CNET Networks Entertainment GameSpot | GameFAQs | SportsGamer | Metacritic | MP3.com | TV.com
Home | About Metacritic | About Metascores | What's New | Wireless Versions | Discussion Forums | Advertising Inquiries | Contact Us | RSS
Metacritic.com: We Deal With Criticism
     Help
> Switch to Advanced Search  
Film Video/DVD Music Games TV

Film

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

 

Wide Releases

sort by name sort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 

Limited Releases

sort by name sort by score

85 Alexandra
40 America the Beautiful
66 American Teen
74 Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer
65 August Evening
xx Bachna Ae Haseeno
62 Baghead
58 Beautiful Losers
xx Beer for My Horses
47 Before the Rains
80 Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
56 Bottle Shock
75 Boy A
55 Bra Boys
61 Brick Lane
64 Brideshead Revisited
47 Burn After Reading
61 Bustin' Down the Door
49 Children of Huang Shi, The
54 CSNY: Déjà Vu
xx Cthulhu
86 Edge of Heaven, The
66 Elegy
52 Elsa & Fred
80 Encounters at the End of the World
26 Everybody Wants to Be Italian
64 Fall, The
86 Flight of the Red Balloon, The
82 Frozen River
71 Girl Cut in Two, A
62 Girls Rock!
xx Goal II: Living the Dream
73 Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
54 Hamlet 2
25 Hell Ride
44 Henry Poole is Here
76 I Served the King of England
72 I.O.U.S. A
63 In Search of a Midnight Kiss
46 Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer
67 Jellyfish
62 Kabluey
63 Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
78 Last Mistress, The
50 Last Stop for Paul
70 Love Songs
61 Man Named Pearl, A
89 Man on Wire
62 Mister Foe
85 Momma's Man
74 Mongol
46 My Mexican Shivah
80 Order of Myths, The
66 Patti Smith: Dream of Life
54 Ping Pong Playa
77 Pool, The
72 Priceless
61 Red
71 Roman de gare
78 Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
51 Savage Grace
55 Save Me
73 Secret, A
57 Sixty Six
58 Sukiyaki Western Django
xx Surfer, Dude
83 Tell No One
56 Then She Found Me
71 To the Limit
72 Transsiberian
81 Trouble the Water
83 U2 3D
86 Up the Yangtze
79 Visitor, The
61 Wackness, The
54 What We Do Is Secret
66 When Did You Last See Your Father?
67 XXY
54 Year of the Fish
xx Young People F**king
75 Young@Heart

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 



Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums

Last Kiss, The
Paramount Pictures

Last Kiss, The reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 57 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
4.7 out of 10
based on 27 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 48 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: R for sexuality, nudity and language

Starring Zach Braff, Jacinda Barrett, Rachel Bilson, Eric Christian Olsen, Casey Affleck, Blythe Danner, and Tom Wilkinson

Tony Goldwyn's remake of Gabriele Muccino's 2001 comedy drama (L'Ultimo Bacio) focuses on a group of 30 year-olds struggle to adapt to adulthood.


GENRE(S): Comedy  |  Drama  
WRITTEN BY: Paul Haggis
Gabriele Muccino (motion picture L'Ultimo Bacio)
 
DIRECTED BY: Tony Goldwyn  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: December 26, 2006 
Theatrical: September 15, 2006 
RUNNING TIME: 115 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

