the last kiss

after looking forward to it, i was suddenly hesitant to watch it when we finally got a bootleg copy of it. it’s not because of the reviews (they were half bad and half good), but it’s because in the movie, Zach Braff’s (who i absolutely adore) character there is a cheater. and i didn’t want my beloved JD to be associated with the one sin that i have a hard time forgiving, and probably that single most painful thing to ever have happened to me in my life (so far…).but once my sister had the dvd loaded and the opening credits song (Snow Patrol’s “Chocolate”) started playing, i couldn’t keep away.

it’s a simple story, really. and i don’t know why the blurb at the back of the dvd tauted the movie as a “romantic comedy” when there was nothing romantic or funny about it. sure, it was a love story– but it was about the ugly side of commitments, forgiveness and what it takes to salvage a relationship that you’ve consciously destroyed.

i cried through the latter part of the film, but in the end, i wanted to watch it again. i liked it. it was painful but the performances were good enough. not really spectacular, but just right for this simple love story in a small setting. the movie doesn’t rely on camera tricks and other gimmicks– just simple play of light and shadows. it’s straightforward and simple. much like the movies i love watching today.

so my sisters and i yelled at Michael (Zach Braff) as we watched him take each step closer to consumating his infidelity. We got mad and called Kim (Rachel Bilson) names as she went after Michael. But in the end, we couldn’t help liking Michael still, even when he was being an asshole and consciously cheating on Jenna (Jacinda Barrett), his pregnant girlfriend. i guess it was because, in the end, he made no excuses for his cheating and he didn’t even blame Kim for seducing him (even when she knew full well that he had a girlfriend all that time) and he did everything that it took to get Jenna back.

There were other minor storylines about the Michael’s childhood friends’ and Jenna’s parents’ (Blythe Danner and Tom Wilkinson) relationships that added up to the movie’s point about relationships– how they work and how they end.

But the best line in the movie belonged to Tom Wilkinson’s character, Stephen– “Stop talking about love. Every asshole in the world says he loves somebody. It means nothing… What you feel only matters to you, what you do to the people you say you love, that’s what matters– the only thing that counts.”

yep. i would recommed this movie to anybody. anybody over 18, at least, for language, situations and nudity. just as long as you don’t go in expecting a Garden State type of story, you won’t be disappointed.