myopnionis I don't know how this could have anything but an excellent rating! This movie is so well written, directed, and acted! It is so realistic and true to everyday relationships and the true nature of them and how we react to them, and in them. As a middle aged woman, I can truly relate in part to nearly every single character in the movie, and appreciate their perspective! It is also full of hilarious rhetoric between friends! The emotion, whether happy, sad, sexy, etc. is entirely believable and well acted and draws you in to caring about the relationships, as well as relating to all of them in different ways. I enjoyed every minute of this film, including the out of the ordinary, but extremely fulfilling ending. Each actor did a fantastic job, and with this cast, that isn't surprising. As much as I appreciate the authenticity and realism in this movie, the humor is equally enjoyable. Very witty, moving, funny, sad, everything you could ask for in a great movie! I wish more people wrote like this!

liten THIS REVIEW SHOULD BE READ BY THOSE WHO'VE ACTUALLY SEEN THE MOVIE There are a lot of films that deal with mid-life crises in their own ways. Some come out great, some totally miss the point. But every now and then a film tries, and falls short. This is "The Last Kiss".What the writers and the director did for this movie pretty much reflects what the Zach Braff character said at the end of the movie, where the couple should at least try to make things work. I think that's what this movie tried to do as well.It's unfair to compare movies, therefore I won't go there. But this movie itself, was missing something. Maybe it needed to be longer, maybe it needed to a series, or a 2-part movie in order to delve into the characters and their issues a little bit more, but I feel like with the set-up they gave us at the beginning of the movie, this film could have done a lot more, had there been more time for it to do. It could have been better, because it had the potential but for whatever reason, the movie length was that length, and the choice of words coming out of Zach Braff's mouth (awful, just absolutely awful) were those words.This movie dealt with a good theme, and good initial story-lines but failed in its premise, and became too "movie-like" and less "real-world" if you know what I mean. This is an important point because that is what the movie was aiming at.And so for that reason, I'll give it a 2 out 4 stars. RIP Roger Ebert.

jotix100 Hollywood, for lack of originality, sometimes resorts to remake European film hits. Alas, those efforts can be a hit or a miss, as it never can outdo something that was perfect before. While credit must go to Tony Goldwyn and the adapter of the original material, Paul Haggis, for the way they make it palatable for American audiences, some of the enjoyment is lacking in the finished product. Part of the blame is that some of the characters in this version are people one wouldn't like to meet in the first place.The story follows the Italian version of 2001 pretty much. This tale centers around four friends that, for all practical purposes, have refused to grow to accept their new realities. That seems to be what happened to Chris and his disenchanted wife. They find themselves in no-win situation with a child they probably weren't counting on. Whatever they thought about their marriage, is not working out.Michael who is fully aware what Chris is going through, has a good relationship with Jenna, his girlfriend, with whom he is living. To complicate things, Michael meets Kim at a wedding. She clearly knows about him, so he feels flattered by the attention this attractive woman, although younger, shows him. Little prepares him when Jenna tells him she's pregnant, something that he didn't expect. While her parents are elated, Michael begins an affair with the beautiful Kim, something that will change his life completely.The American cast on this remake is fairly attractive. Zach Braff, a personable actor who keeps reminding this viewer of a young Dustin Hoffman is a charmer that has proved he has talent to spare. His Michael goes through a gamut of emotions. Equally good is Jacinda Barrett, a personable and gorgeous actress that always delivers. Casey Affleck and Rachel Bilson play Chris and Kim showing sensitive to the material. The older cast includes the excellent Blythe Danner and Tom Wilkinson, two people that are a welcome addition to any film. Harold Ramis, the director, has a small role.We look forward to more things from director Tony Goldwyn, hoping he finds the right original material in which to show the range which he is capable of giving an audience to enjoy.

