Amanda: "If you can't laugh at yourself, life's gonna seem a whole lot longer than you'd like."

Written, directed and stared in by Zach Braff, this film is amazing portrayal of his talent and I think it is one of the most honest and accurate modern films created about growing up. The characters are extremely well written, but never totally predictable which is a very fine line that many movies fail at accomplishing. This is largely due to the intentional, direct dialogue in addition to the casting. All of the actors manage to conquer the task of making their corks become likeable, in particular the lying tendencies of Natalie Portman’s character, Sam.
In addition to the great dialogue, one of the strongest aspects of the movie is the amazing soundtrack which almost becomes and additional character of the film, gracefully threading each scene together. The movie is not afraid to let the music communicate between dialogue of the characters, rather than simply filling background noise. The music flows very well with the story and the action of the characters, and greatly aids to the mood set by each moment.
The subject matter of the film is something that many films have tried to portray yet many have failed at. Primarily, I thought the way the film addressed the idea of home, and ‘feeling homesick for a place that doesn’t exist’ was phenomenal. Along with this idea, the universal dysfunction of all families and the struggle that all twenty-somethings face of finding their own place in the world, apart from the role in the house they grew up in was a great task taken upon by this movie and I would definitely say it succeeded at it. The line between being influenced by your past and not allowing it to hold you back form creating your own future is stressed in this story and a fantastic message to walk away with.
I really love the ending of the film because it doesn’t give you a cheesy, ‘happily ever after’ conclusion, in fact it suggests just the opposite. The characters admit that the future will be difficult but it that they will try to do it together instead of apart. I really liked this because most romantic movies disregard personal growth completely, but here Andrew still addresses the fact that he will need to work through a lot of psychological issues before he can fully be with Sam the way he wants. The last words of the film leave much room for growth of the characters and the stories, as well as leaving the audience with this question to answer on their own as well, “So what do we do?”