Reception
The film was first screened on January 16, 2004, at the Sundance Film Festival where it was purchased in a joint venture by Fox Searchlight Pictures and Miramax for USD $5 million, double the film's budget. Fox Searchlight Pictures president Peter Rice said of the film, "Having enjoyed the film immensely, we look forward to working with Miramax to bring Garden State to audiences worldwide." From March until mid July, it screened at other various film festivals until it received a limited release on July 28 in North America. It became only the fourth non-documentary feature to top the chart that year, as calculated by per screen average, since Memorial Day weekend. Stephen Gilula, president of distribution at Fox Searchlight, attributed the film's gradual success to word of mouth and a publicity tour by Braff leading up to the film's theatrical debut. Gilula said, "Zach had a cross-country tour, and we word of mouth screenings, where we had to turn people away. Zach did Q&As following ." From late 2004 through mid 2005, Garden State was shown at more festivals and was released in over 30 countries. In limited release, the film earned about $26.7 million in North American box office, and a total $35.8 million worldwide.
Garden State has an 86% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Empire placed Garden State at number 393 on their list of the 500 Greatest Films Of All Time.
The film has been criticized for buying into the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope.
Read more about this topic: Garden State (film)
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