Gavin Purtell 'Wish I Was Here' is a very touching film. My best advice is don't go in expecting a hilarious comedy, but nor is it a dour/depressing drama. Braff is steadily becoming an accomplished director, knowing when to lighten the mood, but importantly, when to keep it real and meaningful. In fact, I probably liked 'Wish I Was Here' more than 'Garden State'...The film basically follows Aidan (Braff) and his family as they struggle to live their lives in Los Angeles - he's an out-of-work actor, wife Sarah (Hudson) is in a dull admin job, they can't afford to keep the kids in expensive Jewish school, his brother's an ambitionless drop-out, and to top it all off, his dad has lung cancer. Sounds bad? That's the basic premise - how does the human heart overcome such adversity?Once again, a fantastic soundtrack - featuring Bon Iver, The Shins & Paul Simon - with plenty of lovely moments, whether it's a sight gag (pamphlet container) or a simple explanation of something odd (the contact lenses). There's definitely some funny moments, mostly thanks to the youngest kid, Tucker (Gagnon, from 'Looper' & 'Extant') trying to understand what he's being told. Oh, and Turk from Scrubs turns up briefly! Sure, it gets a bit dramatic in parts and perhaps doesn't have the strongest ending.But, that being said, Grace (King), Gabe (Patinkin) & Noah (Gad) all have some scenes that seriously pull at the heart strings/tear ducts! The delicate moments are handled exceptionally and there's plenty of overt and concealed meanings in most of the scenes.

Angus T. Cat When I saw a trailer for Wish I was Here on a DVD my husband and I watched last week I knew I wanted to see it. On our trip back to the library I was delighted to find Wish I we Here on their DVD shelves. I enjoyed the film tremendously. I grew up in Miami in a large Jewish community in the 1970s and 1980s. The story of the Bloom family- Aidan, Noah and their father- brought back a lot of memories for me. When they turned the pages of the family photo album I had to click pause on one picture, because it looked just like the pictures of my family at weddings and social events. Same colors, same hairdos, same fashions. The palm trees of LA reminded me of South Florida too. My relatives and the people I knew in school are not religious and feel like Aidan when it comes to religion: skeptical. I enjoyed the scenes of the religious school and the scenes with the rabbis. I appreciated that while Aidan didn't agree with his father about sending his children to a yeshiva the movie didn't criticize Grace's beliefs, the school, and the rabbis. I didn't mind the poking of the elderly rabbi: the sequence where he rides a segway in the hospital and crashes into a wall was hilarious. I'm glad that the movie didn't show Noah and Aidan rejecting their religious background in favour of being completely secular. Wish I Was Here could have just shown Aidan telling his children to forget about the yeshiva and religion and embrace "normal" contemporary life. I appreciated that Aidan found guidance from the younger rabbi, and Grace found ways to carry on her beliefs while adapting to their new lives after Aidan's father passed away. The pink wig was a nice symbol of her growing more confidence and openness to new experiences while maintaining her values: she was wearing a wig like a religious married woman, but it was bright pink. I'm a big fan of comics and I've been to the San Diego comic con a few times. It was great to see the convention in the movie and see the cosplayers walking outside the center and around the rooms, taking pleasure in showing off their costumes. Noah's space man costume was terrific. I saw a lot of amazing costumes at San Diego- I would have loved to see more cosplayers, especially the Star Wars costumes and the people dressing up as superheroes and supervillians. It's wonderful to see movies being made now that celebrate fan culture like the cosplayers and Comic Con. It's a pleasure to see a movie that presents growing up in a Jewish family, and explores aspects of Jewish identity, how adults and parents like Aidan and Noah feel about their heritage, and passing on values to their children.

