I Just Watched "Garden State." What am I missing?

[stopbush]

Boy, was THAT overrated. Please.

The art film is in a sorry state in the country. When mediocre films like this one and Lost in Translation get elevated to instantaneous cult status, there's something very wrong.

Or, what did I miss? Should I have liked this overblown not-much-more-than-sketch-material flick? Not bad as a student project, but...huh?

I'm open to comments.

[newsguyatl]

1. i absolutely LOVED it!!!

thought it was funny as shit...

and i hadn't heard a thing about it before i watched it...


one of the best films i saw all year.

[stopbush]

4. Funny? Wow. I didn't get that at all. Now, Anchorman...that was funny,

albeit in a very conventional way.

[meganmonkey]

5. I'm sorry Champ, I think I ate your chocolate squirrel.

Bwahahaha!!

I love Anchorman. It is the funniest movie I have seen in a long time.

Whale Vagina. OMG, I thought I was gonna die.

[fob]

13. Now I AM gonna have to rent Garden State. Anchorman was a HUGE

letdown for me. It was just bad, and not in that quirky-good way bad either. I didn't think it was "conventional" either, which as it went along I thought was going to be a good thing. It wasn't super-formulaic, it told the story in it's own way, which is why I LOVED Napolean Dynamite. It didn't try to fit a mold, it just told the story and made no excuse or attempts at "jokes". It was just a great story told simply and with truth to itself beyond what is necessary which gave it the quirky-good feel that Anchorman is missing.

IMHO.

[newsguyatl]

14. ah, see i don't think will farrell

is funny at all.

just different sense of humor, that's all. :hi:

[WindRavenX]

2. Why didn't you like it?

That movie was one of the best movies I've ever seen.

[stopbush]

8. See, I'm totally missing it. One of the "best" you've ever seen? Wow.

That's high praise.

I found the story uninteresting, pedantic, in fact. The pay-off as to the reason the guy was so estranged from his father was a bit limp. I don't know. It just had no effect on me - not even in a negative sense. I can't say it was "bad," it just wasn't beyond run-of-the-mill.

It's a slice-of-life film that if I had maybe discovered it on my own, I would have thought more highly of it. Films like "Talk to Her" and "Sex and Lucia" I found tremendous experiences. Maybe those films had quirky characters that - being twice or thrice removed from American life through a different language - I found more substantial and believeable. The Garden State characters seemed...well...common place in a mundane way. I didn't care. The seams in the film-making were all too obvious, probably intentionally.

I'm not making sense here. I can't put my finger on it.

[meganmonkey]

3. I thought it was entertaining and interesting

but not mind-blowing, at all. Lately it seems hype ruins movies since they don't live up to it (i.e. Napoleon Dynamite).

I will say this. For some reason, Garden State made be cry like a baby. :cry: It felt good.

[sundog]

6. I thought it was great...

sorta along the lines of "Igby Goes Down," but not quite as good.

Yeah, I liked it a lot. And I usually hate rom coms :)

[hollywood926]

7. Most of these indie films are overrated...

Garden State was average, at best. I didn't laugh at all. I heard people laughing behind me when the dog was humping his leg, but I haven't laughed at something like that since I was eight.

[gonefishing]

9. I liked it. Warning Spoiler!!!

I loved the story of Zach and Sam. Zach was a zombie and Sam saves him. Zachk's father as his shrink, that was great. The rich kid using a golf cart in his mansion. Jean Smart as the mother telling them when she gets her yacht she is only going to let Zach on it and she paints Zach's body. I thought it was slow but it had a lot of little gems.

However, I agree with you on Lost in Translation. I didn't like it at all.

[fleabert]

10. coming from a family with a history of mental illness,

I found it poignant and very respectful of mental illness. It was very 'real' and not cliche, which was refreshing. The characters were flawed but endearing. I loved it, esp. considering it was a first work by Zach whatshisname...I love his acting in Scrubs, so perhaps I was biased. I adored the movie.

[tridim]

11. What did you think of Eternal Sunshine?

That was an indie, and IMO the best film in years.

Personally, I'm sick of big budget blockbusters and pop-films. 99% of them suck, hard.

[stopbush]

15. I haven't seen it yet. I'm sort of avoiding Jim Carrey these days.

I haven't liked any of his movies since The Truman Show, which I liked alot. Bruce Almighty and The Majestic I really disliked. I'm at a point where I really need to be convinced before I see a JC flick.

[tridim]

17. You're in for one shocking Jim Carrey performance then

After about 10 minutes, you'll forget it's even him. Rent it tonight!

[stopbush]

18. OK, you've convinced me. Maybe this weekend.

[Bouncy Ball]

12. Try Napoleon Dynamite.

[stopbush]

16. I liked EuroTrip, which is being promoted with N Dynamite.

I've avoided it because so many DUers hated it.

So many movies, so much dreck...SO LITTLE TIME!