Aidan Bloom is a 35 year old struggling actor trying to find his purpose in life. His dad gets cancer and cannot pay for Aidan’s kids yeshiva school tuition anymore. This leads to Aidan attempting to homeschool his children. Throughout the film, Aidan reflects on the unpredictable and hard circumstances that come with raising a family. He wants to provide for his family yet follow his dream of being an actor. He wants him and his wife, who supports the family, to be happy. Throughout the film he tries to find meaning in life’s nature. 
Although Braff has good intentions with Wish I Was Here, the film falls flat. The film has nice cinematography, pacing and acting yet it seems like something is missing. With Garden State, Braff explored a lost twenty-something. In Wish I Was Here, he explores a lost thirty-something. The film doesn’t seem to deliver any insightful nature because it’s caught up in Braff’s mind fantasies. It seems as though he wrote down all the challenges of raising a family, trying to be happy, making sense of life’s hardships, and so forth…but the film doesn’t ever go past depicting these things to provide any insightful nature. The film ends, basically saying “Hey, raising a family and trying to be happy is hard.” It never really has a full solution to Aidan’s endless doubts about life. B-
well, this is disappointing
It’s not one of those films that’s super bad. It just doesn’t offer the viewer much. Still very watchable. In theaters July 25th!
So self-important; something Garden State was not at all like. And even if it was, it was coated underneath all of the heartfelt sincerity you could really feel coming from Braff’s intimate direction. Here, it all tries so very hard. Good review.
“tries so very hard.” I like that comment. Didn’t think about it that way until you said it. In my review, I tried to treat it as a stand alone film and not compare it too much to Garden State. With the similar themes in both films, it was hard not to. Garden State is WAY better.