The Last Kiss - Movie Review

Katie and I went and saw The Last Kiss with Zach Braff and Rachel Bilson this week, and I walked out of the theatre with a very interesting feeling from the movie. While I really enjoyed it, it perplexed me, in a Garden State sort of way, which is fitting because Zach Braff starred in this one as well. It is an interesting story of love and loss and poor descisions of men to leave or cheat on the women they have pledged their love and lives to.
(BTW... this is where you should stop reading if you have not seen the movie because it will ruin it for you.) It amazed me as I was watching , how many chances that Michael, played by Zach Braff, had to avoid the heartache that ended up haunting him at the end of the film. Throughout the story I counted 8 moments in which he faced a crossroads to choose the path of character and commitment but chose the path of immedite satisfaction and infidelity. Through out the movie I became more and more acutely aware of the darkness within the short sighted mind of men. While it was a dark look, it was a neccessary one because even though I am so committed to my wife, it is a good luck to see how close each and everyone of us are to making a mistake. Yet while we are all so close, we are all given multiple chances to turn back and make the right descision. Whenever you see the big blow up, like Micheals infidelity with Kim (played by Rachel Bilson, which btw... the OC starts on November 2nd!) if you look back there was always a smaller descision that went wrong and started the downward spiral that started the whole mess. Whenever there is a big blow up in a leaders life, or in my life, there is always a smaller choice to sacrifice integrity way back in the distance. This is the neccesary reminider that the Last Kiss gives so dramatically and poinently.

After Micheal is found out by his fiance Jenna, he goes to her parents house to apologize and is stopped by Jenna's father Stephen, who is played by Tom Wilkinson. Now if my daughter's fiance came to me to apologize after doing what Michael did, I know what choice words I would have to say to him... but it's a movie. Anyways, what happens next becomes a dialouge between Stephen and Michael that is the bast 10 minutes of acting I have ever seen from Tom Wilkinson, and he was phenominal in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. After the tradition niceties and the "What were you thinking!!?!" lines, he begins to tell Michael what every guy needs to hear. That there will always be someone else, another brunette or blonde, no matter how old you are, or how long you have been married, and that the issue is not your feelings, but your character and how you treat those that you love. The tag line of the movie is "We all have choices. What's yours?" which I think is encapsulated in this scene. When Micheal asks what he can do to make it up to him, and to Jenna, he simply responds with, "Whatever it takes." Again the simplicity and the gravity of this line just floored me and as the movie concludes, Michael proves himself again by sitting on the porch of Jenna's house for over 4 days, never leaving even when she does, just waiting for her to talk to him. I never want to be in a situation where I need to do that for the reasons that he did, but I want to love my wife like that, being able to battle through, no matter what! It is interesting that often times we never appreciate the things we have until they are gone... The Last Kiss makes us appreciate them while we have them, because we get to watch others battle to save them. Definately Recommended!

Favorite Line: "Your feelings only matter to you. It is what you do to those that you say that you love that matters to everyone else!" - Stephen (Tom Wilkinson)

Disclaimer: There is a lot of objectionable content in this movie, language and nudity amoung the forefront so if you are easily offended, be cautious.