# Should I See Garden State?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-see-garden-state/291796
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 25, 2005, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-see-garden-state/291796 "2005-02-25T01:37:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@me\_jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/me_jane)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2005, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-see-garden-state/291796/1 "2005-02-25T01:37:29Z")
When it came out I had little interest. Now it’s on video and I still have little interest. Someone convince me to see this movie. I dare you.
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### Author:  [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2005, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-see-garden-state/291796/2 "2005-02-25T02:20:52Z")
Natalie Portman is in it. What more could you want?
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### Author:  [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2005, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-see-garden-state/291796/3 "2005-02-25T02:23:14Z")
Well, what movies do you like?
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### Author:  [@BabaBooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BabaBooey)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-see-garden-state/291796/4 "2005-02-25T02:25:41Z")
Nah, just buy the soundtrack and a Natalie Portman poster. One of my worst blind buys, and I’m a huge fan of the two leads.
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### Author:  [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2005, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-see-garden-state/291796/5 "2005-02-25T02:28:12Z")
It’s a good movie. Not a waste of your 1.5 hours. Go watch the fucking thing.
Did it work?
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### Author:  [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2005, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-see-garden-state/291796/6 "2005-02-25T02:53:32Z")
I loved it, but I’m in the target demographic (i.e. the same gender and roughly the same age as the protagonist).
I join the others in saying … it’s an hour and a half and, what, $3 to rent? Unless you’re monumentally busy, might as well.
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### Author:  [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2005, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-see-garden-state/291796/7 "2005-02-25T02:57:41Z")
Yes, yes, yes. God, fucking, yes.
Yeah, I know it’s just a movie. Honest.
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### Author:  [@sjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjc)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2005, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-see-garden-state/291796/8 "2005-02-25T03:48:49Z")
I enjoyed it quite a bit, for what it’s worth.
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### Author:  [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2005, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-see-garden-state/291796/9 "2005-02-25T03:50:32Z")
Zach Braff is in it. Zach Braff is very yummy.
Thus ends my reccomendation.
It’s a good movie, although it gets weird in a “what the fuck?” kind of way and the end is cliches-ville.
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### Author:  [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2005, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-see-garden-state/291796/10 "2005-02-25T04:33:46Z")
Cliched, badly acted, badly scripted bullshit. Stay away.
I thought Natalie Portman’s laughably horrible performance in the first two _Star Wars_ movies was the fault of Lucas’s directing, but after seeing _Garden State_ I realized that she just isn’t a good actor at all.
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### Author:  [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2005, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-see-garden-state/291796/11 "2005-02-25T04:39:08Z")
I really dug it. Quirky, touching, and heartwarming. I could see how it’s cliched, but there were a lot of “real” moments (like the hardware scene).
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### Author:  [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2005, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-see-garden-state/291796/12 "2005-02-25T12:12:15Z")
Stay away. If you have an aversion to it from the commercials, it’s not going to redeem itself.
If you want to stay on **Aesiron** ’s good side, see it, though. Rumor has it, after seeing it once, he went back to the theater with a change of clothes and a bed pan. He stayed in the theater for a month living off what was dropped on the floor by the other patrons.
The smell got pretty bad but he now makes a great pop-corn and sno-cap salad.
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### Author:  [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2005, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-see-garden-state/291796/13 "2005-02-25T12:35:15Z")
I dunno, if I have little interest in a movie I tend to just leave it at that, but FWIW, I agree with **stpauler.**
I am nowhere near the supposed target demographic. (Am a 50 year old woman–but I did once live back East.)
For me the ending is flawed, but I liked the movie quite a bit, especially Peter Sarsgaard.
I _adore_ the soundtrack.
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### Author:  [@sleeepy2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeepy2)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2005, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-see-garden-state/291796/14 "2005-02-25T13:56:14Z")
> [@Cisco](#):
>
> Cliched, badly acted, badly scripted bullshit. Stay away.
>
> I thought Natalie Portman’s laughably horrible performance in the first two _Star Wars_ movies was the fault of Lucas’s directing, but after seeing _Garden State_ I realized that she just isn’t a good actor at all.
I mostly agree. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t good. It was an ambitious attempt by Zach Braff, but it fell short. It took itself way too seriously and nowI realize Natalie Portman peaked with _The Professional_.
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2005, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-see-garden-state/291796/15 "2005-02-25T14:08:28Z")
> [@sleeepy2](#):
>
> I mostly agree. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t good. It was an ambitious attempt by Zach Braff, but it fell short. It took itself way too seriously and nowI realize Natalie Portman peaked with _The Professional_.
+1 - heavy handed and obvious, but if you like the advertisements, Braff, Portman, Sarsgaard and/or the music you’ve heard, you will probably give it the benefit of the doubt - which is of course fine, since you’ll enjoy the time…
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### Author:  [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2005, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-see-garden-state/291796/16 "2005-02-25T14:21:16Z")
Ditto what many others have said here.
If you only see a handful of movies each year you may like it.
If you are an avid film watcher and have seen many movies through the years including older stuff like Harold & Maude or The Graduate it will feel like
“been there, done that”.
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### Author:  [@petelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/petelin)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2005, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-see-garden-state/291796/17 "2005-02-25T15:06:03Z")
Put me in the “yes definitely” category. But it is one of those movies that some people lurve, and some people hate…so really the only way to figure out if you like it is to watch it. If you have no desire to watch it, then don’t.
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### Author:  [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2005, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-see-garden-state/291796/18 "2005-02-25T16:04:30Z")
I’d say no. It may not be a waste of time, but it doesn’t really do much for me. I gave it a B when I saw it, but the further I get away from it, the lower the score gets. It’s sitting at a borderline B- right now.
I think where your at in life plays a part in how you will receive the film.
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### Author:  [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2005, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-see-garden-state/291796/19 "2005-02-25T16:24:42Z")
I’m looking forward to seeing it myself, because I like the bands on the soundtrack and I enjoy Zach Braff on Scrubs. As a 20-something male in a constant transitional state, I’m already guessing I’ll like it.
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### Author:  [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2005, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-see-garden-state/291796/20 "2005-02-25T16:27:27Z")
It’s a good 2/3 of a movie until it sails off into cliche’s-ville at the end. And I disagree about the Portman comment earlier–she does a really good job. Most of the acting is good.
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