The Last Kiss has two distinct hurdles to leap over from the moment it begins. Firstly, it’s an American adaptation of a beloved foreign feature (L’Ultimo Bacio). In the history of such adaptations, few have failed to infuriate the fans of the original work. Since I have not seen L’Ultimo Bacio, this particular hurdle is not applicable to my assessment. The second hurdle involves the film’s star Zach Braff who’s seen here in top sullen hipster form as Michael, an architect with a beautiful girlfriend and a baby on the way who still finds himself feeling unsatisfied. This being Braff’s first major screen role since wooing Natalie Portman to the sounds of The Shins in his directorial debut Garden State, there’s inevitable comparisons to be made. Braff himself acknowledges that Kiss might in some ways be seen as a slanted sequel to his feature. It chronicles what happens after a hipster of his stature has finally found “the one,” the so-called “quarter life crises” that surrounds 30 year olds frantic at the sight of oncoming adulthood. Fortunately, the film has a distinctly different tone than Garden State and comparisons feel instantly limited upon viewing the film. Sure, Braff collected a handful of indie pop heartbreakers to help director Tony Goldwyn set the mood (including several Garden State soundtrack alums) and might have confessed to tweaking Oscar winner Paul Haggis’ screenplay adaptation, but the two films have little in common. Kiss is a bit less of the sunny eyed girl-saves-boy routine, and really much more about troubled relationships in the modern age. There’s lots of fighting, divorce, and other terrible things....to the sound of Coldplay music, of course.Aesthetically, it suffers from a super glossy visual style that does nothing to enrich the very authentic sounding dialogue. Though characters speak and relate with believably messy charm, they’re surrounded by a slick looking world that seems torn from some other, more saccharine romantic comedy. More attention should be paid to the words and the performances than to the shiny happy settings that surround them.
Braff does well in his first leading film role outside of the director’s chair. He has the appealing quality of not being ashamed of goofiness in the midst of serious drama. Like many people, his character wields his humor as a defensive tool in arguments and Braff delivers seriocomic lines like a pro. Jacinda Barrett (as Michael’s girlfriend, Jenna) is the film’s biggest surprise. Best known for whining her way through “The Real World” in London, Barrett’s partaken in only a few films since achieving reality TV fame and has never had such a challenging role in her past. She convincingly embodies the charms of “the perfect girl” without letting Jenna feel like some concocted male fantasy. Most importantly, she believably portrays the path of a woman who's been betrayed from anger through to acceptance without letting any movement toward reconciliation seem forced or inauthentic. Forgiveness does not come easily.
The supporting cast here is so vast that naming them all is somewhat difficult. Though, the film hinges on the relationship between Michael and Jenna, they are not alone on screen. Rachel Bilson ("The O.C.") makes her film debut playing a painfully sweet “other woman” who ultimately ends up as quite a victim in her own right. Blythe Danner and Tom Wilkinson (who both seem too superb to be confined to supporting material) shine brighter than their younger counterparts as a couple married for 30 years and finding themselves in a relationship crisis of their own. Also important are Michael’s other nearly 30 friends starting to panic about their futures: Casey Affleck, Eric Christian Olsen, and Michael Weston (all uniformly good in minimal roles).
Though, it’s a visually uninteresting feature that suffers occasionally from some failed humor or overwrought drama, it has a certain amount of earnest charm that makes it an enjoyable, if predictable and familiar feature. It’s rare to find a romantic comedy written with such intelligence and performed with such passion. This is a film that stands modestly on its own two feet.
Grade: B
