In 2004, "Scrubs" star Zach Braff
made his directorial debut with the comedy-drama film "Garden State."
To the surprise of pretty much everyone, the movie was actually really good and
won several awards. What made the movie special was that it had a lot of heart
to it; you could tell Zach Braff truly wanted it to be great and poured his
heart and soul into it. With the success of "Garden State," Braff
expressed interest in directing another movie; but for some reason, no company
wanted to give him a chance or let him make the movie he really wanted to. So
in 2013 he went to KickStarter, and asked his fans for help in funding the
movie. The movement was a success, and he raised over three million dollars and
was eventually picked up by a distributor. So after ten long years, Zach Braff
gets another chance to show off his directing skills with his second movie
"Wish I was Here."
The movie revolves around a
man named Aidan, a wanna be actor and father going through some rough times.
After learning that he owes some money to his kid's private school, he goes to
talk to his father (who agreed to pay as long as he chose the school). Aidan
learns that his father's cancer had returned and is spreading; his father
decides he wants to try an expensive experimental treatment and can no longer
pay for the kid’s school. Aidan is terrified of the public school system, since
he was bullied as a kid while in it, so he decides the only option is to home
school his kids. Unfortunately, he has no idea what he's doing. Not long after,
he gets words from his father's doctor, the treatment didn't work and there was
nothing more they could do. Faced with his father's mortality, his own failed
career, an unhappy wife, a brother who doesn't seem to care that their father
is dying, and challenges with his kid’s education, Aidan just tries to stay
strong and attempts to keep his family together while fixing everyone's
problems.
Right off the bat I'll
say that I certainly enjoyed "Wish I Was Here," but it is a mixed
bag; it does many things right but just as many wrong. For the most part, the
movie has a really good balance between comedy and emotional moments. Some
jokes do fall flat, and it feels that the movie tries a little too hard to be
emotional and philosophical at times; but the movie is still quite funny and there are a
few scenes that might bring a tear to your eye. Probably the biggest problem
with the movie is that the plot gets jumbled a times. Different things are
happening with Aidan, his dad, brother, wife, and daughter all at the same
time; and while they're related things can get a little messy. And with so much
going on, I'd say it's about 20 minutes to long. Acting from the entire cast is
really good; everyone from Zach Braff to the little kid who plays his son plays their
roles very well. One thing that was evident immediately was the cinematography,
this movie was shot beautifully. It's bright, colorful, and fits the mood of
the movie perfectly. An aspect of the movie that I'm sure fans of Braff will
like is that the movie is very reminiscent of his previous movie "Garden
State;" some may see this as retreading of old water, but it still has
that level of charm that made his last movie lovable. And like "Garden
State," the movie has a really great soundtrack. This movie has many
flaws, many of which can straight up ruin movies; but there is something here
that many movies don't have, passion. Zach Braff puts more love and passion
into every shot than most directors put into an entire movie, and you can see
that throughout. "Wish I Was Here" isn't a perfect movie and came
close to me giving it a bad review. But Zach Braff's hard work and determination
didn't just save it, he made me like it.
Pros: Often very funny and emotional, great
soundtrack, good performances from the entire cast, beautiful cinematography,
reminiscent of "Garden State," a lot of passion put into this movie.
Cons: Plot gets jumbled, 20 minutes to long, a
few jokes fall flat, tries to hard sometime.
No comments:
Post a Comment