8 Garden State

In the movie’s more contemplative moments, Aidan, who is only nominally religious, considers the meaning of life with a rabbi. But Mr. Braff in a metaphysical mode is at a loss for words. He can’t write Woody Allen-worthy zingers to save himself. “Wish I Was Here” is so eager to please that you are never allowed to feel uncomfortable for more than a minute or two before a reassuringly stale joke rushes in to pat you on the head. (In “Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical,” Mr. Braff gets to deliver genuine Woody Allen dialogue.)

The family under the film’s lens is the Blooms: a Jewish clan whose stern but caring patriarch, Gabe (Mandy Patinkin), a retired microbiologist, is dying of lung cancer. Gabe isn’t a lead role, but Mr. Patinkin’s moving, understated portrayal of a thorny older man facing the end makes him the film’s emotional center of gravity. He is especially impressive when his voice begins to waver and rise in pitch, and you feel the character’s deeply submerged emotion.

Mr. Patinkin’s performance helps make “Wish I Was Here,” with all its weaknesses, a far more persuasive and heartfelt portrait of death and dying than the recent “Lullaby,” which drowned in its own tears. But that’s not saying much.