This is how a complete full packed movie should be. It has moments of joy, sorrow, relief & what not. And it shows how life takes turn. And how important the time is. You'll enjoy this movie, it's a heartfelt movie. Which makes you think & reconsider your priorities. It gives you broader aspect of viewing things. This movie has soul & so much to learn & feel. You shouldn't miss these one. And if you're film student pursuing Writing & Direction... You should definitely give it a try.

Zach Braff, as director, writer and actor, squeezes much in to an hour and a half slot, giving the five main cast members (Braff's Aidan, his wife, son, daughter and father) more than enough to do. It's a jumble at one time, and at utter harmony another.Aidan is a family man with little income. He relies heavily on his father Gabe (Homeland's Mandy Patinkin) paying for his children's schooling. But when Gabe becomes seriously ill, Aidan must reconsider the route his life is taking. I want him to do well, regardless of his actions towards bad news.Wish I Was Here is a drama with spurts of comedy. The humour's in the right places, never enlightening a rather somber tone.Braff is a popular man. The movie is chock full of cameos, including Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory) and Donald Faison, who's a welcome sight after their Scrubs tenure. Josh Gad plays Braff's brother, his sub-story stretching out the running time.As joyful or sorrowful as it is to watch, Wish I Was Here cannot help but feel like a short series.

Wish I Was Here is a goofy drama about a man Aidan Bloom (Zach Braff) who is a struggling actor. He is married to Sarah (Kate Hudson) who seems to be the main supporter of the family working a job that she hates. They struggled for money due to Aidan not currently having an income and his father Gabe (Mandy Patinkin) was paying for his children to attend Jewish school. Gabe found out his cancer had come back and could not pay for them to attend this school anymore because he was paying for a special treatment. Aidan did not want his children Grace (Joey King) and Tucker (Pierce Gagnon) to go to public school so he had to take the matter into his own hands and home school the kids. This became a hard task for Aidan. Grace did not want to leave Jewish school and Tucker took it as a joke, thinking he did not have to listen to his father and could just play video games. Aidan began to struggle uncertain what to do with his life. He did not have a part since his dandruff shampoo commercial long before, his father was dying, he had a brother, Noah (Josh Gad), who could care less, his kids took him as a joke, he had no clue how to teach, and he had to take care of Gabe's dog that his absolutely did not want. Although he had a lot to worry about, Aidan did the best he could. Gabe had a tough relationship with his children, always telling them what they were doing wrong or what they could do differently rather than telling them that he loved them. Due to this reason, his son Noah did not want to see him and did not seem to care that he was dying. With everything else going on in Aidan's life, he had to try to get his brother to forgive Gabe and make things right before he died. Aidan was never particularly close with his dad before he found his cancer came back but the thought of death and Sarah's encouraging words cause Gabe to realize that he did not want to die without his children knowing that he loved them. This caused Aidan to become close with his father, promising him to bring his favorite ice cream bar and getting Noah to see him before he died. In the end, Aidan kept his promise to his father. He realized that the most important thing in life is family and that he could sacrifice for them.

I normally don't review movies - I typically enjoy them or not and I'd rather let people experience in their own way. That said, I feel compelled to recommend this movie. I found a Zach Braff movie OnDemand and then noticed that Donald Faison was in it! Naturally, expected some "JD and Turk" humor...in Scrubs, they played so brilliantly off of each other! This is not that movie...just know that this movie is much more. The acting is phenomenal, the story is real, it has some funny parts, but mostly it's a really touching story about relatable and believable people. Having lost my sister to cancer last year, I was moved and also found comfort from this movie. Low ratings for this movie are probably from people disappointed that it wasn't an adapted version of JD and Turk. Keep an open mind and you will enjoy this movie!