Wish I Was Here

Zach Braff's long-awaited follow-up to his well-received debut Garden State starts with bad grammar in the title and goes downhill from there, ending up as an anemic sitcom leavened with heavy-handed mawkishness. Braff stars as Aidan, a wannabe actor who can barely land an audition but won't give up his dream. His wife (Kate Hudson) is the family breadwinner, and he depends on his father, Gabe (Mandy Patinkin), to finance private yeshiva instruction for their kids. When Gabe falls ill and can no longer foot the tuition tab, Aidan begins homeschooling his son and daughter, although he's singularly ill-equipped for the task. Aidan is also trying to get his reclusive brother, Noah (Josh Gad), to visit Gabe, while also endlessly daydreaming about when he was a kid and imagined himself as a courageous space knight fighting all sorts of evil creatures. Aidan is obviously meant to be a charming, if hapless, schlub, but as played by Braff he comes across as a narcissistic jerk. Braff makes himself the absolute center of this cinematic universe but is incapable of coming up with anything beyond tired gags about swear jars, video games, Comic-Cons, first dates, and test drives in expensive cars. Ultimately, Wish I Was Here will make you wish you weren't. Not recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include two audio commentaries (the first by co-writer/director Zach Braff and co-writer/producer Adam Braff; the second by Braff, cinematographer Lawrence Sher, and editor Myron Kerstein), deleted scenes (26 min.), a segment on “Directing While Acting” (9 min.), outtakes (3 min.), trailers, and bonus DVD, digital, and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a lame vanity project.] (F. Swietek)