starring Zach Braff, Jacinda Barrett, & Rachel Bilson
In a nutshell: significantly better than I expected
Quick synopsis: a bunch of late twentysomethings don't know what to do with their lives.
My synopsis makes it sound boring, but it's not. This movie was a strange expereince for me. I will preface everything by saying that I have not seen the supposedly superior 2001 original version and, in fact, only just found out that it existed.
I recommended the movie to my girlfriend in blockbuster because I thought it was a romantic comedy. I watched the movie prepared to hate it and be embarassed to write about it in this blog. I was also prepared to hate Zach Braff without reason considering that I have never seen him in a movie, nor have I ever seen Scrubs. He just seemed like he would be annoying.
I enjoyed the story of The Last Kiss. The movie's seams were exposed from time to time with poor cuts and strange story patterns (which I will get into in a minute), but I related to many of the characters. I am only 25, but I was able to put myself in their shoes, and I think that the way they were acting was realistic. I think that I liked the movie more because I could relate so well to their feelings.
After finishing the movie, I would have been willing to bet that it was written by a guy, so I immediately hopped onto imdb. Much to my surprise, the name Paul Haggis turned up. I really don't know how I got the impression that it was just a crappy romantic comedy. Probably from the dvd cover and title. At least I was dead-on about it being written by a male (the original too).
Anticipating criticisms, I will pre-empitively address a few while explaining some things I really liked. Of course, it would have been a romantic movie cliche for the guy to realize that he wants to spend the rest of his life with his girl after cheating on her, but I don't think that's quite what happened. I think he panicked at the possibility of losing his girl and was basically saying what he had to say. He probably convinced himself that he believed it, but knowing his character as well as I think I do, he will be doomed to repeat his actions if the opportunity presented itself. I really think that Zach's acting was top-notch in this respect. He was not supposed to seem like the events had truly removed all doubt from his mind, and he didn't. But he did an excellent job at sounding like there was no doubt to Jenna and her father.
I loved the ending too. I didn't want a hollywood ending in which they get back together and everything is wonderful. I also didn't want a totally depressing ending. What I got was somewhere in between and provoked thought. We are led to believe that they are going to try to work things out, but the movie doesn't try to tell us whether this ending is a happy one or even if it is the best thing for the two characters and their unborn child.
The side stories complemented the main story well. Casey Affleck's character was splitting up with his wife but for very different reasons. Again, the movie is ambiguous whether or not the reason he gives is what he really thinks, or if he has just convinced himself of it because he wants to be free. There is a layer beneath the surface of characters and their actions, which is refreshing in a movie about relationships. You don't get that layer in too many films.
The weakest character was Rachel Bilson, because she didn't really have that second layer. She was mostly just eye candy and a plot device, although I reserve the right to change my opinion if I watch the movie again. She is not completely uninteresting however. She is painfully naive and a tad unpredictable. I recognized certain characteristics of her character, but couldn't really believe her relatively non-existant motives. This is just a small problem.
The story about Jenna's parents wasn't great, but did add a little perspective. It was interesting actually watching what the parents go through before they give relationship advice to their kids as they so often do in romantic movies. Usually, they just tell a story or are assumed to be old and wise and always right, but here we see that they are far from perfect and although we approve of the advice given, it isn't easy to practice what you preach.
The story problem I mentioned deals with the film's identity crisis. For a while, it can't decide if it wants to be a ensemble piece, giving equal weight to each of the troubled relationships, or focus on Braff's relationship. I specifically remember a point in the film at which they go back to Braff after spending quite a bit of time away from him that made me think "oh yeah! almost forgot about him." At this point I was beginning to think that Braff being the main character was another entry on the list of things misrepresented by the marketing of the film, until the last act focused almost exclusively on him. A film should never spend as much continuous time away from its main character as this one did. Again, this is a small problem and did not detract from the rest of my experience in the end.
This is the lowest movie (according to rottentomatoes - 46%) that I have whole-heartedly enjoyed since starting this blog. Most of the time when I like a critically panned movie, I agree with the flaws that are pointed out by critics and I like it because I like one particular aspect enough to compensate, like the story, the action or the source material. With The Last Kiss, I agree with the technical flaws, but flat-out disagree with complaints about the acting or writing. And to address another complaint, even priviledged good-looking people with good looking significant others have the right to be confused. Maybe only males in their mid-to-late twenties will be able to relate, but that's what I am, so I did.
Rolling Rankings:
1. Pulp Fiction (#8)
1. Pulp Fiction (#8)
2. LA Confidential (#14)
3. A Prairie Home Companion (#11)
4. Raising Arizona (#13)
5. The Last Kiss (#15)
6. The Illusionist (#9)
7. Dr. No (#7)
8. Little Children (#12) 
9. Fahrenheit 9/11 (#10)
10. Heist (#6)
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