The Last Kiss (2001)

Perfectly adorable

A different way of telling a story

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

While you could argue that this movie is filled with clichés, let's be real and even if it doesn't apply to yourself admit to ourselves that things like this happen. And the way the actors portray their roles is just incredible. There is not much in the romantic department here, that might feel "right" to those who want a rather smooth movie, without any edges.But if you want "reality" and people going with instinct (and doing a lot of wrong things), this drama delivers fully. It's tough to really root for the characters, but that's not the point here. And it's not a blueprint on how to do things. But maybe you can learn a thing or two from the mistakes being made here and try to work things out without stepping out on your relationship. So maybe there is something useful there after all ... But that's up to you to decide.

"One Last Kiss" is one of those cases where I had nothing better to do, it appeared on the TV and I decided to watch. But first I look to the comments of IMDb users about it and most of them were very positive about Gabrielle Muccino's film, ratings flying high and all. But I must say that one of the reviews caught my attention and it was a bad one where the reviewer repeated terms related with "cry" "whine" and "Poor me" several times throughout his review, complaining on how this movie was so melodramatic and excessive. I laughed a lot with that review but he's totally right on that.The non amusing story covers the life of a man and his four friends, all of them in its 30's behaving themselves like if they were a bunch of teenagers,and all of them has issues with relationships, some are married but they've lost interest for his wives, they're immature, emotionally unstable and their lives is just as fast as a spinning wheel. Sorry, this paragraph was too long and I didn't had the chance to make you breathe right? Right! This movie was like this, it didn't calm us down, it only explores situations where all the casting has to shout to proof a point, they only shout and cry about how miserable their lives are.I usually love fast paced films and my disappointment with this was because, like many viewers pointed out, it was similar to "Magnolia" (one of the best films of all time), where several characters are connected, everything is frantic, the viewers can't hardly breathe only waiting what happens next. "One Last Kiss" is only inspired by the rhythm of Paul Thomas Anderson's movie and that's it. I don't get it all the noise about this movie. Everything is so boring about it, the story, the situations, the characters, the concept of love and fidelity, everything bothered me. Why all the characters have to shout their lines? People are not deaf, they can hear just fine, but after this movie you might get deaf for a moment. Every single scene has a cry, a shout, an argument, and so in the spirit of the characters I shouted a little bit in some parts to see if there's anything special about the act of shouting. Well, I laughed and keep thinking "This movies is boring me" and stuff like that. Woody Allen's "Husbands and Wives" was better than this, and "The Broken Hearts Club" was way better than this. What they have in common? Both movies are about the difficult in maintain a love relationship, infidelities, and both know how to mix comedy and drama with a great ensemble cast and characters, something the Italian film failed poorly. I mean, all these characters trying to find a meaning for their lives by running away from their wives and girlfriends, cheating with younger girls or dating more than one at a time, this whole immaturity thing that this guys had, all of this disenchanted me from the movie.Real people lives are enough filled with doubts, fears, love or angry, many questions and few answers, and when a movie doesn't know how to copy that and at least entertain you, and instead leaves you thinking about your own problems cause you can't care anymore for the characters it means that the so-called movie was bad. The scene where the main character discovered that his wife knew about his affair with someone, he was desperate and all trying to lie to her and I was like "You know what? That's his problem, he's gotta find a way to solve it because I don't care". No sense of identification with him and any other characters at all. I can't think of more reasons why I didn't enjoyed this thing. Thumbs Down! 3/10

Carlos (Stefano Accorsi) is a twenty-nine years old man, who works in an advertisement agency and has been living with his girlfriend Giulia (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) for three years. When she gets pregnant and he meets the delicious eighteen years old Francesca (Martina Stella), his relationship with Giulia have a crisis, since he is not ready to reach adulthood. Francesca has a crush and dreams on Carlos. His three best friends have also problems with their mates: Adriano (Giorgio Pasotti) has just had a son and has problems to take the responsibilities of the fatherhood, while his wife Livia (Sabrina Impacciatory) becomes very connected to the baby, neglecting their marriage; Alberto (Marco Cocci) has no ties with any woman, limiting to use them sexually; and Paolo (Claudio Santamaria) has a passion for his former lover. Meanwhile, Giulia's mother, Anna Stefania Sandrelli), has a middle-age crisis, jeopardizing her marriage. "L'Ultimo Bacio" is a beautiful and delightful movie about relationship in different phases of life. The story is very intelligent and realistic, reaching characters of different ages to show the crisis that most of the persons pass along their lives in their relationship with their mates. Whose teenager has never had a passion for a man or woman, like the character of Francesca? And the doubts and insecurity about fatherhood or motherhood, like Carlos, Giulia, Adriano and Livia? And the love jealousy, like Paolo? And the middle age crisis, like Anna? Therefore, the story certainly catch a phase in the life of the viewer himself or herself, and he or she will certainly identify the situation of a character as his or her own. The beauties of Giovanna Mezzogiorno, with her magnificent blue eyes, and Martina Stella, with her wonderful body and look, are another attraction in this lovely and highly recommended movie. My vote is nine.Title (Brazil): "O Último Beijo" ("The Last Kiss")

An absorbing drama. The themes of commitment and responsibility in relationships are well explored, but don't hit you over the head. Personally I found Stefano Accorsi's main character to be a little bland and uninteresting, but his friends and relatives, and their own crises, provide enough interest. Some of the argument scenes are a little overplayed, and simply end up being two characters screeching at each other for minutes on end. This isn't simply due to that fact that they are "passionate" Italians - my Italian wife found it to be a bit much too. However, there are some nice ironic comments in the voice-over and other moments of humour to lighten the tone.