Wish I Was Here
Dir: Zach Braff
2014
***
Zach Braff impressed everyone with his 2004 directional debut Garden State, his Srubs work schedule must have been grueling but after the film received so much praise, it's hard to understand why it took him four years to follow it up? Wish I Was Here is similar but also very different to Garden State. For one thing he is now ten years older, although I think Garden State was aimed more for the twenty something crowd, Wish I Was Here is very much for the forty somethings. Forty somethings that still feel they're twenty somethings that is. Plenty of us out there but I'm not sure this is the film that really speaks to a generation like Garden State did. There is plenty to enjoy. The father of the family (played by Braff) is not a stereotypical figure you'd expect from the genre and neither is his character's wife (played by Kate Hudson in her best role since 2010's The Killer Inside Me). It's not a man against his unsupportive family film, which is a blessed relief. It has beautifully tender moments that are truly heartfelt and full of integrity. Braff's visual flare is still strong after ten years, with some wonderfully striking moments popping up throughout the film's duration. It's just a shame that the film is littered with very poor attempts at humour. Braff is a funny guy but the Scrubs-light comedy here just doesn't work and it cheapens the drama. There are also great moments of pure fantasy, whereby Braff's character daydreams about childhood fantasies of being an astronaut, fighting aliens on distant planets that I think work brilliantly but are again, somewhat spoiled by dumbed-down humour. It doesn't ruin the film but it kicks it's integrity in the personals somewhat. A shame in some respect, it's good but high expectations may leave you feeling a little short changed.