There have been many things said about this film, not many of them good. With the increasingly loathed Zach Braff as the lead, and the screenplay written by the Oscar-winning Crash director Paul Haggis (who also happens to be a Canadian), the reason for this dislike comes somewhat more into focus. This is useful knowledge, as while The Last Kiss will feature on nobodies obituary it is certainly not a bad film, and indeed far better than most of its contemporaries. The central theme, a second coming-of-age of the 21st century man, is as of yet undocumented, though it is true that any romantic drama whose main characters are all men is setting itself up for certain failure.
There are other problems which we will document later, not least with Braff, whose lily-livered buffoon credentials are well established and whose freshman Garden State was such a well-deserved hit in 2004. But despite this the film hits home most of the time, and is yet more proof than Paul Haggis is the most talented screenwriter out there at the moment. The man created Due South for God�s sake! He�s already a legend in my heart. While The Last Kiss is not as layered as Crash it still winds its tentacles around a lot of characters, each of which is given his or her own scenes and personal motivation. Even golden oldies Tom Wilkinson and Blythe Danner get in on the act, revealing their own flaws and secrets, both of which neatly mirror those the younger generation are repeating.
However, despite the open swirling plot you often get the feeling that this is just another Braff vehicle, which may be something of a disservice to the man. He�s not in it a great deal, though his relationship(s) with Jacinda Barrett and Rachel Bilson, as girlfriend and fling respectively, form the crux of the film. Perhaps it�s the soundtrack, which gives off a definite feeling of Braffness, or the fact that away from Scrubs he always seems to play melancholy characters caught halfway between depression and mild contentment. Perhaps it�s the unlikely scenario of Braff pulling Bilson with such ease which makes it a little unlikely, even if she isn�t all that attractive in the Hollywood sense (i.e. better than 99% of the population, but not Halle Berry).
Another flaw is the casting. Eric Christian Olsen and Casey Affleck are never going to win awards for their talent and hamper nearly every scene they�re in. Despite Affleck�s jittery personality he still doesn�t seem to fit his character, a jittery man on the brink of leaving his family. Much worse though is Bilson, who has done nothing on The OC to suggest she is even the barest outline of an actress. She appears to be struggling to read off cue cards most of the time, and though you can see why Braff might be attracted to her you never really see why he doesn�t also want to punch her in the face. Thankfully former reality star Barrett and the always excellent Wilkinson come to the rescue, playing Braff�s girlfriend passionless father-in-law-to-be. Barrett especially shows real star potential, though she is well advised to work on his accent, which frequently switches back to her native Aussie.
The Last Kiss then is, to me, a victim of the Brafflash (I�ve been thinking that up for days), and deserved better than a short run at the cinema. Even though it is slow and dealt to a niche market of introspective thirtyish men it is smarter than it is given credit for, and braver than most of its ilk. Not everything works out in the end and some characters are left half-destroyed by its events. The love triangle at its heart is also quite realistic, despite some heavy-handed playing, and is a rare move for Hollywood to play. If it had been posited as a serious drama and not another pratfalling Braff caper it would have worked much better. Instead it is merely another example of incompetent cinematic marketing. |
