It’s not that the cast isn’t strong; it is. Zach Braff is his usual soulful, somewhat funny character as Michael, a guy nearing 30 who’s thrown into a (very premature) midlife crisis when his girlfriend of three years, Jenna, announces that she’s pregnant. Jenna is played by Jacinda Barrett, who’s very effective, particularly when she’s trying to cope with Michael’s very inappropriate response to this news. That would be his infatuation with Kim (Rachel Bilson), a college student he meets at a friend’s wedding.
Michael and Jenna’s relationship isn’t the only one falling apart. There’s Michael’s friend Chris (Casey Affleck), whose marriage to Lisa (Lauren Lee Smith) is on the rocks despite their infant son. Their friend Izzy (Michael Weston) is a basket case after being dumped by his childhood sweetheart, Arianna (Marley Shelton). The fourth friend, Kenny (Eric Christian Olsen) isn’t having relationship trouble, but that’s because he doesn’t do relationships, just lots of fleeting pick-ups. And it’s not just the almost-30-somethings who are having trouble; Jenna’s parents, Anna (Blythe Danner) and Stephen (Tom Wilkinson) are also having marital problems, in part because of Anna’s revelation that she had an affair several years before. (With a character played by Harold Ramis, seen only very briefly.)
That’s a solid cast, and they all seem to be working hard and being very earnest about their characters. The problem is that with very few exceptions, those characters just aren’t likable. At all. Admittedly, this may be my almost-50 year old bias showing, but spare me from people in their late 20s moaning about their lives and especially not taking responsibility for their own actions. I get it – Michael’s very conflicted. But he’s also a jerk. Kim is a major tease who then acts completely out of character when Michael says he doesn’t want to see her again. (I laughed out loud during one of the special features when Bilson was defending her character is really quite innocent and NOT a tease.) Izzy needs to grow up, and so does Kenny, although for different reasons. Chris’ wife is impossible to live with, but what she needs is postnatal counseling, not having her husband walk out on her. Why Stephen has put up with Anna for close to 30 years is quite beyond me.
The Last Kiss is adapted from an Italian film that all involved also rave about; the adaptation was done by Paul Haggis, after he’d written Crash and Million Dollar Baby but before either of them was made. To hear producer Gary Lucchesi and director Tony Goldwyn talk (or gush, because that’s what they do, about everything), the script was perfect, the cast was perfect, all was perfect. Except the film.
I’m beginning to think (or fear) that there’s an inverse relationship between the quality of a story and the amount of special feature on the Blu-Ray. This one has a lot. There’s a multi-part series on the film – casting decisions, the script, favorite scenes, etc. The casting part is a little entertaining, because Goldwyn keeps talking about how ideal everyone cast was, while also mentioning many times how many different actors auditioned for each role. To hear him tell it, in most cases he knew just who he wanted, but they still auditioned a lot of people. (Braff, Affleck and Danner appear to have been exceptions.) The favorite scenes section is Goldwyn, Braff and Lucchesi’s favorites, and each gets to explain why.
There are a number of deleted scenes (none adds much) and two alternate endings. The actual ending is much better than either of the two that were passed on, so good decision-making there. There’s also a short blooper reel, the original trailer, and a music video that Braff directed. And, there are two commentary track options, one with Braff and Goldwyn and one adding some of the other cast members.
The Last Kiss does have a strong soundtrack, lots of appropriately soulful stuff that sounds great in Dolby Digital HD. The audio on my disc was very low and had to be turned up substantially; the special features were fine. Subtitle options are English, French, Spanish, German and Portuguese. The story is set in Madison, Wisconsin (not that there’s a lot of emphasis on that) and the picture quality is very good, of course. The aspect ratio is 2.35:1.
