Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I'm seeing this one next week (although I just got an invitation for the Orlando Bloom/Bill Paxton flick HAVEN for the same night... but since I dug GARDEN STATE so much, I'll probably ditch the elf for this one). Can't wait. Here's a review of someone who saw it already, with Zach Braff in attendance, no less. Enjoy!!!
AcesOfSamSpade here...
Saw THE LAST KISS tonight at the Loews/AMC Boston Common movie theatre with Zach Braff in attendance. He did about a 20 minute Q&A before the movie, before he rushed off to New York to probably do the exact same thing.
Let’s start with the Q&A, as that’s how it began with us. “Ladies and Gentleman, Zach Braff,” said Zach Braff. After introducing himself, he asked the audience why we have “so many fucking Dunkin Doughnuts,” and went on to explain that some guy gave him some D&D coupons that he would auction off with some random questions. He was extremely energetic, and although I liked Garden State, was never a member of the SCRUBS fan club. His personality is basically what you saw in Garden State, except amped up, perhaps because of the Red Bulls he claimed to be sucking down. He was extremely funny and witty, answering questions from his favorite movies (where he explained that these three were just some of his favorites in no particular order: Annie Hall, Glengarry Glen Ross, and..fuck...I forget the third) and his favorite music at the moment (Jump Little Children)....and no...he doesn’t watch The OC, because he is not 14, but Rachel Bilson is great in this film (and by great I am assuming he just means extremely hot). Also, for you scrub fans, he said that there will be an episode, about fifth in the season, where one character perceives everything as a musical, and thus, all of those scenes will be in musical form. Also, David Cross will defiantly be appear in this season of scrubs, and if it all works out he will be playing Tobias Funke. Braff claimed that Cross loves the idea it’s just a matter of getting the business part out of the way.
He said working with Tony Goldwyn was a lot of fun, because he is an actor himself. Also, Braff loves that he has reached a place of luxury where he can wait out great scripts such as this. I was surprised to read that Paul Haggis wrote this flick...as it is good, perhaps better than your average friday night date movie, however, with his recent achievements, this seems like a dusty screenplay he found in his basement and sold for some pocket cash.
On to the movie...not my typical choice, and probably a flick I’d never see were it not for the actor in attendance. That being said...it was enjoyable. The story basically follows Braff, whose girlfriend of three years is three months pregnant. Marriage is not in their future because then it would seem like they were doing it just because of the baby. Blah Blah Blah....Braff (age 28 or 29 in the film) meets Bilson, a horny and hot college sophomore, basically Natalie Portman’s character in Garden State replacing her charm with horniness, at his buddies wedding...yada yada yada...Braff has a crisis about the baby and the permanency of the situation, and shit happens. You have some eye candy with Bilson and Jacinda Barrett, who are both good, some veterans to add a smidgen of legitimacy with Tom Wilkinson and Blythe Danner, and a nice supporting cast of Casey Affleck, Erik Christian Olsen, and that crazy fucker who kidnapped David in Six Feet Under.. not too mention a four minute stint by Harold Ramis. The flick is worth seeing...on a date. It’s funny, and the acting all around is very solid, with the usual themes of Garden State's quarter-life crisis replaced with a slightly older mid-life crisis (or somewhere in between the two I suppose). Zack Braff is good, as he was in Garden State, and I think he has a lot of charisma and potential. However, it remains to be seen how much of his idiosyncratic hipster-charm I can take, and whether he has any role outside of the one he seems to be continually playing.
Overall...I’d give a solid B... until next time...............
AcesOfSamSpade
