 7, 2011

Full Review | Original Score: A | Nov 7, 2011

Smart drama for mature older teens and up.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 24, 2010

It's no longer a generational alarm clock, but for those who've seen loved ones stumble through complacent fogs of Paxil, Zoloft and the like, "Garden State" still warns that "stability" doesn't mean a numbness to anything not emotionally even-keeled.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Sep 24, 2010

There is not a shot in this movie that doesn't shine...

| Apr 29, 2009

Actor Zach Braff (NBC's "Scrubs") makes an impressive if unsatisfying writing and directing debut with a plaintive post-modern drama that relies on unspoken dry wit to entertain its audience (think a cross between "Harold and Maude" and "The Graduate").

| Original Score: C | Apr 18, 2009

Feels too piecemeal and ultimately inconsequential to grab the public where it counts.

Full Review | Mar 26, 2009

Braff, who also wrote and directs, tells this story with great flair, lots of subtlety and a wonderfully paced set of revelations that come to us just as they might in real life.

| Oct 18, 2008

[A] goofy, melancholy, seriocomic slice of life...

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 7, 2008

It's good to see Natalie Portman acting again.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 27, 2007

full review in Greek

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 3, 2006

the quintessential product by and for uninspired times

| Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 24, 2006

This is a movie where 'sensitivity' and 'sincerity' are signposted by songs by Paul Simon and Nick Drake, which I guess says it all.

| Feb 9, 2006

While Braff's script may suffer from long-windedness, his direction -- of both cast and camera -- is so confident that this debut could well mark the start of a major career.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 6, 2005

Both funny and touching, this is a small film that deserves to be seen by a wider audience.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 30, 2005