Likely the only thing anyone would ever find annoying about Zach Braff’s Kickstarter-funded, precocious child-filled, twee indie-rock-soundtracked story of how life makes you feel things, Wish I Was Here, is its blatant mangling of the subjunctive mood. Many have already called out Braff for not titling his film the more proper Wish I Were Here, so that they might then be able to relax and enjoy the movie the way they enjoy our time on Earth, making every moment matter. But according to Braff, that so-called “mistake”—like so many of life’s happy accidents—actually has a deeper meaning. “The whole film is about a dad who’s not an academic trying to teach his kids, and his kids know more than he does,” Braff told Vulture while holding a puppy, in attendance at the “Broadway Barks” benefit. Wish I was joking.
“His daughter is constantly correcting him when he says who instead of whom; and so the title, although it has another meaning, we grammatically did it incorrect on purpose, because it’s about a father who is actually learning from his children who are brighter than he is.” And so, in turn, we all learn from Zach Braff, who reminds us that, sometimes, doing grammar incorrect allows our minds to open, so our hearts can talk to each other.