Garden State poster

Garden State (2004)

Film · 1h 42m · Rated R

Comedy, Drama, Romance

A young man's melancholy homecoming becomes a whimsical journey of self-discovery and unexpected romance.

Intimate and earnest, with dry wit. A late-night trip at a measured pace. Emotionally it is heavy.

Streaming on Prime Video.

Garden State parents guide

No surprises for an R: some innuendo or implied sex and no real violence.

Scare
Not scary
Jump scares
None noted
Gore
No gore
Violence
No real violence
Sex and nudity
Mild
Mild means innuendo, or sex implied off screen, with no nudity.
Language
Moderate
Some strong profanity, a few f-words.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

What is Garden State about?

Andrew returns to his hometown for his mother’s funeral, a journey that reconnects him with old friends. The trip coincides with his decision to stop taking his powerful antidepressants. A chance meeting with Sam—a girl also struggling with various maladies—opens up the possibility of rekindling emotional connections, confronting his psychologist father, and perhaps beginning a new life.

Does it have a happy ending? (spoiler-safe)

Bittersweet. It earns its ending, but not everyone gets what they want.

Cast and crew

Directed byZach Braff
StarringZach Braff, Natalie Portman, Ian Holm, Peter Sarsgaard, Jean Smart, Armando Riesco

More like Garden State

Garden State is on our Set in Los Angeles, Comedy on Prime Video and Romance on Prime Video lists.

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Prompts we typed into CouchRot, and the lists that share its tags.

Lists with the same feel: Melancholy and Late night.

Five more like Garden State

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Uses the TMDB API; not endorsed or certified by TMDB. Intensity, content, tone and pace tags are CouchRot's own.