Winter Passing

Directed By Adam Rapp

Focus Features



Three and a half stars



BY DAVID F. HILL

CONTRIBUTING WRITER



People liked “Garden State.” People liked “Garden State” so much that Adam Rapp, in his directorial debut, “Winter Passing,” decided to remake it a mere two years after its original release. Yet Rapp deserves a measure of praise for, if not wild invention, at least generic competence. See if this story sounds familiar:

A lonely, struggling actress-in-the-big-city, Reese Holdin (Zooey Deschanel, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”) returns after many years to her suburban childhood home and estranged father, Don (Ed Harris, “A History of Violence”). A book editor (Amy Madigan, “Pollock”) has offered her $100,000 for the love letters her famous father wrote her equally famous and recently deceased mother. There Reese meets an English grad student (Amelia Warner, “Aeon Flux”) and wannabe Christian-rock musician (Will Ferrell), both of whom help Reese to reconnect with her reclusive father. And all of this to the tunes of indie faves like Azure Ray and—wait for it—the Shins.

To be fair to Adam Rapp, the film’s main flaws probably result, not from any personal lack of skill, but from the type of narrative itself. The “family reunion”-type film is too often overwhelmed by sugary sentimentality. There is a temptation to present the story as a nicely-wrapped package of vague, universal redemption.

That the film is occasionally affecting testifies to the strong performances of its cast. Deschanel imparts just the right mixture of anger and vulnerability to make her character likeable—no mean feat, given some of her character’s actions. Harris, though confined by his character’s extreme introversion, conveys the pathetic anguish of an author who’s lost the ability to communicate with the outside world. Perhaps the most surprising turn, however, is Ferrell. Though not quite as successful as Jim Carrey in “The Truman Show,” Ferrell restrains (mostly) his trademark goofy slapstick to play a sweet Christian rocker with a penchant for eyeliner.

Given the skill of the actors, it is a pity they don’t have better roles to fill. The misanthropic father and angry, neglected daughter are literary and cinematic clichés, a bland roast attempting to pass as cuisine through the sauce of the cast’s performance. And it sometimes succeeds. The film has surprisingly charming moments, such as Ferrell’s open-mic performance of The Eagles’s “I Can’t Tell You Why” or an indoor golf scene.

The result, however, is still a moodier and more muted “Garden State.” Instead of angsty confessions beside roaring fireplaces, “Winter Passing” has sparse and choppy dialogues permeated by long glances and extended silences. Instead of a quirky local girl, we get a quirky aspiring Christian rocker. Instead of suburban Jersey, we get suburban Michigan. Instead of “Garden State” we get “Winter Passing,” a veiled yet less self-indulgent remake of Zach Braff’s campus classic.

Bottom Line: “Winter Passing” is only a decently enjoyable choice if your facebook profile features eulogies to “Elizabethtown” and the lyrics to “Such Great Heights.”