by Marco Fiori

Created on: April 21, 2009

Standing on the precipice of life, what would you do? 2006's The Last Kiss asks its audience that exact question. Michael (Braff) is your typical twenty-nine year old. He's got the girl of his dreams with a baby on the way and is still close with his childhood friends. As he approaches 30, he begins to think what any self respecting man would: Is this it - are there no more surprises?

Tapping into the apprehensions modern culture has with aging, The Last Kiss attempts to take you on a (black) comedic ride through broken marriages, breaking partnerships and the failure of traditional Hollywood love. We are treated to a microcosm of human interaction. The film centres around Michael's dilemma of whether he should stay faithful to his partner Jenna (Barrett), or follow up his uncertainty when Kim (Bilson), a young student girl who indicates her seductive urges, appears on the scene. The film offers various side-narratives (Jenna's parents are flagging in their marriage, Chris (Affleck) feels underappreciated in his and Kenny (Olsen) is seemingly over the moon with his new found sex-fuelled partner), but we are kept on track despite (obvious) slow plot development.

Braff puts a hundred percent into shaking his Scrubs persona and depicting the common man. He does a decent job at it, utilising naturalistic acting, and expression that lacks melodrama. The cast do their best even with the no-surprises' script and manage to present their respective problems in an authentic manner. Some up-close-and-personal cinematography keeps the viewer involved in the action and overall the presentation is good.

The humour is subtle and at times, The Last Kiss manages to tweak our inner emotions. We watch as the plot destructively develops impossible to prevent it from reaching its derailed conclusion. Goldwyn's directorial prowess is delicate, yet efficient. He does his best at remaking' the 2001 basis for The Last Kiss, L'ultimo Bacio, but it still, unavoidably, lacks the same emotionality. The ending does the film no favours, but even with the foreseeable conclusion, we are still left with a strong look at the laws of human contact.

It's a rights-of-passage for the late twenties demographic. Teetering on the edge of mediocrity, The Last Kiss pulls through. Hollywood shies away as we are left with a film that ticks all the boxes in average fashion. It's not to everyone's taste, but definitely able to hold its own against other romantic comedies.

3/5

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