Wonderful character development!

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

The generation of 30-year-old is under study in Italy nowadays. Between jobs, high rents, low salaries, prefer stay with their parents and not getting married. But they also give the impression they reject responsibility and adult life (fancy the French film "Tanguy" was drawn from an Italian law case!). Check out "I laureati" by Leonardo Pieraccioni to find a film with a similar subject.But there is not only the 30-year-old crisis, there is also a 50-year-old crisis shown in the film. Which enlarges the focus of the picture to love life and commitment in general. Love is shown in its "mortality". It ends. Family life is disappointing and suffocating, for the 30-year-old just as for the 50. The temptation of escaping is great.But it may be too late. Or you don't have courage enough. Or it is not really what you want. Then staying at home and resigning oneself seems to be the next best thing, but the only available one. Is this happiness? I don't know. Someone may be satisfied with the "happy end" where every thing is put together, but I personally retained a feeling of uncomfortableness. Pay attention to the very last moments of the film. The "we reap as we sow" message.Actors: I loved Stefania Sandrelli, courageous and ironic enough to let the director film her CLOSE and show all the wrinkles, the years that have passed by. She is credible and expressive. I also love Sergio Castellito, always great. Martina Stella is very "fresh" and also credible in her role. What I really could not stand are Stefano Accorsi and Giovanna Mezzogiorno!!! I don't know if it is a personal dislike, for Accorsi it may be since I hate him in almost all the films he makes, instead I liked Giovanna Mezzogiorno very much in "La finestra di fronte". But the way they acted here, always panting, this jarring repetition of "huh-huh-huh". I've read comments here wondering if this behavior is "normal". No, in my (Italian) opinion it sounds fake.In conclusion, I advise you not to watch this film if you are planning your wedding.

"Last Kiss (L'ultimo Bacio)" is a rollicking, sped up, very Italian version of "Four Weddings and a Funeral," though here it's two weddings, a funeral, a couple of affairs and a separation. This is a very contemporary take on Northern Italian upper middle class society in modern apartments and houses and lots and lots of mobile phones. The casting is marvelous, as each character is made distinct by each actor's appearance and the character's foible and romantic situation within a large ensemble of four almost-30 friends from college, their significant others, and a set of parents and their friends.The music is coordinated briskly with the zooming editing and I'm sure if I knew Italian pop music would be commenting on each character's taste. Ironically, the characters who seem languid and peaceful at the beginning, of course by the end are running around yelling when everyone else has calmed down. The subtitles are in yellow, though still difficult to read, but barely communicate the characters' conversations; they speak at breakneck pace and can't possibly just say what's written, which was confirmed by my Italian friend (she also said that the written language is considerably cleaned-up, even with the subtitles including the occasional assh*le and f*ck -- that the insults are considerably more biologically descriptive). If Hollywood makes a version, there will be some cleaning up of the characters' actions (particularly as regards an "American Beauty"-like obsession, as the audience I was with gasped a few times at how far sympathetic characters went and then lied about it. Unusual for such a "When will you grow up?" movie, we also see the impact of impending grandparenthood. But extremely rare for an Italian movie (and for Italian society, says my friend) this showed what's good for the goose can be good for the gander.(originally written 9/2/2002)

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")

One of the most acclaimed and in my opinion one of the most hypocritical Italian movies of the recent past. Director Gabriele Muccino tries to speak about "having 30 years in Italy", but he lacks any real insight in understanding society and, I would say, in how to shoot a good movie. He shoots in a very traditional way, but he edits the movie giving it a furious pace. If at first it succeeds in catching the attention, soon it starts to bore. Actors are screaming for most of the movie - and, well, they do their job, but they are however little more than acceptable. But the real problem comes when we get down to the script. The story has been told a lot of times, and almost always in a better way. The moral of the movie (note: we are in the third millennium.) is "normality is the true revolution". thanks, Muccino, might I add that "life's a box of chocolates" or have you got better commonplaces that you want to *scream* about? You may well ask why this movie has had such a huge success in Italy. well, in my opinion that's because it is very conservative and - under a false façade - full of clichés. It speaks of the importance of the family in a very trite way, and people love to watch movies that let them not think at all. I might compare this movie with "Casomai", of director Alessandro D'Alatri. Where "Casomai" is a gentle story about young families in Italy, wonderfully written, well directed, and with a pair of intelligent twists, "The last Kiss" is poorly written, poorly directed, over-hyped and annoyingly screamed. and when you scream you generally have nothing to say.