The last kiss not quite a miss
But Braff has a hard time scoring a laugh
DYLAN FERGUSON
The carefully-mussed hair, the perpetual quizzical expression. The awkwardly pursed lips mumbling something quasi-existential above a shaky chin while he stares off into space. These are the qualities that have made Scrubs star Zach Braff honorary poster boy for the new crop of insecure, coming-to-terms-with-life-at-twentysomething American dramas. He’s kind of like a new Dustin Hoffman. Or a young Woody Allen with a Valium prescription.
With these somewhat dubious credentials, it was a pretty safe choice to cast Braff in the lead for the American remake of Italian Gabriele Muccino’s popular 2001 comedy, l’Ultimo bacio. In The Last Kiss, Braff plays Mike, who is soon turning 30 along with three of his old friends, all of whom are dreading becoming adults for their own reasons. Kenny (Eric Christian Olsen) is living “the perfect life” as a bartender who sleeps with a different girl every night, until one wants him to meet the family; Izzy (Michael Weston) is falling to pieces over the long-time girlfriend who dumped him; Chris (Casey Affleck, wonderfully defeatist) has a son, and can’t stand the responsibility of parenthood, or the constant fights with his girlfriend.
As for Mike, he has a good job at an architecture firm, a beautiful wife, Jenna, (Jacinda Barret) 10 weeks pregnant with his child, and a lot of self-doubt. Jenna’s parents, played by Tom Wilkinson and Blythe Danner, are treated to a subplot of their own wherein Danner’s prim wife gets fed up with her husband’s uncaring sarcasm, runs out and tries to rekindle an old flame. Both Danner and Wilkinson are excellent as ambassadors of the previous generation.
The action, which jumps from scene to scene with the pace of a sitcom, starts heating up after a wedding, where Mike meets giggly first-year college student Kim (The O.C.’s Rachel Bilson) who has no trouble at all seducing him. Afraid there are no surprises left in his life, Mike goes to a party with Kim and eventually sleeps with her. And when Jenna finds out, the shizzle hits the fizzle.
There are few actors who can do wishy-washy like Zach Braff. As Mike, Braff is often dishonest (even in the narration) and in a constant state of indecision. He is afraid to make up his own mind, but even more afraid of having circumstances make it up for him. Mike shares this quality with the three other members of his dissatisfied quartet. In fact, after a while of jumping around the liberal wealth of storylines this movie contains, a pattern emerges — the males are indecisive, afraid every choice may lead to a dead end, while the females are always on the verge of hysteria, afraid of losing control.
L’Ultimo bacio’s all-American adaptation was handled by Paul Haggis, the Canuck writer who cut his teeth on North of 60 before back-toback Best Picture-winning screenplays (Million Dollar Baby, Crash) made him the most sought-after scribbler in Tinsletown. His script for The Last Kiss, revolving around the idea that 30 is the new 50 in this age of anxiety, is definitely competent, with strong, direct dialogue.
But director Tony Goldwyn
Directed by: Tony Goldwyn
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glazes over the material with an indifferent rom-com style. Ostensibly, this is a “dramedy,” but the movie seems to have a hard time finding comedy in its situations. Everything feels bleak and hopeless in the choices these people have to make, and it never achieves the flippant tone needed to make it all fun.
Still, The Last Kiss deals its characters more hard-hitting honesty than most American movies have the guts to do. For that, and the upstanding cast, it deserves props. However, wet-noodle dork-hipster (dorkster?) Zach Braff actually made a more compelling movie about similar characters in his directorial debut Garden State. Though hardly great, it just had more zip and originality than The Last Kiss, despite a much less intelligent screenplay.
Like Garden State, The Last Kiss’ awkward melancholy is garnished with a succession of semi-hip emopop tunes that are as puffy and phony as Braff’s haircut.
If you want to see a movie that deals realistically and unflinchingly with today’s twenty-somethings, dig up a copy of Andrew Bujalski’s estimable Funny Ha Ha. Done in a no-frills Cassavettes-esque verité style, the 2002 flick paints a stark and harsh picture of post-grads who simply don’t want to deal with their own lives. It’s great. Call me crazy, but I’d rather identify with Bujalski’s go-nowhere losers than have my generation defined by a soundtrack.
