Review: Wish I Was Here

by Trevor Kirkendall

★★★★

We all know how great of a film “Garden State” is and how talented Zach Braff is as a writer and director. I wasn’t expecting much from “Garden State” when it first came out ten years ago (yes, it has been that long), but it became one of my favorite films of the year and of the decade. But it took ten years for Braff to follow that up with his second feature film “Wish I Was Here” and I’m not sure why. Every studio passed on this script. It wasn’t until Braff took his wishes to the crowd funding website Kickstarter that he was finally able to make the film on his own. And after seeing it, I can’t understand why studios passed on this one.

Braff has said this film was meant to be a “spiritual sequel” or sorts to “Garden State” and I can see that. Braff plays Aidan Bloom, a mid-30s actor struggling to find work. His wife Sarah (Kate Hudson) is left to provide for the whole family, which also includes their children Grace (Joey King) and Tucker (Pierce Gagnon). The kids are enrolled at a private Orthodox Jewish school, a request from Aidan’s father Gabe (Mandy Patinkin) who pays the pricey tuition.

But then Gabe reveals to Aidan that he has cancer and would like to take part in an experimental treatment, which will cost him the rest of his life savings. That means no more school tuition for the kids. So Aidan pulls them from the school and opts to try his hand at homeschooling. But when Gabe’s cancer experiment fails, Aidan is left to watch his father – a man who he’s never really seen eye-to-eye with – slowly fade away. That causes him to question some of his life choices and also how he’s seen in the eyes of his children. He also tries to bring his estranged brother Noah (Josh Gad) back into the family mix, especially for the sake of his dying father.

It sounds a lot more melodramatic that it really is. It’s mostly lighthearted and humorous in Braff’s unique brand of filmmaking. Overall, “Wish I Was Here” is very comparable in tone to “Garden State.” There are many moments that will really make you laugh out loud, moments that really warm your heart, and moments that will truly move your emotions.

Braff calling this film a spiritual sequel is reasonably accurate. It wouldn’t be a stretch to put Braff’s Andrew Largeman in the role of Aidan and Natalie Portman’s Sam in for Sarah, picking back up with them ten years or so after “Garden State” ends. Married with kids in Los Angeles, Largeman struggling to find work, his estranged father lying on his deathbed. It all works. But Braff wants to prove he’s a serious writer and director, which is why he chose to create completely different characters.

Braff’s Aidan is no Largeman and Hudson’s Sarah is no Sam. They’re vastly different from the people we knew in “Garden State.” Braff’s screenplay – which he co-wrote with his brother Adam – is just as solid as his last effort. But he’s grown up in the last ten years and no doubt experienced much more of life than he had when he did “Garden State.” “Wish I Was Here” is a more mature writing effort for Braff.

As a director, Braff understands the emotions he’s trying to convey from his screenplay. He’s able to make this film wear its emotions on its proverbial sleeves. Personally, there were things going on in my life at the time of “Garden State’s” release that affected me on a deep level when I first saw it. The same thing applies for me, personally, with “Wish I Was Here” ten years later. The ability to make that personal connection with your audience is really what separates the good directors from the great ones. And Braff is on his way to being great.

The film is full of great performances from Braff and Hudson and their young co-stars. But the performance from Patinkin could very well be a defining role of his career. Most will remember him for Inigo Montoya, but this really shows his range more than anything else I’ve ever seen him in. Movies like this only work when all those involved comes together in the most perfect of circumstances. Patinkin is what pushes this film over the edge to make it great.

Much like “Garden State” before it, Braff’s “Wish I Was Here” will probably go down as one of my favorite movies of the year, and will likely be a contender for my Best Ten at year’s end. This film has so many great elements that it’s hard to isolate the ones that work the best. Too many people have criticized Braff for not branching out further from “Garden State” with his second feature. I disagree. Sure he might have stayed close to home, but it works. It worked great in 2004 and it works well today. And there are enough differences here to separate the two films to make each stand distinctly on their own.