83
Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
The film marks Braff as a talent to watch, blessed with the sort of natural, everyman appeal that audiences eat up.
Read Full Review
80
Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
Screenwriter Paul Haggis (Crash, Million Dollar Baby) has turned the Italian romantic comedy "L'Ultimo Bacio" (2001) into something smarter, funnier, and more penetrating.
Read Full Review
80
Empire Olly Richards
Crediting its audience with emotional intelligence, this rises well above your usual rom-com-dram. But if you’re planning on seeing it with your other half, be warned: it might invite some uncomfortable discussions afterwards.
Read Full Review
75
Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
For the most part, The Last Kiss engages and pleases with its shaggy earnestness.
Read Full Review
75
Miami Herald Connie Ogle
When it comes to exploring our peculiar blindness as to what's important in our lives, the film is a disturbing but accurate road map.
Read Full Review
75
Chicago Tribune Jessica Reaves
A smart, witty, sexy take on the perils of becoming an adult.
Read Full Review
75
San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein
The Last Kiss ponders what you give up -- and what you gain -- from sticking with what you've got.
Read Full Review
75
ReelViews James Berardinelli
Haggis' dialogue is virtually without clunkers, and it is delivered with the appropriate weight by a solid cast. Braff's limp performance is countered by Barrett's emotional riveting one (although he's in more scenes than she is).
Read Full Review
70
Variety Lisa Nesselson
All-American adaptation by Paul Haggis of Gabriele Muccino's 2001 Italian hit "L'Ultimo bacio" is chummy, consensual and always watchable in Tony Goldwyn's polished rendition of emotional messiness.
Read Full Review
70
The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen
Proving that with solid direction, tight writing and strong performances an American remake can actually be as good as the foreign-language original, The Last Kiss, an unusually perceptive dramedy about contemporary relationships also manages to stand quite capably on its own two feet.
Read Full Review
70
Washington Post Desson Thomson
Danner's performance, as she rages against the dying of the romantic light, all but steals the movie from Braff.
Read Full Review
67
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Thanks to Haggis and the cast, who are convincing, often bitingly so, in their willingness to dive into the dark and unknowable depths of the modern American romantic relationship, The Last Kiss mirrors reality with remarkable faithfulness.
Read Full Review
63
USA Today Claudia Puig
The movie occasionally reveals truths about relationships that, while not earth-shattering, are nonetheless entertaining and worth considering.
Read Full Review
63
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Paints itself into a corner from which it cannot escape. By the end, the movie is still in that corner, tossing out overlapping notes of hope and gloom and counting on viewers to write the ending they want. I'd leave the movie in the corner.
Read Full Review
63
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Veterans Danner and Wilkinson effortlessly make Anna and Stephen more interesting than all the youngsters combined.
Read Full Review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Actor-turned-director Tony Goldwyn elicits solid performances from the cast, then undercuts them by resorting to a trite montage or a clunky set-piece, inevitably scored with an obtrusive rock tune telling us what to feel and when to feel it.
Read Full Review
60
Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
The Last Kiss is more a capable-craftsman film than a work of genuine dramatic insight, but here and there it opens a window onto the terror and wonder of grown-up life, one its characters don't especially want to look through.
Read Full Review
58
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
An alarming male wallow passing as a fetching date-night dramedy.
Read Full Review
50
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Bill White
An exceptional Italian film becomes an average American one in this bland remake of Gabriele Muccino's "L' Ultimo Bacio."
Read Full Review
50
Boston Globe Ty Burr
It very much wants to be "Garden State" five years down the line.
Read Full Review
50
New York Post Lou Lumenick
If I were a member of Generation X, I would be fed up with Hollywood's obsession with the idea that its men are genetically incapable of growing up.
Read Full Review
50
The New York Times A.O. Scott
The fallibility of the romantic ideal -- which is nonetheless indispensable on screen and off -- is something Hollywood has trouble dealing with. "The Break-up," in which Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughan did just what the title promised, would have been a more notable exception if it were anything like a good movie. The Last Kiss, while not quite a good movie either, at least deserves credit for its honesty.
Read Full Review
50
Village Voice Ella Taylor
The Last Kiss isn't terrible, but if you're strapped for a night out it can easily wait till DVD. Better yet, it may be time to revisit "Diner."
Read Full Review
50
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
The trouble with The Last Kiss comes down to Paul Haggis' screenplay.
Read Full Review
50
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Director Tony Goldwyn tries for the lyrical melancholy he brought to "A Walk on the Moon," but as Michael waits for days on Jenna's porch getting drenched (as irritating a scene as any in recent cinema), only the most rabid chick-flick fan will fail to notice that it's the movie that's all wet.
Read Full Review
50
Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
Feels terminally generic and tone-deaf.
Read Full Review
16
The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
Unfortunately, nothing about Tony Goldwyn's vapid, navel-gazing, claustrophobic adaptation of a 2001 Italian film rings remotely true.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 4.7 (out of 10) based on 48 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Joe P. gave it a0:
"The Last Kiss" should have been called "Shallow, Self-Absorbed People Do Shallow, Self-Absorbed Things To Their Loved Ones And Scream Shrilly At Each Other During Unbelievable Plot Contrivances That Make No Sense". If this new title doesn't sound even remotely entertaining, that's because neither is "The Last Kiss".

Luigi C. gave it an8:
Very underrated. This is a sensitive and real movie about commitment as youth moves into adult hood. It has a heart, laughs and you'll identify with the characters. The acting is great all around. Some of the story around the parent's is a little forced but it doesn't get in the way. 20-30 somethings aren't going to get it - its above them!

