I really don't understand why this movie has elicited such STRONG reactions – (both positive and negative.

I liked the characters well-enough.
It was an entertaining movie.
I enjoyed it.

But why anyone would heap upon it such volomunous praise or stinging vitrol is beyond me.

It's quirky, to be sure.
Self-consciously so? Yeah.

But why do those of you who love it, love it so?
And why do those of you who hate it, hate it so?

I think I agree with you.

As far as "hate", I'd just chalk that up to backlash. And, yeah, I'm probably guilty of that, but I definitely didn't hate movie. I laughed at several parts, but I don't see what makes it any better than movies like Anchorman or Mean Girls, both decently funny.

You've noted a phenomenon that's really bugged me the last several years...how nothing can just be "good" anymore. Everything is so fucking ratcheted up in our society these days that everything seems like it's THE GREATEST MOVIE/RECORD/BOOK/WHATEVER YOU'VE EVER SEEN/HEARD/READ/WHATEVER or THE BIGGEST PIECE OF SHIT ETC, ETC.

There's nothing wrong with something just being "OK" anymore. It really bugs me.

I loved the movie.

It wasnt brilliantly written. It wasnt brilliantly acted.

It just worked. It was funny.

It wasn't the bet comedy in movie history, but it was one of the bright spots of 2004...thats enough, right?

i thought the characters were well done, but that's about all i found of interest.

KPH

A good way to spend 100 minutes.

I thought it was "good", but then I thought it was better because so many subtle things kept coming back to me long after it had been seen and amusing me.

Damn those little moments that creep up on you in the middle of nowhere.

I watched this last night and thought it was hilarious. I guess it wasn't even the Unrated dvd version so I can imagine how much funnier that is.

The uncle is wrong on so many levels. That's all I noticed about the movie.

It was ok.

Not great and not awful.

It just didn't do a lot for me. Had some funny moments.

That's about it.

I also watched Garden State last night and tho I missed the first 20 minutes or so, I don't really see what all the fuss was about. It was okay, All The Real Girls was better.

that's what makes it a comedy and not schindler's fucking list.

Excuse me chase.

I meant it had a "COUPLE" funny moments and not many more. At least in my opinion.

My daughter took me to see it and I thought it was hilarious. It's quirky without taking itself so seriously. He's a geek that never seeks acceptance.


Vote for Pedro

This is how I felt about Garden State.

I don't think ND was self-consciously quirky. Have you ever spent time in Preston, ID? My wife's cousins all lived there through high school, so we've spent some time there, and I think ND pretty much nailed it.

I really enjoyed it, and will put it in my top 10 for the year, but it certainly won't go down as an all-time favorite.

you mean 87 minutes.

I liked it. The characters were entertaining. The dialogue was enjoyable. And the Vote for Pedro thing was hysterical. All in all, a movie you can watch over and over again and not get bored with it.

Yeah, it was especially good for an SNL alum movie. I might have to check out the unrated version, too.



Oh, come on. It was marketed as being "quirky".

My 13 minute commute home was made more pleasurable because of this fine picture.

I know - I've had it sitting on my pile of DVDs that I've bought but haven't watched all week. I did watch the "Wake Up, Ron Burgandy" thing though - it's OK, but it has some good moments in it...

Yeah I was debating on whether I should buy the double disc version of it and I was going to put it off because one of my roommates is getting it. But I just went to Best Buy tonight and there were like 8 of them left. I still didn't buy it though.

I liked Napoleon Dynamite quiet a bit myself. Enough to own the DVD. I decided I loved it when my uptight sister in law called it the "stupidest thing she'd ever seen over the holidays"

Chris (OPA)- loved the Spanglish review, look forward to reading more!

i fucking loved this movie. i was prepared to get tired of Napoleon's act really quick, but I never did. loved the characters in this

it was pretty much one of the funniest movies i saw last year.

of course, my fiance', who teaches high school, didn't get it at all - and that makes me laugh even harder.

. . .and on top of that, pedro offered me his protection.

The more I think about it the more I think I like it. I just felt kind of ehhh when I saw it.

And the more I think about Dodgeball the more pissed I get, I want my 90 minutes back.