Wish I Was Here

One of the greatest misconceptions in popular culture over the last 10 years is that Zach Braff wrote and directed ‘The Last Kiss.’ I’ve said this aloud a few times and that sentence is often met with a deluge of “he didn’t?” It’s been better lately now that ‘Wish I Was Here’ is set to hit theaters, because the overall narrative is that this is only the second film he’s directed, with the first obviously being ‘Garden State.’

The 'Wish I Was Here' trailer arrives approximately one decade since Zach Braff's feature directorial debut, 'Garden State,' and, for better or worse, it looks like time hasn't changed him very much. Braff's second effort looks very much like a spiritual sequel to his previous film, all the way down to the indie rock soundtrack.

If Zach Braff had made his Sundance premiere ‘Wish I Was Here’ immediately after 2004’s ‘Garden State,’ the filmmaker’s latest would probably have scanned as a step forward for the multi-hyphenate, with a richer storyline and a better sense of style. But a decade on, the film doesn’t even remotely read as a progression for its creator, no matter how appropriate a double feature it would make with