Garden State

[Hager 2]

Every 18-21 year old "cinema" major believes this is the greatest film in history. That alone tells me it's a steaming pile of shit.

[marginallyclean 4]

So true. I don't know what it is. I saw this movie when I was 20 and loved it. I saw it again in the past couple years and realized that it's actually terrible. Also, I have a degree in film. God help me.

[sillstaw 414]

I saw it when I was in high school, and thought it was terrible. It embodies every problem with so-called "indie" filmmaking* today.
* There should be a rule saying that the more recognizable actors your film has, the less likely it's a real independent film. Calling something like "Juno" an independent film is an insult to low-budget filmmaking.

[RobertMichel 2]

Mister Harry S. Plinkett described it as follows : "If cancer were pretentious, it would be Garden State."

 

Nuff said.

[joel_rosenbaum 1269]

Garden State was like a try-hard version of "The Graduate". Interminably boring. Some good music in the soundtrack, though.

[seanotron 2307]

I think the backlash against this film is a wee bit OTT, but it's probably because the initial praise for it was also OTT. Really, if you remove Natalie Portman's character and subsequent subplot out of the movie, it isn't a bad film. Peter Sarsgaard is pretty great, as is Jean Smart. Even Braff is solid.

 

I do have beef with the fact that Jim Parsons isn't speaking actual Klingon. Braff couldn't pony up $14.95 for a Klingon Dictionary? OUTRAGEOUS!

[Lando 2019]

I feel like Wish I Was Here would be a better candidate for HDTGM.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

I refuse to accept this. I don't give a fuck what people say this is still my favorite movie.

 

(The Klingon thing is bullshit though lol.)

[sillstaw 414]

Really, if you remove Natalie Portman's character and subsequent subplot out of the movie, it isn't a bad film.

 

If you remove that, what's left?

[RyanSz 3140]

Wasn't the Portman storyline was the A story of the movie? I didn't think this was a totally terrible movie, but it was released in that set of years where everything indie had to have a bunch of quirky things in it, this and Juno being probably the two biggest offenders ("I'm talking on my cheeseburger phone," anyone?") Wish I Was Here was another prime example of Braff throwing in quirk for the sake of quirk with the line about getting a wig that was as interesting as his daughter or the neighbor being a furry costume designer. Yet I think this movie has fallen from the "WTF is this movie?" to "fuck this movie" level of response from people and in comparison to the movies the show has discussed, doesn't really fit.

[seanotron 2307]

 

If you remove that, what's left?

 

I think there's plenty, really. She's really not *that* important to the story. Braff's catharsis about his guilt over his mother and his relationship with his father and with Sarsgaard, you don't really need Natalie for any of that. In keeping with her status as a MPDG, she basically has no effect on anyone else in the story, so she's essentially Braff's Tyler Durden.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

I think Braff and Josh Radnor are having a contest over who can write/direct a movie that inflates their own ego more.

Radnor is slightly ahead for writing a movie in which he lands Allison Janney, Elizabeth Olsen, and Elizabeth Reaser over the course of one movie.

[sillstaw 414]

In keeping with her status as a MPDG, she basically has no effect on anyone else in the story, so she's essentially Braff's Tyler Durden.

 

This makes me picture her inspiring Braff to start fighting people and committing terrorist acts, which is such a great image. I wish somebody would make a movie where the MPDG actually inspires people to do horrific things.

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

As much as the initial praise and subsequent backlash towards Garden State was way overblown, I think the flack Braff got for 'Wish I Was Here' was even more excessive. I think either would be a good choice for the podcast because they are both problematic as movies and because HDTGM doesn't often do movies like them. I'm sure June would have TONS to say about Natalie Portman's character in 'Garden State.'

 

But, you know, maybe these movies are made for 18-21 year old film studies majors... but that's ok, right? They need movies too. 'Minions' wasn't made for me and neither was 'Garden State.' Sure, they might not be enjoyable experiences for myself or anyone else not in their core audience, but if they have an audience they serve, there's nothing wrong with that. It just means that movies such as, I dunno, 'Casablanca,' that have been loved by generations and by people of all ages and backgrounds all the more remarkable.

 

Of course, there are movies that are so inexplicably awful as to be morally repugnant. 'Transformers 2' and 'Theodore Rex' both qualify.

[Lando 2019]

As much as the initial praise and subsequent backlash towards Garden State was way overblown, I think the flack Braff got for 'Wish I Was Here' was even more excessive. I think either would be a good choice for the podcast because they are both problematic as movies and because HDTGM doesn't often do movies like them. I'm sure June would have TONS to say about Natalie Portman's character in 'Garden State.'

 

I think that Wish I Was Here is a bit like "The new album from Limp Bizkit." I do kind of like to shit on Limp Bizkit, but I think nu metal is a good example of something that was once so much a part of the culture that has aged really poorly. From what I have seen of WIWH it looks like it would have been well received if it was released 10 years ago, but I think we're so worn out on that style of quirky movies that it gets a huge negative backlash.

[RyanSz 3140]

 

I think that Wish I Was Here is a bit like "The new album from Limp Bizkit." I do kind of like to shit on Limp Bizkit, but I think nu metal is a good example of something that was once so much a part of the culture that has aged really poorly. From what I have seen of WIWH it looks like it would have been well received if it was released 10 years ago, but I think we're so worn out on that style of quirky movies that it gets a huge negative backlash.

The problem with Bizkit though is that they really haven't evolved their sound AT ALL in the last decade, unlike other big bands in that genre like the Deftones, Slipknot, and Korn. I think you're spot on about WIWH being a perfect fit for a decade ago, but it came out in a time when we no longer find quirk so appealing.

[Lando 2019]

Does that make Wes Anderson "The Deftones" in this analogy?

[wyldride 285]

My recollection is that this never quite came together as a story, but didn't have much in the way of "bonkers" material that would lend itself to working for the podcast. Although I don't necessarily recall it all that well.

[RyanSz 3140]

The closest thing to bonkers might be the noiseless Velcro and Portman's "do a funny face/noise in a single spot," everything else just came off as quirk for quirks sake like the dad's dozens of degrees too Braff's shirt matching the wallpaper.