It may be hard to believe that ""The Last Kiss"" flows through a different vein than ""Garden State,"" and it may be even harder to believe that Zach Braff can play anybody other than that dorky guy you met in your women's studies discussion, but with all due respect to the brilliance of Paul Haggis, believe.
This film is yet another demonstration of Haggis' enormous presence as a writer. His characters are constantly moving and changing. Even the supporting characters are dynamic in their own unexpected sense, and each of them could have an entire movie to themselves. Haggis can write 12 different plots into a script and make everything seem like one story in the end, and after both ""Million Dollar Baby"" and ""Crash,"" everybody knows he does this well. Overall, ""The Last Kiss"" is a dazzling end to a summer of less than excellent filmmaking. It is a story about relationships, but it's not really about love; instead, it's about hanging onto the things that nourish love and letting go of the things that don't.
Braff plays Michael, a young professional on the cusp of 30, and Jacinda Barrett gives a sparkling, emotional performance as his pregnant girlfriend, Jenna. They have talked briefly about marriage, but while deciding to let it take a shaky backseat to their soon-to-be family, the two of them are spun into a bout of miscommunication. Jenna commits a near-fatal batch of hubris, sure that she knows all of Michael's secret inner-workings, including the way he feels about their current situation. Meanwhile, Michael makes friends with bubbly brunette Kim (Rachel Bilson), a 20-year-old college student at (gasp) UW-Madison and gets himself into a rather sticky situation.
Casey Affleck, Blythe Danner and Tom Wilkinson make up this movie's monstrous talent in the supporting character category. Danner and Wilkinson play Jenna's parents, an aging couple whose feelings for each other have hit a strange, unyielding fork in the road. In a much smaller role, Casey Affleck gives the audience a vulnerable look at what it's like to be in a failing marriage as Michael's best friend Chris. Having built a rather offbeat career for himself compared to his brother Ben's, Affleck has become one of the most underrated names in Hollywood. Every role that he plays contributes with vast importance to the movie at hand, and his character in ""The Last Kiss"" is no exception.
Now, while it may seem like an inspirational walk through the park, ""The Last Kiss"" is more of a harsh reality movie than a romantic comedy. There is a lot of sadness to be dealt with and a lot of tangibility in its scenes. Also, thankfully, the Rachel Bilson character is not half as prominent as one might expect. Instead, she is more of a plot device, striking any preconceived notions one might have about her resembling too closely the character of Sam in ""Garden State.""
Last but not least, the movie takes place in Madison. You can point things out and say, ""Oh my God! It's Bascom Hill! It's the Terrace!"" These familiarities alone are reason enough to see ""The Last Kiss,"" and they merely add to the fact that this movie is truly close to home.
