Wish I Was Here

Zach Braff apparently had a lot of ideas floating around in his head during the decade it took him to mount a follow-up to his sharp directorial debut, Garden State.

Unfortunately, he decided to cram most of those narrative threads together in Wish I Was Here, a muddled comedy that feels more like a vanity project than a profound examination of upper-middle class family dynamics.

The two films are narratively separate but explore overlapping themes. Continuing his autobiographical trend, Braff has moved his setting from the New Jersey shore to suburban Hollywood. That’s where he plays a father and fledgling actor enduring a mid-life crisis that runs the gamut from emotional to financial to spiritual.

Braff plays Aidan, who struggles to find work while his wife (Kate Hudson) works an office job to help provide for their two children. That arrangement works fine until Aidan’s irascible father (Mandy Patinkin) is diagnosed with a terminal illness, and the resulting medical bills consume the funds that were set aside for the two kids to attend a Jewish private school.

So Aidan is left scrambling for educational options while sacrificing his own career and trying to bring his fractured family — including his nerdy brother (Josh Gad) who lives in a trailer — back together both physically and emotionally before his father’s impending death.

Besides the domestic melodrama, Wish I Was Here includes some moments of religious satire, whimsical fantasy and existential angst, all the while meandering through familiar territory for Braff.

The film hits the mark with some of its observational humor, and Braff again deserves credit for an eclectic soundtrack that fits the material. It’s amusing in spots and poignant in others despite being overloaded with quirks.

Still, the character-driven screenplay co-written by Braff and his brother Adam features some ambitious if calculated ideas that don’t achieve either a consistent tone or a satisfying emotional resonance, especially when it comes to the plight of its protagonist torn between personal dreams and family obligations.

Perhaps it’s not fair to compare the two, but while Garden State felt full of life, Wish I Was Here seems like it’s going through the motions.

Rated R, 106 minutes.