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Review

TV's "Scrubs" star Braff makes a terrific leap from the small screen to the big screen with this impressive directorial debut. Braff plays Andrew Largeman, a sullen, clinically depressed twenty-something damaged by his past who regretfully returns to his home state of New Jersey when his mother passes away. Here he will have to face the father he hasn't spoken to in years and his group of underachieving druggie friends who haven't done much except the same old nothing, which Andrew will inevitably start doing again provided he sticks around. When he meets Sam (exceptionally portrayed by Portman), Andrew starts to view his life in a whole new light and begins a process of dying in order to rebuild himself. Braff, who also wrote the intuitive screenplay, maintains character development throughout, accented by original humor, identifiable emotional conflict, a great soundtrack and a love story that is of a remarkable conviction -- the type we rarely see in regard to young characters. It's as much of a pleasure watching Garden State as it is witnessing the transformation of a TV actor to a promising writer, director and star.

 -- Chris Lombardi