If not for the well known cast I would have thought this to be a indie film. It is rather off beat, but it is a satisfying film and well acted and written with a few flaws. The mostly deadpan low key comedy works, and its refreshing to see comedy without bathroom jokes, until ... the scene where a dog humping the protagonist's leg is used as a plot device ... that and another really tasteless scene involving a dog really stuck out in a bad way in an otherwise enjoyable film. Overall I thought the film worked, but it is weird, and all the characters have these major flaws that make me think i might not want anything to do with them in real life .. but maybe that's part of why it was interesting. And Natalie Portman is adorable.

In one word, I would describe this movie as boring. I could not wait for it to end and kept checking how many minutes were remaining. I don't think a good movie is supposed to make you do that. Basically, the characters are shallow, one dimensional, incredibly boring, walking clichés. From the try-hard, self- absorbed, pill-popping emo main character, to the supporting characters who are uninteresting losers belonging in a trailer park and the love interest who is trying so hard to be individualistic and original, she is basically cramming it down your throat. In case you didn't get the message she wants to be super original, she tells you she likes to make random noises and movements that no one has ever done before so she can go down in history as being the only person on the planet to do said random movement and noise. And this is supposed to be so endearing that main character emo goes from feeling nothing to falling for her and changing his whole life in the space of 2 days. Somebody get me a bucket. If you want to watch a character who is actually individualistic and original, watch Amelie (note she doesn't tell you at any point in that movie that she is trying to be individualistic or original). This movie is supposedly a statement about my generation. If that's really the case then I guess I'm supposed to yell out into an "infinite abyss" and tell someone I'm breaking up with that this isn't a period, it's an ellipsis and then throw up a bit in my mouth. That airport scene where she was sobbing in the payphone booth and he comes back for her was so cheesy, it literally made me gag. This is not some big love. We watched two uninteresting, unlikeable characters we don't care about get to know each other for 2 days. There was no profound love story that warrants such a sappy conclusion. It's ironic that a movie trying to be so indie ends up concluding like a cliché romcom, some guy chasing girl at airport and declaring his love to her. Pretty sure 99% of romcoms end this way and at least the script writers in those movies put in a bit more effort to write a story with a beginning, middle and end. In summary, there is no character development, and the plot is basically some guy returning to his home town after 9 years and apparently everyone treats him as if he never left and they are the best of friends, even though when he left, they were all teenagers. His friends are losers and they all hang around doing boring, loser things, and then love interest tags along to also do boring, loser things. The emo was on medication but he doesn't want to be anymore, because he wants to feel stuff now that he has met original individualistic love interest. The whole plot centres on him accidentally paralysing his mother as a kid and his father having him on mind altering medication since. Considering this was the whole story, they probably should have spent more than 30 seconds on it in total (there's literally 15 seconds screen time with the father all up, and another 15 seconds of him telling the story of his past). If the whole premise is based on this, then Braff really should have fleshed it out a bit more, instead of just having all the characters hanging around doing boring, loser things for the other 101.5 minutes of the movie. The end result is we aren't given the opportunity to care about the main character's past, his present or whether things work out for him in the future and we are bored out of our minds for the majority of the movie wondering why we aren't doing something more interesting with our time. Even with a better plot (or the existence of a plot) the characters really need to be far more interesting for this movie to be even remotely watchable. Why this is so well rated, even by critics will go down in history as one of life's great, unsolvable mysteries.

In Summer 2017,unexpectedly,I watched one of the best films ever,Garden State,I also discovered that The Perks Of Being A Walflower was one too! The film follows a failed small TV actor,who usually bottles up his feelings,for instance,never having cried for years,goes back to his hometown for his mother's funeral to discover a bunch of great people who never even knew existed. The film is directed by Zach Braff who also stars as the main role. Garden State is a brilliant film,I've loved it since the day I watched it and I try to watch it,once every year,so,next year,possibly in Summer,I'll watch it. The film had absolutely no flaws and I loved the guest performances by Peter Sarsgard and Natalie Porter,I thought they were brilliant as well as Ian Holm and the small appearance by Jim Parsons. The film had brilliant acting,as just said,and a great story that was brilliantly put into a movie,I heard it was based on Braff's true life experiences. The film has a excellent soundtrack featuring a song that would end up being in my best songs ever list which was Let Go - Frou,Frou. Garden State is a brilliant movie,I really advise you to see