CNS Movie Review: The Last Kiss

The Last Kiss

By David DiCerto
Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) -- If writer-director Paul Haggis' Oscar-winning "Crash" was a meditation on the interconnectedness that binds us, then his script for "The Last Kiss" (Paramount) -- an adaptation of the Italian film L'Ultimo Bacio" directed by Tony Goldwyn -- is a study of detachment. But the end product is far less compelling.

Set in Wisconsin, the uneven drama revolves around four friends, each at emotional crossroads as they approach age 30. Center stage is Michael (Zach Braff), an angst-ridden architect whose "perfect" life with pregnant girlfriend Jenna (Jacinda Barrett) is devoid of surprises. At a friend's wedding, he meets and eventually commences an affair with Kim (Rachel Bilson), a college student who makes him feel 10 years younger.

Even more low, Michael's colleague Chris (Casey Affleck) is contemplating leaving his wife, Lisa (Lauren Lee Smith), who's on the verge of a meltdown taking care of their baby son.

Rounding out the quartet are Izzy (Michael Weston), who holds a torch for his ex-girlfriend and can't move on, and ladies' man Kenny (Eric Christian Olsen), who treats women as sex objects.

Blythe Danner and Tom Wilkinson play Jenna's parents, Anna and Stephen, whose marriage has soured into affectionless complacency.

The performances are solid, but the situations contrived, with several of the story lines -- specifically Izzy's and Kenny's -- going nowhere.

In holding up a mirror to postmodern love and its accompanying anxieties, Goldwyn does provide some modest observations about flawed humanity -- especially the way we learn from our mistakes and how actions have consequences -- but, on a whole, the characters read as more selfish than sympathetic. Michael, for instance, lies, cheats and then lies some more to cover his infidelity, and only comes clean when he gets caught. Though he resists early temptation to sleep with Kim, he later caves in. Anna and Stephen reveal, to varying degrees, narrow self-absorption. And so on.

In fact there is no "positive" image of couples apart from, perhaps, Michael and Jenna's nosy gay neighbors and a fleeting tableau of Izzy's sleeping parents.

At one point, Stephen, the default voice of wisdom, chastises Michael, reminding him that authentic "love" -- not the narcissism and emotionalism masquerading as such -- must be based on truth, and able to weather fear, doubts and even the occasional temptation, if it is to be worthy of its name.

Like the arrested-development gang in Edward Burns' similarly themed "The Groomsmen," the foursome here display the same pathology endemic to a generation that resists embracing grown-up responsibility. In the end, however, Michael does indeed repent and mature, as the door is left open, both literally and figuratively, for reconciliation.

The film contains several racy sexual encounters, some with partial nudity, lesbian eroticism with partial nudity, a tacit approval of premarital living arrangements, a gay sight gag, much rough and crude language, scattered profanity, some sexual humor and brief drug content. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

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DiCerto is on the staff of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. More reviews are available online at www.usccb.org/movies.

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Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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