Don't make this your last

I have not, unfortunately, seen "L'Ultimo Bacio," the Italian film upon which the recently released "The Last Kiss," starring Zach Braff, was based. I am sure, however, that the original foreign film is better than its successor. Directed by Tony Goldwyn, "The Last Kiss" tries hard to be poignant, succeeds frequently, but fails in the grand scheme.\nThe film follows a group of late 20-something professionals as they struggle with the realization that they are growing older and their lives have few "surprises" left in store for them. Braff's character Michael and his commitment fears are at the center of the plot. Revolving around him are Casey Affleck's domestically bedraggled and beleaguered character Chris, and Michael's girlfriend's parents, played beautifully by Blythe Danner and Tom Wilkinson. Danner is the best thing about the movie but is sadly under-used in favor of exhausting the storyline of the far less interesting Michael and girlfriend Jenna.\nFor the most part, the film seems more like a cautionary tale for the urban upwardly mobile than a thorough portrait of the state of modern relationships. I cannot imagine this film striking a chord with anyone outside of that class set, which is its ultimate failure. It disregards the underlying truths inherent in all human relationships in favor of dramatizing disputing couples and friends, sadly believing that is what passes for good fiction. I've seen this film praised for its "reality," and I suppose if we're defining "reality" here as being the five minutes of shouting and screaming that follows the moment when you first realize that your mate isn't perfect, than "The Last Kiss" has that in abundance.\nOut of the many plot threads, Braff's is the most prominent. Michael has just found out his girlfriend of three years is having a baby. The two have decided to start a family and agree to put off marriage until they both feel more comfortable with making such a serious commitment. The central conflict arises when Michael meets and begins a flirtation with a 20-year-old college sophomore. She's silly, naïve, oblivious, and not a little bit slutty. Still, the viewer can't help but feel sorry for her, as she is simply a distraction for Michael, and a fairly weak plot device used to set up "The Big Fight" between his character and Jenna's.\nAnd here is where the wheels fall off the wagon for Goldwyn and the otherwise talented screenwriter Paul Haggis. Asking the audience to believe that the thus far sane and grounded Jenna, frequently referred to as "the perfect girl," would react this irrationally to her partner's misstep requires a suspension of disbelief that the filmmakers have simply not earned. The film takes a nosedive, recovering only for a moment when Michael shares a compelling scene with the sage would-be father-in-law, played by Wilkinson.\nWatching Jenna, the terrifying thought occurred to me that absolutely none of the women in the film are shown in a flattering light. Chris' wife is maniacally unstable, Jenna goes nuts, and even Danner's character is a little questionably right-minded.\nI'm scared that soon to be 30-year-olds may think this way, but I'm more scared that the filmmakers believe women think this way. Admittedly, some women share similar qualities to the ones depicted here, but my hope for humanity is that men realize that most women aren't completely crackers.