Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with Capone's droolings over Ms. Natalie Portman. Anybody my age (early 20s) who has grown up with films like LEON or BEAUTIFUL GIRLS can't help but be in love with this girl... And anyone older than my age who feels the same way is a big pervo! So, I guess that'd make Capone a big pervo, but he's not the violent kind. I can vouche for his soft touch... I mean, what? Uh... Hey, there's a review to look at! Go read it!

Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago here. One of the big Sundance acquisitions this year was GARDEN STATE, the debut feature from writer, director, star, and Northwestern University grad (like me) Zach Braff (best known for his work on “Scrubs”). GARDEN STATE is actual proof that you don’t have to bombard the audience with overwhelming visuals, loud noises, and a million special effects shots to pack a hefty punch. What Braff accomplishes here is nothing short of miraculous, striking a chord in anyone who has ever taken stock in their life--even at a relatively young age--a discovered that they are nowhere near where they’d like to be. In many ways the tone of GARDEN STATE reminded me a lot of LOST IN TRANSLATION, particularly Scarlett Johansson’s story. And while GARDEN STATE has much more humor, I can see it appealing to largely the same crowd.

Braff plays Andrew Largeman (known by his friends as “Large”), an actor living in California who is best known for his moving and utterly convincing portrayal of a retarded football player in a movie of the week. He gets a call from his estranged father (Ian Holm) with word that his paraplegic mother has died in a bathtub drowning incident. Large makes the journey back to, where else, New Jersey for the funeral, but ends up spending most of the rest of the time there hanging out with old friends whose lives have gone absolutely no where since high school. Among this crowd is Mark (Peter Sarsgaard), a guy with higher ambitions than most, but whose potential for grown seems stunned by a constant intake of pot. He does have a sweet set of Desert Storm trading cards that may actually be worth something someday. Large decides to visit the local doctor (Ron Leibman) about persistent headaches that he can’t seem to shake. During his examination, we discover that Large is taking about 100 different pills to deal with psychological problems he was diagnosed with at an early age by his therapist father. His life has essentially been lived in a constant fog since the age of nine, and he deliberately neglects to pack any of his meds with him on this trip. One of the great things that Braff does is allow the character he plays to slowly rise up out of his haze. The film gets more alive and vibrant as it goes on, culminating in a scene that feels like freedom, set at the edge of a very deep quarry.

But the real star of the film is the luminous Natalie Portman as Sam. I don’t care how much of a crush on her you think you have now, wait under you see her do her stuff here. Sam isn’t trying to be sexy or charming or beautiful, she just is by being natural. I’ve never seen Portman play a role like this. She someone manages to be both shy and self-assured at the same time. Her speech is peppered with “like,” “you know,” and all manner of verbal deadwood, but her energy and spirit are infectious. Large falls for her instantly in his doctor’s waiting room. And it’s in this waiting room scene that we learn another things about Sam: she’s a compulsive liar, which has nothing to do with why she’s at the doctor’s office. You find out about that as well.

The biggest and best reason I loved GARDEN STATE is that I never quite knew where it was going to take me. Large’s hometown adventures, particularly a bizarre scavenger hunt that Mark takes he and Sam on near the end of the film, are something I could have watched for days. And in one scene after another, Braff amazed me. The scene with Large, Mark, and Mark’s mother (Jean Smart), who seems to have a taste for men her son’s age, is a scream. The scene when Large meet’s Sam’s family is extremely touching. The scene where Large and his father finally discuss how they are going to exist in a world together is powerful. Braff is probably the weakest actor in the film, but he has wisely surrounded himself with a small army of talented folks who make him and the film look good. GARDEN STATE is a film worth seeking out. It’s scheduled to open July 30 in N.Y. and L.A., and everywhere else August 6.

Capone

email: In case Ms. Portman's lawyers need to get in contact with Capone, here's his email address!