Why Zach Braff and Garden State Are Funny

Well, it was once again the very last night for a movie I wanted to see to be playing at City Cinema. So I did my usual thing, at least there was a reasonable number of people there tonight. While it's fun to have a whole theatre to yourself, it's much nicer to have a fun little alternative to Empire Theatres that can stay in business.

Here are the things that only me and one other girl thought were funny in Garden State:

• Wolf Blitzer - Note: always funny.
• Corpse robbing
• That really really cliché moment when the main character looks up into the rain, spreads his arms and realizes life is worth living. (Directing and starring in a movie you wrote? Yeah, I thought so.)
• The over-use of Nick Drake music

Those may sound like criticisms, but trust me, this movie is fucking hilarious. And I'm always super-happy to see Natalie Portman in a non-Star Wars movie where she can actually do some acting.

Braff's character is 26 years old in the film, which I think must be the perfect age to really find Gulf War trading cards funny on just the right level. Or, for that matter, be able to be so easily swept up by the possibly of such a simple and perfect romance, having lived long enough to suspect it might not happen to you, but not long enough to realize it's probably not meant to be like that. (or maybe I'm just falling for Natalie Portman's ever-so-faint Israeli accent downward arcing cadence again.. who knows)

The thing that I think sets this movie apart is that all of the characters have very definite flaws or problems, but the movie isn't about having each character get over that problem, but rather simply lets them exist and be themselves, including that odd / unique aspect of themselves. Sort of like finally breaking the Wizard of Oz-influenced idea that everything should end up 'fixed' at the end, and that a flaw only exists to be solved or worked past.

Instead, the characters are strange and interesting, and they stay that way, and it's wonderful.