Last Kiss (Fullscreen) (2006)

Box Office
"An intelligent examination of dreams deferred....This film cuts pretty deep." 11/01/2006 p.118-119

Ultimate DVD
3 stars out of 5 -- "[A] decidedly adult and reflective look at the complex issues of love and commitment. Beautifully shot and with a great cast..." 03/01/2007 p.104

ReelViews 8 of 10
I recommend The Last Kiss, but not without a misgiving or two. This movie is essentially a celebration of yuppie angst. It's about people in their late 20s who have issues with commitment and monogamy, who have lost their way and are trying to find themselves. Essentially, it's about middle age crises for people who are only a little more than half-way to middle age. The protagonist is obnoxiously self-centered, yet we are supposed to sympathize with him and (at least based on the ending) forgive him for some of the crass things he does. Nevertheless, I liked The Last Kiss because, no matter how self-absorbed some of the characters are, they are three-dimensional. People will identify with them. Not all the stories have tidy endings. And there's some wonderful dialogue to go along with the exceptional performances. This is one of those movies where you're willing to overlook the flaws in order to appreciate what's worth lauding...Paul Haggis' screenplay is based on a 2001 Italian film named L'ultmo bacio, which I haven't seen. Like Crash, The Last Kiss seems more interested with cramming as many characters and situations into a reasonable running length than spending the time to delve beneath the surface...It seems that for every miss, there's an equal - if not stronger - hit. Haggis' dialogue is virtually without clunkers, and it is delivered with the appropriate weight by a solid cast. Braff's limp performance is countered by Barrett's emotional riveting one (although he's in more scenes than she is). The situations are interesting because the characters are real. Tony' Goldwyn's direction is sure-handed and the eclectic soundtrack will get many movie-goers surfing I-Tunes. For its core demographic, The Last Kiss has something to say, although it's fair to question how profound its words of wisdom are. - James Berardinelli
 
Variety 9 of 10
Reps of three generations in contempo Madison, Wis., grapple with commitment, infidelity, hot tempers and cold feet in "The Last Kiss." Nicely thesped and adequately involving narrative tackles issues well worth examining in a manner accessible to everyone...Haggis has sharply embellished a crucial dialogue scene between Braff's and Wilkinson's characters to excellent effect. A revelation and advice from an older man to a younger one leads to a rewardingly intense reshuffling of events en route to an open ending of a sort not often seen in mainstream American films. - Lisa Nesselson
 
The Onion A.V. Club 5 of 10
Tony Goldwyn's insufferable new drama The Last Kiss takes place in Madison, Wisconsin, a college town where midlife crises often begin in the mid-20s, and 29 can feel positively geriatric. So it makes sense that doe-eyed protagonist Zach Braff and his aimless pals would simultaneously run smack-dab into existential moments around their 30th birthdays. Unfortunately, nothing else about Tony Goldwyn's vapid, navel-gazing, claustrophobic adaptation of a 2001 Italian film rings remotely true...In a performance that consists largely of staring thoughtfully into space, Braff stars as a seemingly content architect whose perfect existence is rocked to the core by an affair with Rachel Bilson, a sexy undergraduate who symbolizes the seductive allure of eternal adolescence. The bad news about The Last Kiss is that the adorably chinless Braff comes off as whiny, self-pitying, and unlikeable. The worse news is that so does nearly everyone else...Paul Haggis penned Crash and Million Dollar Baby in addition to The Last Kiss, and while Kiss and Crash cover vastly different worlds, they both devolve into epic screaming matches devoid of nuance and complexity. With its thinly drawn characters and constant, hyperbolic conflict, The Last Kiss bears the unmistakable Haggis touch, one as subtle and understated as an electric chainsaw through the spinal cord. Of the large, wildly overqualified cast, only Tom Wilkinson, as the dry-witted father of Braff's gorgeous pregnant girlfriend (Jacinda Barrett), stands out, in part because he's the only character constitutionally averse to whining about his problems. Wilkinson's tight-lipped shrink is probably supposed to read as cold and distant, but after 104 sluggish minutes of yuppies screaming about their angst, stoicism and repression begin to look pretty damn appealing. - Nathan Rabin