This review includes spoilers for the movie "The Last Kiss".
Much like this summer´s "The Break-Up", "The Last Kiss" has been advertised as a romantic comedy. And much like that Jennifer Aniston-Vince Vaughn vehicle, nothing can be farther from the truth. During the wedding of friends, Michael (Zach Braff) meets a young college student, Kim (Rachel Bilson), and they strike up an interesting conversation in a tree house. In short, Michael is terrified about his future, particularly with his pregnant girlfriend Jenna (Jacinda Barrett). Kim encourages him to do the things he wants to do before it´s too late. Simultaneously, Jenna parents (Tom Wilkinson, Blythe Danner) are embroiled in a conflict of their own: her mother feels as though her husband doesn´t want to be with her anymore but stays out of obligation. There is also a nagging question in her mind about the life she could have lived with a professor she had an affair with three years prior.
This sends Michael and Jenna´s world into a tailspin. Michael starts to lie about where he is in order to go to a party with Kim, stating the night makes him feel 10 years younger. Jenna, meanwhile, is consoling another friend whose father just died. Jenna sees through the lie when Michael´s supposed alibi shows up. Everything spirals out of the control from there, culminating with Michael promising to do anything and everything to get Jenna back.
"The Last Kiss" is depressing. Not depressing in the way a bad movie is depressing, but depressing because Michael knows he´s wrong every step of the way. He knows he´s wrong to go to the party, wrong to lie to Jenna, wrong to spend with night with Kim and he can´t seem to stop himself. All because he´s scared that the rest of his life holds no surprises. And the most damning part of the movie? Michael´s half-assed defense for his indiscretions: "After three years, things happen".
Excuse me, there is never a defense for anything along the lines of what Michael does to Jenna here. Nobody held a gun to his head or threatened to blackmail him. From what we see, Michael is a reasonable and logical man who clearly knows right from wrong. He is the protagonist, the person the audience is supposed to identify with and root for.
But with the level of hurt he brings to Jenna, it´s impossible to paint him in any positive light. At least in "The Break-Up", both of the lead characters inflict an equal amount of hurt on each other, so the audience doesn´t have to pick which person is "right". Here, Michael is clearly wrong, as was Jenna´s mother Anna when she cheated on Stephen. Chris (Casey Affleck) is also wrong for leaving his wife and son, but ultimately finds his own redemption and does the "right" thing.
"The Last Kiss" has a lot to say just like Braff´s 2004 film "Garden State", despite the fact he neither wrote nor directed this one. It is, instead, a remake of an Italian film written by "Crash" scripter Paul Haggis. It has quite a simple message of knowing when to eat your pride and do whatever it takes in order to get back what you´ve lost. However, the way Michael, and to a lesser extent Anna, come to their realizations isn´t the way they should come.
Take, for example, Anna, who leaves Stephen. One night, while she´s in her new apartment complex´s gym, she seemingly can´t get the treadmill to work. Presumably, we´re led to believe this is something that Stephen would either do for her or teach her to do. Are we really supposed to believe that some trouble with a treadmill sends her back to her husband with no indication he is going to try to do a better job with the things she wants from him? Outside of being worried she is going to spend the rest of her life alone, Anna has no reason to go back to Stephen—and he has even less reason to take her back. But she does and he does.
So lets take a look at the other major relationship in the movie, Jenna and Michael. As already stated, Michael is worried his life is going to be devoid of surprise once Jenna has the baby. At first, I thought he was having an early mid-life crisis. In fact, the wheels in his head start spinning when Jenna brings up wanting to buy a house. A major life move, to be sure. There are also hints about Michael actually proposing marriage, which also undoubtedly fuel his doubts.
I guess finding himself in the arms of another woman who is younger and with whom he has no history or expectations is exciting and alluring to him. He then claims near the end that actually sleeping with Kim made him understand just how badly he loves Jenna. Why? It´s never fully explained. Is Jenna that good in bed? Does she do something wild that Kim just doesn´t do? After all, he already told her that he feels younger when they´re around. It doesn´t help that Michael is on the cusp of 30 years old, usually a milestone birthday. Perhaps it´s too much responsibility or the idea he´s no longer a kid that drives his desire for Kim. Whatever it is, it´s clear he knows its wrong from the get go.
So lets talk about the ending a little bit. It´s not going to come as a huge surprise since this scene was shown ad nauseum in the trailers. It´s the one with Michael sitting on the porch in the pouring rain. He presumably sits there waiting for Jenna to forgive him. Early on, she simply steps over him. But as time passes, she gives him a blanket and sandwich, finally letting him back in during a torrential downpour. In essence, we´re led to believe she forgives him. Why does she do this? Does she not want their daughter to grow up without a father? Or does she love him that much?
Personal philosophies aside, I´m not sure why she takes him back. We know they´ve been together for three years with a baby on the way. But we never see the positives of the relationship prior to when the film opens. In order for the audience to get actively involved in the emotions of the characters, knowing what is on the line would have helped immensely. Instead, we´re dropped basically into the beginning of everyone´s personal drama. The same goes for Lisa and Chris, though it´s clear they have problems from the get-go. Michael and Jenna don´t.
"The Last Kiss" has been called depressing. It definitely is. It´s not a date movie just like "The Break-Up". The thing is it doesn´t even live up to its premise. Nearly everything in the film until the last ten minutes is as realistic as it gets. You´ve probably already guessed the ending is the letdown. And it´s not even why Jenna lets Michael back in. The logic problem is that Michael is shown to be outside the house for at least two days, possibly more.
Now, in a two day time period, there are certain bodily functions and responsibilities people have to go through on a daily basis. We never see Michael go to the bathroom, call into work or really anything else we do every day. I wanted to see the scene in which Jenna comes home and Michael isn´t there because he had to go to the bathroom. Alas, it and accompanying argument never come. The question then becomes is this relatively minor gap in logic enough to destroy "The Last Kiss"?
A strong case could be made for it, along with the already mentioned treadmill scene, but I´m not going to rake it over the coals. It is a hard film to watch, similarly to the way "Little Miss Sunshine" also hurts the audience. And they both end up in a positive place (as does "The Break-Up"). Based on the preceding 105 minutes, "The Last Kiss" is recommended…just not as a date movie. The score? 6.5 out of 10.