Haynerator Now, clearly, as the title and brief synopsis suggest, the first impressions of this film through text make it sound like some 'smultchzy', weepy, emotional film aimed at women and sensitive males in which people love, have problems, love again and thus; happy ending. But this simply is not the case with this film, with such pre-conceptions it becomes easy for expectations to be exceeded rather soon. Initially this film seems like nothing special, we have some rapidly established characters, yet with minimal connection to the audience. This is fine, and you'd expect this to develop throughout the film; but it seems as if this doesn't develop quickly enough. After being briefly introduced to our characters and the central plot, we are at a wedding, and it is here where 'Michael' meets 'Kim'. The immediate chemistry between Braff and Bilson seemed to be not that disparate to the chemistry displayed between Braff and Natalie Portman in the highly acclaimed film 'Garden State', this is slightly disappointing, but only to those who have seen the film in question. This chemistry, however, successfully veers off into something more unique and intriguing as the film goes on. Also, in its opening scenes, there is nothing that shouts "I am great!" There are few nice shots and it's generally aesthetically ordinary. Much of the acting is fairly quotidian with the exception of a handful of cast members, and the script promptly seems quite plain with some nice bits of dialogue here and there. Yet with all these obvious flaws outlined very early on, there is still something quite captivating about this film, and at first thought, it's hard to pin-point exactly what it is.As mentioned, there is much to be desired of the acting; all the cast performed their roles very well, but there always felt like there was something missing in their performance. In particular, Rachel Bilson ('The O.C.'), who seems somewhat unconvincing at times. Braff gives a fantastic performance however, especially in some heavy scenes nearer the end of the film where he irrevocably portrays his emotions and facial expressions. Casey Affleck is quite surprising too, having not seen him in anything before myself, I expected him to be on par with his brother Ben Affleck in terms of acting ability. Casey is convincing in his role, he doesn't quite surmount his brother, but he definitely shows some promise, (despite his peculiarly effeminate voice.)One of the films underlying themes is how we treat our dreams and aspirations, as well as how we deal with the common dilemmas of modern day civilisation. It makes a point of arguing what is worth fighting for and why, as well as displaying the options of running away. You don't necessarily learn from these points, but for certain people it's not impossible to assume that it could put some viewers' individual real-life problems into some form of perspective in terms of how they're dealing with them. This is a great aspect, be it intentional or fluke. Though despite this, some character actions and behavioural traits don't seem to make complete sense. For example, 'Kim' knows that 'Michael' is in a committed relationship, yet she tries to seduce him anyway, and personally I can't comprehend why you would try to aide and incur the self sabotage of someone's relationship for personal gain. This made 'Kim' a mystery, and gives a very ambivalent feeling towards her, being that you enjoy aspects of her character, yet at the same time dislike her actions.This goes for most characters though; there is a great deal of ambivalence and even contempt for a lot of the cast, and in the films early moments it's hard to see why. As the film goes on, or more specifically, near the end, you realise something about the characters, and the artistic intentions with the characters involved. Throughout the film the contempt and ambivalence for the characters is consistent, assumedly this would be a bad thing, but this is in fact not a mistake. The only reason this is felt is because the mind expects to have a specified emotional attachment towards each of the characters dictated to it by the film. But this is one of those surprising elements; the film does not care whether you like the characters or not, it has a complete disregard for your personal feelings on how you wish the events to turn out as well as how you desire the characters to behave. The film basically says "Here is a story for you, but I don't care if you like it or not", the reason for this, is because every single character, good performance or not, is just incredibly human. Every character has a certain level of good qualities as well as a great deal of flaws, none of the characters are perfect, and none of them claim to be. This realisation makes any discontentment towards the characters vanish.In this instance, the film fantastically avoids being predictable, as well as being some kind of 'feel good' escapist film to enjoy every once in a while on a weekend afternoon. The film convincingly tells a story of human life, and common modern social behaviour in adulthood. This overall makes for a very surprising film, and at the end you're left feeling very satisfied, and the feeling that you greatly enjoyed the movie. Even though the acting and cinematography leave much to the imagination at times, the films avoidance of escapism and its unpredictability just make this film rather unique and highly enjoyable. It may require you stick with it however, but either way, 8 out of 10 for originality!