A View from Mars:

Garden State (B+) First, allow me to set the stage for this review with an analogy befitting this movie court blog; Natalie Portman is to View from Mars as Nicole Kidman is to Movie Snob. Now, that being said, the bias will end there, but hopefully you'll agree that this movie stands on it's own without my schoolboy crush getting in the way. Zach Braff (of TV's Scrubs) wrote, directed and starred in this simple movie about going home again. Braff plays a somewhat struggling actor in LA, who comes home to New Jersey for the first time in quite a while for his mother's funeral. Awaiting him there is a psychiatrist father whom he rarely speaks to and a handful of friends that will probably be out of his mind the minute he returns to LA. During his somber encounters around town, he meets a local girl (Natalie Portman) in a doctor's waiting room. They converse, they connect, they hang out, and he learns to get a better handle on life. Portman plays this role well and it's her best acting since her all too brief role in Beautiful Girls. It even makes you forgive her for the Star Wars prequels. Braff did a great job as a triple threat with the story and his handling of the chemistry between the characters. In a summer filled with a lot of action/adventure duds, this little movie was a refreshing breath of air. It's worth a look and probably the perfect renter when it comes out on video.


Addendum from The Movie Snob:

I saw this flick this weekend too, and Mars took some of the words right out of my mouth. Who is this Braff guy, and how did he pull this stunt off? Step 1: Write romantic screenplay. Step 2: Get Natalie Portman as female lead. Step 3: Get self cast as male lead. Step 4: Get self hired as director, so as to be able to require maximum number of retakes on romantic scenes. Nice work if you can get it. I wasn't quite as sold on this movie's charms as Mars, but it's worth checking out. I'd call it a B-.