by CHRIS BARRY

Well, how about that. For once there's actually an iota of truth behind all the hype, re: the brilliance of the latest personality to emerge from the Hollywood dung heap. This Zach Braff fella, why, lord love a duck, the kid truly is an exceptional actor - and maybe even a halfway decent director as well. And while he may not be the Gen-X Woody Allen all the pundits are claiming him to be just yet, for a directorial debut, Braff has done a remarkably impressive job with Garden State. Yeah, he suffers somewhat from the first-time writer/director syndrome of trying to show us everything he's got in just under two hours. But that's a relatively minor criticism of a guy who, by all means, appears to be major talent in the making.

Braff plays a depressed, underemployed and highly medicated actor who returns home to New Jersey for his mother's funeral. While there, he starts hooking up with all his childhood homies, most of them portrayed as "losers" with no direction in life, much like Braff's character. Things start to change for our protagonist after he realizes that he's forgotten his daily mega-diet of medication back in California and decides to simply forego his meds for a while, just to see what it might be like to actually feel emotion for a change. So instead of totally freaking out - the way most people do when abruptly detoxing from Paxil and/or lithium - when he meets epileptic nut case Natalie Portman at their mutual doctor's office, he finds himself increasingly susceptible to her delicate tugs on his heartstrings.

Yeah, I know, it sounds bad. It is billed as a romantic comedy after all, and how often are those flicks any good? But most of the actors - including the way overrated Portman - do a convincing job. And Braff, bless his heart, actually manages to slip a bit of subtle, funny stuff into the screenplay. And when was the last time you could use the words "subtle" or "funny" when talking about a romantic comedy?

Garden State opens Friday, Aug. 20

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