The Last Kiss

I don't know why, but I really liked this movie. I mean I don't think that Braff topped Garden State, but I think this movie has some character of its own. It's plot yes is something we have all seen before. Boy loves girl; boy gets bored and feels trapped with girl; boy meets new girl; boy screws things up with old girl; boy does anything to get girl back. A tale as old as time, but for some reason I think this cast pulled it off. Casey Affleck in particular, I felt his acting in this film was very solid. Anybody else have any thoughts?

__________________
"Aim high, it costs no more to shoot at eagles then it does to shoot at skunks"

These were my thoughts when I saw it theatrically last September...


The Last Kiss (Tony Goldwyn)

The Last Kiss is a clichéfest that goes dully point by obvious point through a romantic dramedy playbook from hack screenwriting 101 and flavor-of-the-month filmschool to its conclusion, which is both ridiculous and easy to see coming. It's about a young man (Zach Braff) who is in a seemingly perfect relationship but manages to screw around and screw it up for no reason other than he's scared of commitment and the prospect of some strange tail entices him into infidelity. Braff is OK in the lead, and he has an inherent likeablity that carries him over some of the initial unambitious and completely formulaic coasting. But when his character starts acting like a heel he can't really pull it off. To be fair to him, the script and director give him absolutely no help, and I don't know that many actors could have made the sudden and unearned changes in character seem plausible. The cast has some decent to great actors in it, including Jacinda Barrett who has come a long, long way from MTV's "The Real World" and looks like she's going to make it as an actress (and seems to be in every third movie now). Some of the subplots that involve the supporting cast, like the old marriage between Barret's parents played by Blythe Danner and Tom Wilkinson or Braff's friend Casey Affleck who can no longer stand his young marriage, actually hold some interest and even avoid or at least play with the tired genre trappings. Unfortunately they are only mild diversions swirling around the main love traingle with Braff, Barrett and Rachel Bilson, and there's nothing but paint-by-numbers cliché on that front. Ultimately The Last Kiss is just crushingly average. It's too pat and uninteresting to really generate much hate for but still far too obvious and tired to get involved in any kind of positive way. I haven't seen the 2001 Italian movie L' Ultimo Bacio that this one was adapted from (by Paul Haggis, of all people), but I have to believe there was more of interest in that piece. Cinematic mediocrity abounds in the Americanized remake. I'd say even if you're a Zach Braff fan, stay home and watch a dozen episodes of the enjoyable "Scrubs" or the overrated Garden State another time, because there's nothing to see here.

GRADE: C

__________________
"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

So basically you said most of what I said except you used "grown up" words. lol

BTW What Real World cast was Jacinda on?

No, I said more than you using bigger words, true, but I explained why I didn't like it and do not recommend it.


"The Real World: London". It was the fourth year of the show. They all shared a flat in Notting Hill. She was a model and aspiring actress back then (that show aired in 1995). She actually did start working professionally as an actress not long after "The Real World", but she got into real A-list movies starting in 2003 with The Human Stain. After that she was in the Bridget Jones sequel and Ladder 49 with Joaquin Phoenix & Travolta. In 2006 she had four films released: Poseidon, The School for Scoundrels, The Namesake and The Last Kiss.

Thanks, I usually keep track of The Real World, but never caught on to this one.