Garden State
Let’s go back 10 years (a number that seems huge even as I type it) to the summer of 2004. America was busy owning the Olympics over in Athens, Usher had his hands full cementing his name atop the Billboard charts (“Burn” was an instant classic) and I had just finished the third grade. It was a great time for American culture with the whole nation unified behind our Olympic heroes, a beautiful era of art and love.
Just kidding, I was 9 years old. I have no idea what the summer of 2004 was really like. But, looking back on it now, I know it was a huge year for film. Blockbuster wise, there was plenty of money to go around as 2004 became the summer of sequels: Shrek 2, Spider-Man 2, The Bourne Supremacy and Meet the Fockers all made a combined total of more than $125 million.
But, while all four of those movies are nice, entertaining pieces of work, none of them have had a large lasting impact on the cinematic landscape. No, the five films that made the summer of 2004 an influential time for movies were not attempts to cash in on past successes. In fact, four of them didn’t even finish in the top 25 highest-grossing movies of the year.
We know their names now, and each still has its dedicated legion of fans. But, in the midst of that culture-packed summer, no one knew what they would mean for America a decade later.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (released June 4): When I referenced four of the five movies not making a ton of money earlier, this was the outlier. The third movie in this mega-franchise raked in nearly $250 million and placed Potter and friends firmly in a popularity realm of their own. But what made this movie different than its predecessors was the way the story was told. Director Alfonso Cuarón, who won a 2014 Academy Award, pieced together a beautifully dark piece of cinema, one that is both surprisingly frightening and aesthetically delightful.
Cuarón’s meticulous craftsmanship turned Prisoner of Azkaban into something more than just another young adult adaptation. The movie received much more critical respect than the first two and really set in motion a new view of the genre. Many of the big names that are now involved in franchises like The Hunger Games and Divergent, whether they are in front of or behind the camera, can be credited to this film.
Napoleon Dynamite (released June 11): Released right in the middle of blockbuster season, this cult comedy made waves when it took in nearly $50 million. Why was this a surprise? Because nobody knew what the hell it was. The indie comedy featured almost no recognizable actors and seemed to lack any real plotline. But it was funny. It was weird, it was awkward— and it was funny.
The movie became a mini cultural-phenomenon, spurring thousands of terrible Napoleon impersonations and giving the world a new set of great movie quotes (“Your mom goes to college”). It also paved the way for comedies that relied on their writing and charm more than their star power. Napoleon Dynamite showed audiences that funny is funny no matter what.
The Notebook (released June 25): Please, get all of your “man card” jokes out of the way now. Yes, I am including The Notebook in my list. No, this is not supposed to be ironic. Yes, I’ve seen it. No, I didn’t cry.
The movie that now dominates ABC Family’s movie lineups and whose joint viewing can be seen as an act of commitment by any man in a relationship, was not really a hit upon release. Box office numbers were good but not great and critical reception was lukewarm — to put it mildly (“Two hours of the worst sort of sentimental sap,” raved the New York Daily News).
The movie was important at the time and remains important now not only because of the ripple effect it caused (Nicholas Sparks books alone have been made into six movies since then), but because it brought back something old: The idea of a basic love story, one that didn’t fall victim to some unnecessary complication or hilarious subplot, had long been missing in cinemas, condemned to exist only on old movie networks. The Notebook reminded us what a genuine love story looks like.
Anchorman (released July 9): Full disclosure, this is my favorite comedy of all time. But that is not the only reason it’s on this list. Anchorman was not only influential in its embracing of weird humor (since obviously, this was not the first movie to have weird humor), but because it featured a comedy star doing exactly what he wanted to do.
Will Ferrell could have made any movie around this time, but the fact that he put so much effort into a passion project, a movie that didn’t fit many of the comedy molds at the time, was something new and something brilliant. The Will Ferrell-Adam McKay powerhouse continued after Anchorman’s release, eventually creating the popular website Funny or Die as well as classics Talladega Nights and Step Brothers. The chain reaction that followed this movie was a gift to comedy fans everywhere. For that, we thank you Ron Burgundy.
Garden State (released July 28): This movie has been brought back up lately because its star/director, Zach Braff, recently released his next movie, Wish I Was Here. Since 2004, Garden State has become quite polarizing among cinephiles for one odd reason: it’s a good movie. Because of this fact, it has become fairly popular over the years. But the thing about a good indie movie is that it can’t be popular. Popularity is too mainstream.
So, in an unfair turn of events, this movie has become the poster-boy for a sentimental indie dramedy, a movie that can’t possibly be a work of genius because of its ticket sales. All of the creativity, the humor and the great acting in the film are often dismissed by a preconceived notion of conventionality. What many people don’t realize is that we can thank Garden State for popular movies like (500) Days of Summer and Adventureland, big dramedies that find success while maintaining an indie feel. Braff also gave hope to plenty of young artists who didn’t want to limit themselves to just acting, just writing or just directing. Garden State was a big accomplishment, one whose fingerprints are all over today’s industry. It’s time we recognize that.
