Old frienz

Say it with me: PRE-TEN-SHUS

I think I’ll go back and watch Garden State again.

I liked it the first time I saw it but I’ve since concluded it was a contrived film and wanting audiences to glorify Braff’s sensational indie music taste. I actually watched it three times within 24 hours that one time I hired it out so many years ago. (Overnight new releases - gotta get ya money’s worth ay).
 

It was all in the midst of Scrubs being one of my favourite comedies on TV and I thought the movie was great. But the third time I watched Garden State, I listened to the director/cast commentary and felt so uneasy hearing Zach Braff flirt with Natalie Portman for 90 straight minutes. NatPort was friendly and chatty but hardly reciprocated his obvious infatuation. He was just trying too hard. Then moments of tenderness and subtlety on-screen became insufferable as their creator similtaneously fawned over his leading lady off-screen. From the wake-up-one-morning beginning to the unusually oomphless hair* to the screw-it-let's-be-happy ending, Braff's directorial debut now reeked of pretension. Every awkward pause, every whispered line, every sparsely furnished room made me wretch. I mean, not even Wes Anderson's frame is that symmetrical.  Afterward I started to respect him less. Then I started enjoying Scrubs less and less. I’m not saying I found it less funny but I felt like I knew what Zach Braff was really like underneath and it reminded me of one too many fellows that made me queasy. I got over it (well mostly) because obviously, I don’t know him at all and he is still a wonderfully funny and charismatic actor. Scrubs means a lot to a lot of people and it certainly had an impression on me. I loved staying up late to watch/simultaneously tape them. I remember taping Scrubs + Arrested Development + Curb Your Enthusiasm + The Office late on school nights. I made so many tapes of pure sitcom awesomeness, but I’ve since bought a number of them on DVD.



Awesome sitcoms: (left to right) The Office [US], Scrubs & Arrested Development

I had very few friends who watched these shows at the time; it was a bit sad that I could only joke about it with my brothers and I had a reputation in school for laughing out loud just thinking about these sitcoms – no one knew what I was on; I'd feel (as) silly explaining it. I haven’t stopped laughing to myself or by myself either. Dad says he can hear me at odd hours of the night several rooms away having a good ol’ chuckle. Be it Doctor Who, Mork and Mindy or whatever. Nothing makes me laugh more than Arrested though and the jokes never wear.

My high school / sitcom tape days were also the days when I really loved David Letterman. Since then I’ve seen him go through a number of scandals and I don’t see him the same way anymore, and he

Dave's Best Look: brown framed glasses and grey suit

probably knows it. I don’t mean me in particular, but he’s submitted to this new view audiences have of him. We’ve both grown jaded with age. It’s like he’s a friend I went to school with whose since gone through a bitchy/slutty period and now has this sad maturity from being knocked up, raising a child and all the accompanying gossip, and we have this awkward encounter when we see each other at the grocery store**. It’s really only out-of-the-blue-awkward; s/he’s too tired to care about social appearances these days. When we part ways, s/he clutches my shoulder quite tenderly and sincerely and adds, “Hey, take care of yourself”. Surreal and heart-warming, no? Geena Davis would play the part of my high school chum / David Letterman in a midday movie.

Anyhow, people are imperfect and people can change. It doesn’t mean they’re any less sensitive or likeable. That’s why I feel guilty about my summation of Zach Braff and Garden State so I’m going to re-watch it and judge the movie for what it is and maybe it’ll recapture the admiration I first felt for it as a teenager. It’s not uncommon to dislike movies you once enjoyed as a child. I’m curious to see how Curly Sue, George of the Jungle and The Swan Princess have withstood the test of time and my maturity. I know cartoons will usually appeal to wide demographics but Jim Belushi/Brendan Fraser movies are another thing entirely. It should be an interesting / nauseating / eye-gouging experience.

Second chances: NatPort & Braff

*It means he's serious.

** Note it's not a supermarket. Grocery stores are where people encounter each other in movies.

- - - - - - -
Garden State re-viewed August 2011:
- A well-written film.
- Best performance: Natalie Portman.
- Some moments/scenes make me aware I'm watching a movie. I don't usually like to realise this. I guess a symmetrical mise-en-scene sticks out more in the beginning of the film because I'm yet to be absorbed by the characters and the plot. A number of times I think he's piecing together a lot of "I've always wanted to do this in a movie" ideas. But overall, very entertaining ideas, eccentric characters, and a lot of "sweet job man" directorial touches that I have to commend Braff for.
- Good movie.
- I still hate the "have a listen to the Shins while I smile over and over" scene. It's gratuitously cute.