Zach Braff likes to “Kiss” and tell

Fri, 09/22/2006 - 11:36am
By: Emily Baldwin

Many people will go to see “The Last Kiss” with the belief that they are going to see “Garden State: All Grown Up,” but they will be wrong and will likely be surprised at the darkness of Zach Braff’s latest film.

While “Garden State” was written, directed and starred in by Braff, he is ‘merely’ the lead character in “The Last Kiss” as well as the head honcho for the soundtrack selection process.

“The Last Kiss” tells the story of Michael (Braff), a 29-year-old guy who isn’t ready to grow up. After learning that his nearly perfect girlfriend Jenna (Jacinda Barrett) is pregnant, he panics at the thought of settling down in his life. Jenna wants to get married and buy a house together, this puts Michael into a full on quarter-life crisis which winds up with him cheating on Jenna with a 20-year-old college student, Kim (Rachel Bilson), who he meets at a wedding. It all starts out innocently enough, Kim is obviously attracted to him, but Michael simply sees her as someone wholly unconnected with his current life situation to whom he can vent.

As he faces pressure from Jenna and looks at the situations of his friends (who all have their own defunct relationship situations going on), his fantasies of reenacting his early twenties with Kim inch closer to reality.

His stupidity and infidelity, of course, come back to bite him in the rear and he is faced with losing the woman he loves as well as any parental rights over his unborn child.

Meanwhile, Jenna’s parents, who have been married for thirty years, are facing their own problems after Jenna’s mom (played by Blythe Danner) admits to having an extramarital affair three years before.

It’s a sad commentary on today’s society and our generation who never really want to grow up. We are always looking over the fence, seeing the grass that we hope, we believe, is greener on the other side; we think it could be the thing that makes us happy.

Michael, a 29-year-old guy, panics at the thought that his life is “pretty much planned out” and laments to Kim and then to Jenna’s father that his life may have no more “surprises.”

I found myself wanting to yell at Michael, “Grow up already! You’re almost thirty. Quit whining!”

I didn’t of course, as Michael is a fictional character and the other theater patrons would have been none too pleased.

So, while this is definitely not a feel good movie, I did enjoy it. “Why?” you may ask. Because it makes you think. I left the theater in silence, thinking about what I could say about this movie in my review. How do I explain how a semi-depressing movie about infidelity is worth seeing. It just is. These characters are imperfect, just like in real life. How often have I wished I had a script I could go off of in times of crisis? I don’t and I screw up, so do the characters in this film. I liked this film because every once in a while it's nice to watch a movie that doesn't leave everyone happily ever after. Instead, these characters face the same real life crap that the rest of us are forced to deal with in our lives, and just like us, sometimes they make the right choice and sometimes they don't. And because I heart Zach Braff.

If you only go to movies that leave you smiling or you want two hours of mindless escapism, “The Last Kiss” is not the film for you. If, however, you like the occasional movie that provokes a conversation check it out.

Whether you see the movie or not and whether you like the movie or not, I have one solid piece of advice for you- buy the soundtrack. Braff knows good music and his taste is flawless in this regard.

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