Reid F. gave it a3:
This is another movie in the ever-growing genre of films about unpleasant people doing stupid things. Are we really supposed to care about anyone in this movie?

R G gave it a3:
The smartest film?? voice of our generation??? wait wait this is paul haggis the king of conveniet writing, he ll put in more intersting characters that are not major parts in the movie (izzy, chris) to conveniently make it into a story that we can all see coming(chris running into jenna). "no surprises" complains braff and uses it as excuse to go out with the brunette. this movie had nothing new, far from any surprises, some really cleched lines delivered by some promising actors, and some really convenient music (coldplay - warning sign when braffs out on the poarch). choreography is sharp but it just tries soo hard to be an indie movie and it fails terribly.

Mark B. gave it a7:
Paul Haggis's and Tony Goldwyn's entertaining meditation on twentysomething yuppie angst (if those last three words didn't scare you away, you have a good-to-excellent chance of liking this) is one of the only movies ever made whose poster could've gotten away with filching the tagline of ANOTHER movie: Rob Reiner's 1985 romantic comedy The Sure Thing, with John Cusack, Daphne Zuniga and a very young Nicollette Sheridan: "The sure thing comes once in a lifetime. The real thing lasts forever." Soon-to-be husband and father Michael (Zach Braff) is engaged to sweet, smart and lovely Jenna (Jacinda Barrett, quickly rebounding from Poseidon) but due to nagging "Is-that-all-there-is?" insecurities gets tempted by a stress-relieving, ego-boosting night with free spirit Kim (Rachel Bilson) who, while not exactly a clone of a certain bunny-boiling iconic 1987 movie figure, turns out to also not quite be the zipless fling Michael expected. To the movie's credit, it credibly allows viewers to see both sides of the question: nearly all women will be as infuriated with Michael as Jenna is, while many men will want to shout at the screen, "Dude!!! You got a real babe waiting at home! What the hell are you DOING?!?!?" (The Last Kiss understands that the Kims of the world are ethereal while the Jennas are eternal.) But the price Michael pays, coupled with the lengths he goes through to make amends and Braff's memorably hangdog persona, will leave nearly everyone in the audience hungry for reconciliation and redemption...and the final shot is wisely open-ended and bittersweet. By including lots of supporting and peripheral characters, writer Haggis attempts to dissect romance the way he did racism in Crash to less striking effect (sorry, Paul, but commitmentphobia just doesn't carry the urgency that racially-motivated killings do), but a sort of devil's-advocate counterpoint to the movie's general endorsement of monogamy--in the form of its depiction of the long, seemingly by-the-numbers marriage of Jenna's parents--really scores because Tom Wilkinson and especially Blythe Danner are so resonant. Always a smart, interesting, appealing actress, Danner has become an indispensable one over the last decade: her portrayal of Ben Stiller's sweetly ditsy-like-a-fox future mother-in-law was one of the biggest strengths of Meet the Parents (and the ONLY genuine asset of its sequel). Director Goldwyn's inventively composed closeup of lonely, seemingly unloved Anna (she's not, but she thinks she is, and that's what matters) getting ready for bed is, thanks to Danner's subtlety and artistry, the most indelible image in an American movie so far in 2006.

Alessandra S gave it a10:
Wow...whats up with all the mediocre comments? I absolutely loved The Last Kiss. Nothing felt forced, the entire story just kind of rolled without the typical clichés, and predictable scenes. I found myself laughing throughout most of the movie. Even some of the serious moments turned out to be hilarious. Moving and touching. A must see.

Paul G. gave it an8:
You're either with this movie or you're not. I found it convincing and moving. At times a little over the top, but it had a solid cast and they did a good job. Best of all many times the movie leads up to a scene you've seen a 100 times, and then it goes somewhere else. I was with these characters so that I found the end of the film very moving. But I'll allow if you're not clicking with this then you may very well find the end insufferable.

Read more user comments...

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page
Home | FILM | DVD/VIDEO | MUSIC | GAMES | TV | Forums | About Metacritic metacritic.com

Popular on CBS sites: Fantasy Football | Miley Cyrus | MLB | iPhone 3G | GPS | Recipes | Shwayze | NFL

About CNET Networks | Jobs | Advertise

© 2008 CNET Networks, Inc., a CBS Company. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use