Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Zach Braff | ... | Aidan Bloom | |
Pierce Gagnon | ... | Tucker Bloom | |
Kate Hudson | ... | Sarah Bloom | |
Joey King | ... | Grace Bloom | |
Alexander Chaplin | ... | Rabbi Rosenberg | |
Leslie David Baker | ... | Audition Actor #1 | |
James Avery | ... | Audition Actor #2 | |
Ato Essandoh | ... | Audition Actor #3 | |
Jim Parsons | ... | Paul | |
Mark Thudium | ... | Terry | |
Mandy Patinkin | ... | Gabe | |
Josh Gad | ... | Noah Bloom | |
Allan Rich | ... | Rabbi Twersky | |
Ashley Greene | ... | Janine | |
Michael Weston | ... | Jerry |
'Wish I Was Here' is the story of Aidan Bloom, a struggling actor, father and husband, who at 35 is still trying to find his identity; a purpose for his life. He winds up trying to home school his two children when his father can no longer afford to pay for private education and the only available public school is on its last legs. Through teaching them about life his way, Aidan gradually discovers some of the parts of himself he couldn't find. Written by Anonymous
Admittedly, this is the first Zach Braff film I have seen. I only saw one trailer for the film, and it immediately intrigued me. I did not hate this film, but I also did not love and found myself in a lukewarm middle ground. For everything I liked, there was something I did not like.
First off, the story. The story as a whole deals with living life and dealing with death which was pulled off fairly well. However, there were several things in the script that I feel like took away from the film and the story Braff was telling. One of the those things were the laughs or lack thereof.
The script thinks its wittier and funnier than it actually is with most jokes missing that hitting. The movie also thinks it's deeper than it actually is. Maybe that's just Braff's style, but to me it seemed like it was more style over substance.
I did really enjoy the soundtrack for the film and Braff gave a good performance as a 30-something-year-old treading the water in his life.
I will definitely give Braff's future movies another shot and will see Garden State soon, but Wish I was Here was just not as good as I hoped it would be.