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Triple threats (movies written, directed and starring the same person) aren’t very promising when it comes to movies. Usually they’re vanity projects that wouldn’t have gotten off the ground if not for the actor’s deal. “Garden State” is an exception to the rule. Zach Braff of TV’s “Scrubs” pulls together an entertaining and witty drama with his debut. Braff plays Andrew an actor returning to his New Jersey after years away from his home state to attend his mother’s funeral. Emotionally spent, Andrew still has trouble relating to his angry father Gideon (an intense Ian Holm) but does find a kindred spirit in a troubled young woman named Sam (Natalie Portman) that he meets at a party with his friend Mark (Peter Sarsgaard in a great performance). It seems Sam has demons of her own to contend equally daunting as Andrew’s problems but she still manages to provide him with a shelter from the emotional storm he is weathering. Although the plot might sound like something from an average made-for-cable TV movie, Braff’s brisk direction and the performances of the outstanding pushes this drama to a higher level. It’s clear that Braff took the advice of “writing what you know” to heart as this isn’t a space age love story nor a superhero adventure film. ---

There’s the traditional making-of-featurette and, while it’s interesting, it doesn’t really provide any real insight into the movie. That’s left for the marvelous commentary tracks. There’s also 16 deleted scenes with optional commentary and it’s quite clear why they were cut in most cases; they duplicated information we already had or broke the dramatic pace of the film. The outtakes and bloopers vary from mildly amusing to belly laughes. ---