coduck Besides all the Kickstarter and Scrubs brawl I'd like to comment on the movie itself. First I was excited because I really loved "Garden State". But then detail after detail popped up and I really wondered what is going on.The Cast:Some people Zach likes or knows from earlier projects are in the movie. To name a few:Donald Faison (Turk from "Scrubs"), Michael Weston (Kenny from "Garden State"), Jim Parsons (Tim from "Garden State" and of course best known as Dr. Sheldon Cooper from "The Big Bang Theory")Don't get me wrong, this does not mean that doing so is a bad idea. But all these roles are more or less obsolete. Why so? Because they don't have the time to bring something unique into their characters. You could replace them all with "ordinary" extras.Some are brilliant like Kate Hudson (Who even wasn't first choice), Mandy Patinkin and Joey King. Some remain pale like Josh Gad who plays like reading a phone book.The plotThe basic theme of this film is family and the struggle in daily life. This is set up beautifully in many shades and variations. Aidan home teaching his children for example or Sarah taking digs at Aidan when he complains about "supporting his dream".And then there are plot sidelines that sometimes distract from but also sometimes sculpt the main thought. Let's take religion as an example. Religion always glimmers through the plot. It does not matter if it's Jewish religion, it could work with others also. You could have left all of that out completely. It would not have changed anything. And that's sad. If something does not have a function (besides delivering punch lines) then get rid of it. A Scandinavian, french or German film would have been more focused on the central idea.And also there are too many of these sidelinesSchool change from Jewish to public and Grace Blooms struggle with that (including a just sketched "boy friend")Auditioning (again, just punchlines besides the connection to Aidans job later)Sarah getting harassed by her colleague (and Aidan got beat up by him). Noah and Comic Con (the connection to Aidan and his daydreams remains weak)So, nothing good at the end?All in all I would say it is a disappointment regarding "Garden State". But as you cannot compare two flowers you cannot really compare the two movies. This one is more for an older generation (35+) in similar situations. Younger people without kids won't understand some references.The soundtrack is really, really good although some people might miss Joshua Radin. But, as Zach stated in a kickstarter screening, he don't wanted to add a song just because the musician is "his best white friend".The film itself looks really good. Camera, lighting, prop design, … all very well done. (With a slight complaint about Apple product placement. Who has Apple products when money is tight? The Aston Martin is only seen once, nothing to complain here)My personal opinion is that Zach should have focused more on the leitmotif. He said in a kickstarter screening that they had to get rid of some "daydream" scenes. He'd better get rid of some of the surplus topics. I can only guess that it is not good to wait such a long time between your projects. You tend to put more into them than they can bear.A good movie but not more than that. A solid 6.5/10 and maybe watching it more times will raise that.

harismxovic I almost didn't know anything going into this movie. The three things I did know where: (1.) It was a sequel/prequel to Zack Braff's other movie, Garden state. (This turned out to be false, as it was more of a spiritual successor.) (2.) It was funded using kick-starter. (This is apparent to anyone watching this movie, as there is a whole scene dedicated to parading a bunch of cosplayers on comic-con. Which I assume are some of the people who gave money to this project, or its simply there as a tribute to the fans?) and (3.) It was supposedly bad, judging by the reviews I saw when it got released. (This turned out to be true. Sadly) (+)The movie does have some good parts. There are some genuinely honest moments where Zack Braff deals with his emotions and thoughts regarding family and religion. Which I suppose reflect his real life struggles and fears he has had to deal with in the past. All of the actors (aside from Zack Braff himself and Sheldon Cooper from How I met your theory) are great choices when it comes to these types of movies (as most of the movie is carried by the actors themselves when the story is barely existent). Maybe he should have stuck to a melodramatic plot if he absolutely had to be such a big part of it? (+/-)Same as for Garden State, I would have put Zack Braffs great taste in music as a big plus. But sadly there is this terrible scene in the end of the movie where he combines a song from Bon Iver and a ridiculously-annoying-badly-made CGI robot. (As I learned, the song was even specifically written for the movie, which makes the scene even worse and a terrible waste of potential.) Its probably one of movie history's worse uses of great music judging by the potential, time and by the music's greatness.) (-)As for the CGI robot, I don't even want to write more about it. As finding words to describe it is probably putting infinitely more effort in then was actually spent on making that abomination. The spacesuits are equally bad. (i)The last and most interesting part I want to write about is the sub-plot of the wife and the co-worker. The movie deals with sexual harassment, but in a rather weird and extreme way. The solution of the boss within the movie is a simple one, he removes the co-worker and tells the wife to "let it go", to cheer up and "hakuna matata", etc. While I can see that some people might say, what he's initially telling her is: "ill make a man out of you" and they might find it rather offensive. I don't necessary agree with the fact that the problem isn't dealt with, as the movie presents it. The co-worker is removed and if he indeed should annoy anyone else, he might get removed again, or even fired. The whole point of the sub-plot does seem kind of forced and weird, especially when you remember that Zack Braff's first movie is a manic pixie dream girl extravaganza.