> A really enjoyable, warm, and funny film.
>
> A kind of love story, told with a gentle underplayed humour. Its
> wayward story is full of matter-of-fact weirdness; characters who
> are a touch peculiar but still lovable. Braff keeps the pace
> leisurely and delights with the nicely composed visual humour.
>
> The film deals with those age old themes - learning to love; finding
> out and accepting who you really are - but they are touchingly
> realised, never glib or cheap, with characters who you genuinely
> want to find out about.

I will preface myself by saying that I really, really like this movie,
but I would not recommend it to everyone. I would recommend it to my
little sister. The love interest is hardlypart of the plot, more a
catalyst for the character to resolve himself within his four days at
home. Natalie Portman excels as a Jersey girl, and in that respect I
find every scene with her excruciatingly awkward and contrived. The
attraction there is a joke. Are we really supposed to hurrah that two
wounded strangers attach themselves to each other? Are we supposed to
overlook what happens after the movie ends, when one of them finally
deals with his issues and regains his sense of balance? I'm sorry, I
am just not that sun-beamingly optimistic. The movie suffers from A.I.
Effect - it should have ended at the penultimate scene, but the
producers felt the need to tie up all the strings so it would be a
good date movie.

The real story here is the main character himself, and the story is
his internal struggle to finally take an active role in his life. This
plotline is reinforced by the very same struggle going on within his
friend (Sarsgaard) and even with the minor characters. Anyone who grew
up in a suburban area will identify with (if not recognize) the
familiar tug of war between the satisfaction of leaving the roost and
pursuing something that is yours alone, and the comfort of staying
inside the nest. There's always a draw to forming one's life around
the familiar - living near your parents, your old friends, sleeping in
the bed you slept in as a child. Each of the main characters has found
himself in this situation (Braff mentally, Sarsgaard through
aimlessness, Portman because of her medical condition), feeling
resticted, immobilized, and each is frustrated by his circumstances.

The struggle comes because each character knows who he is, but has
trouble resolving his ideals with the actions he has failed to take
until this point. The film is about reflecting on who you are, and
realizing that you can spend your entire life dreaming and pretending
and hoping and wishing, but that the only thing that brings true
happiness is acting on those desires.

I *don't* recommend this film to anyone who proclaims himself to have
refined tastes in film. I *do* recommend this film to anyone cynical,
jaded, mildly depressed, or between 18 and 29 years old, or who has
ever been to New Jersey (because it's dead on). DP nuts will also love
it, as Lawrence Sher pulls out all the tricks in his cinematographer's
bag - if there's one thing to say about this movie, it's shot better
than even Lawrence of Arabia.