Michael (Zach Braff) and Jenna (Jacinda Barrett) have been dating for a while, and despite Jenna being pregnant with Michael's kid, wedding bells are nowhere in sight. Not only is Michael afraid of marriage, but he's going through a bit of a quarter-life crisis. He's about to turn 30 and with a kid on the way, he's beginning to stress about all the financial constraints it will bring, as well as a feeling that after that, his life will hold no surprises. Michael's despair is amplified by his friends, who are all in different points in their respective relationships and miserable. Chris (Casey Affleck) is trapped in a loveless marriage, while Izzy (Michael Weston) is having a hard time moving on from his last relationship.
Michael's life takes an interesting turn when the group goes to a wedding and he meets Kim (Rachel Bilson), who is a bit of a free-spirit and looking for fun. Even though Michael has a pregnant girlfriend at home, he and Kim have a fling. Meanwhile, the rest of his group find their own distractions, leading to a lot of self pity, reflection and remorse.
If I came away from The Last Kiss with anything, it was a message that relationships aren't worth it and, even if they start out well, they eventually become soul-crushing prisons. I fully admit that I may be being a little too harshly critical; I get that not everything is perfect and even like the fact that the movie presents a cast of characters that are flawed and, for the most part, create their own problems. At the same time, there are very few glimmers of hope presented in the film such that it becomes hard to watch (unless you enjoy this sort of thing). Although some of the situations are believable and somewhat relatable, The Last Kiss seems to try and push the situations beyond the breaking point. Every relationship present eventually gets to a point where it becomes convenient for the story. It doesn't feel natural.
Despite its flaws, The Last Kiss isn't a terrible or even bad movie. It is just something that some will connect to while others won't. For all their self-imposed hurdles and well-situated plot points, all of the characters are deep and well fleshed-out. While they stray from the typical "romance" archetypes (or rather, what we think those archetypes should be), they are still somewhat relatable, though how well you relate will depend on your personal viewpoint.
From what I can tell, the Blu-ray release comes with the same extras as the DVD, only with better picture and sound. Nearly everyone involved with the movie takes a stab at commentary on two tracks. One features Zach Braff and Director Tony Goldwyn, while the second includes Braff, Goldwyn and the rest of the cast. Of the two, the first is the more enjoyable simply because there aren't as many voices in the room. The two commentaries are joined by a trio of Behind-the-Scenes features. Two are presented through the producer's perspective and discuss why they were attracted to the project and the process of bringing all the pieces together. The last focuses more on the actors as they discuss their favorite scenes.
Although I wasn't blown away by the movie, the commentary and extras were compelling enough to make me rethink a few things. They weren't enough to win me over, but I can also see myself coming back to The Last Kiss with a few more years of experience under my belt just to see how my outlook has changed. Although it didn't "click" with me, The Last Kiss is still a good movie. If you're interested, you can probably get away with the DVD version, but if you're hard-set on the Blu-ray version, it's a viable option.
