Garden State

Starring: Zach Braff, Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Ian Holm, Jean Smart
Director: Zach Braff
Genre: Drama
Rated: MA15+
Running Time: 98 mins

An Official Selection at the Sundance Film Festival and set to a great soundtrack featuring Coldplay, Remy Zero and the Shins, GARDEN STATE is the must-see cult hit of the year!

Hot stars Zach Braff (TV's Scrubs), Natalie Portman (Cold Mountain) and Peter Sarsgaard (Boys Don't Cry) give unforgettable performances in this original motion picture! An aspiring actor living in Los Angeles, Andrew 'Large' Largeman (Braff) has managed to avoid a visit to his hometown in New Jersey and the inevitable confrontation with his father (Ian Holm The Aviator). But as he reconnects with the place once he returns, a twist of fate introduces him to Sam (Portman), a quirky girl who gives Large the courage to open his heart to life's experiences!

An Official Selection at the Sundance Film Festival and set to a great soundtrack featuring Coldplay, Remy Zero and the Shins, GARDEN STATE is the must-see cult hit of the year!

Based on Zach Braff's experiences in South Orange, GARDEN STATE is a unique and unconventional homage to small town life in New Jersey, not simply a story of the state but about a state of mind.

Prompted by his mother's suicide, struggling actor, Andrew Largeman leaves Hollywood to return home to New Jersey. Since his departure nine years ago "Large" has been disconnected from the world, sedated on Lithium, Demerol, and a host of other prescribed medication.

His trip home now offers the opportunity to leave his cabinet full of pills behind and confront his father (Ian Holm), a manipulative and domineering man who is also his psychiatrist and who has been prescribing all the medication that has kept "Large" sleep walking through life

In New Jersey he discovers old acquaintances and friends who have gone on to unfulfilled and somewhat failed lives during his extended absence. Mark (Peter Sarsgaard) is a drug smoking grave digger who makes his way by stealing jewellery from the bodies he buries. Jesse (Armando Riesco), made millions when he invented silent Velcro but has since been left directionless and bored, filling his endless days by throwing Ecstasy parties. Tim (Jim Parsons) is a "fast-food knight" who is dating mark's mother (Jean Smart) and Kenny (Michael Weston) has become an overzealous cop.

Wry and sarcastic Large stays emotionally detached until he meets Sam (Natalie Portman), in a doctor's office waiting room. Beautiful and quirky, Sam's guileless optimism disarms him and gives him the strength to journey toward self-awareness and reclaim his identity.

The GARDEN STATE DVD is loaded with bonus features, including 16 deleted scenes with commentary by Zach Braff, a blooper reel and commentary from Zach, Natalie Portman and Peter Sarsgaard.

A gently offbeat Sundance Film Festival nominee for The Grand Jury Prize GARDEN STATE is both poignant and often funny is a universal story of pain, loss, love and overcoming obstacles that reaches out to the lonely, the lost, and the depressed.