“The Last Kiss” could have easily turned into a soundtrack looking for a movie. Has anyone heard of a little film called “Garden State” or if we think back far enough, “The Big Chill?” While I have no doubt in the success of the soundtrack’s sales, the compilation of songs are not strong enough to carry the film on its own. Luckily, we find there is an actual story behind the musical distraction. Simply put, this film is about a group of friends headed up by our protagonist Michael, played by Zach Braff, fumbling through their premature mid-life crises. The secondary characters like that of Michael’s friends Kenny (Eric Christian Olsen) and Izzy (Michael Weston) seem to only take up screen time. Trying to keep up with the primary characters is taxing enough, and with these two plus their relationship hang ups, it takes a toll on the audience’s attention span. Oddly enough Casey Affleck’s portrayal of Chris, the frazzled husband, brings humility to the role of a man contemplating leaving his wife. It was refreshing to have one of Michael’s friends avoid being a distraction but rather bring layers to the film.
Speaking of crisis and relationship problems, this takes us to the heart of the film, Michael’s current dilemma. He is about to turn 30, his girlfriend Jenna (Jacinda Barrett) is pregnant and he feels responsibility looming. You can almost see the dark cloud hanging over his head the entire film. Moreover, right as his panic attack sets in, Rachel Bilson’s character Kim, a college junior, breezes by to free him from adulthood.
It was extremely annoying and at times uncomfortable to watch Kim go after the “mysterious older man” and Chris purposefully screw up his life. How clich is it to go after the cute young girl? He might as well have bought a motorcycle while he was at it.
Accordingly his girlfriend Jenna finds out then freaks out. While the female freak out is nothing new in cinema, or in real life, Barrett takes what could have been a desperate or outlandish scene and instead delivers a genuine reaction minus the whining of an actual break up.
On top of all this we have Jenna’s parents Anna and Stephen, played by Tom Wilkinson and Blythe Danner, working through their own marital problems. Anna’s dissatisfaction with their marriage and her confession of a prior affair has her all up in arms while Stephen sits by with a stoic look of patience on his face.
The plot is very dramatic but Wilkinson and Danner bring a maturity and help present to a younger audience a sense of realism concerning an older generation. The audience recognizes that like Anna and Stephen, our parents and grandparents are human too and make mistakes.
However, at times the movie seemed like a glorified soap opera and again, I was annoyed with the character of Kim. She continually tries to act older by throwing out these grandiose statements that I suppose the writers included with the intention for us to think about and understand life. Of that I’m not sure but I definitely found myself wanting to smack her and say, quit trying so hard!
Along these lines, I did not like the naivet placed on Kim. She’s a walking contradiction. At first she is OK with casual sex but then acts clingy by calling Michael all the time and dropping by his office. She acts laid back but is secretly needy. I wish the writers would give college-age girls a little more credit.
All in all, the movie made me kind of depressed and ultimately had me convinced that all relationships are bound to fail. While life is not all sunshine and cheer, it has been my experience that a group of friends do not fall apart all at the same time. At least one person is there to keep everyone sane and ultimately that is exactly what the movie lacks. I would recommend seeing this film once for the few great performances and the fact that it is aesthetically pleasing, but I would doubt anyone would want to leave a movie feeling depressed twice.

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