The movie is categorized as comedy/drama/romance. The good thing is that it is more drama than comedy, so it isn’t just another second rate comedy that tries to be smart & witty but ends up being neither, like many recent movies. This movie also has some weak moments, especially the beginning, but after that it finds its rhythm and manages to deliver a relatively strong story till the end, with a few exceptions.
The Last Kiss is the story of four childhood friends who discover, reaching maturity, the fact that their lives are not exactly the type of life they imagined for themselves when they were kids. They realize they are stuck in a monotone and boring way of life. Two of them are more superficial, they try to escape from their way of life by any means – sex with strangers, a trip to Patagonia… In my opinion, these characters don’t bring anything important to the story so I didn’t really understand the reason for them to be in the movie in the first place.
The story centres on Michael (Zach Braff) and Jenna (Jacinda Barrett), a soon to be married couple, already expecting a child. Michael sees his whole life in front of him, the routine of the family life and tries to find a way out by having an affair with Kim (Rachel Bilson), a pretty but relatively shallow brunette that he encountered at one of his friend’s wedding. Jenna finds out about the affair and the drama bursts open on the screen.
The cast includes Casey Affleck, making a good impression here although he’s not memorable like he was in „The Assassination of Jesse James...” and it’s completed by the veterans Tom Wilkinson and Blythe Danner that are a delight to watch, as always.
It is a beyond average movie that deserves your attention, perfect for a Sunday afternoon. 7/10