User Reviews

"L'Ultimo Bacio" is probably a movie most men will recognize themselves in all too well, because it was based on what most of us actually feel when they are finally expected to grow up when they are around thirty. They are expected to settle, to get married and to start a family. All very important decisions and we never feel very comfortable making them. Do we want to give up life as an irresponsible "bachelor", will we try to spend the rest of our lives with only one woman, are we ready to raise kids...

If you expect any answers from this movie, than I'll have to disappoint you, because you won't really find any good ones. It shows how four male friends desperately try to be free. One of them meets an 18-year old schoolgirl at a wedding party, falls in love with her and betrays his pregnant fiancée, jeopardizing his entire future and family. One of the others only fights with his wife, the third one wants to escape form his dying father and the last one wants to keep living as a hippie. They all have their reasons to leave their actual lives and they start making plans to make a trip around the world, but will they leave or finally accept the real life...

In a way this is a very typical Italian movie. Personally I love that, but I guess there are several people who don't. The style, the music, the acting, it all can be found in similar Italian movies and less in other European productions. So if you absolutely hate Italian movies, than you better don't even start watching it. In my opinion this isn't a movie for very young people either. I'm not saying they shouldn't watch it, but I think an 18-year old probably can't understand all too well why it's so difficult to make that important step once you're thirty, just because he or she doesn't have to think about it yet. Being almost 27 myself, I know all too well, what it means.

All in all this is a very nice movie that I would recommend to most people. Despite what you might think this isn't a very corny movie and has absolutely nothing to do with how most Hollywood comedies with such a message would look like. It's wonderful, it's realistic, it's everything I need in a movie and that's why I give it an 8/10.

This was acclaimed as one of the 'masterpieces' of last year's Italian cinema. I do not think so. It's true that it is a realistic and honest portrait of generation X in Italy, with all their (our) contradictions, feelings, dreams and lifestyles, but the movie in itself is just nice, not good. Acting is reduced to shouting, running around, launching mobile phones and shouting again, nearly every time there is a conversation background music starts (that might be the reason why they scream that much!), and as in most Italian movies locations are quite improbable. A special mention goes to Martina Stella - really great, and the only character absolutely worth saving in the whole movie, and Sabrina Impacciatore - she really put her heart in this role !

We saw Gabriele Muccino's latest romantic comedy at the Seattle International Film Festival, and it certainly justified our wait in line. What stands out most about this movie is the pacing, the editing and the stylish intercutting of the various plots. What's most surprising about the film is how little the writer/director injects his own ethical judgments into the action. One might argue that the whole movie disapproves of the universal infidelity portrayed, but there are several sequences in the movie that call this into question. Muccino seems to enjoy most poking fun at everyone's hypocrisy, and this is always great to watch, especially with an expressive, passionate Italian cast. The movie has just enough of a traditional romantic centre to make it all hang together, and yet a great enough diversity of characters to make a wide range of witty points.

Well worth seeing. 8/10.

[s p o i l e r s]

You have to admit there's much that's life affirming and technically accomplished in Gabriele Muccino's movies about superficial Italians coupling and uncoupling. His scenes never stop moving, and his camera has learned to keep up with the flow. Undoubtedly his most polished effort so far is L'ultimo bacio (The Last Kiss). A box office success in Italy and abroad (though not a critical one), The Last Kiss is a splendid operatic swirl of melodramatic ensemble acting and liquid editing. Its succession of slick, fast-talking, emotional roller coaster scenes is a beautiful thing to watch. It's got irresistible rhythm if you don't mind that the high energy leads to an awful lot of yelling. The episodic structure and musical links may owe something to P.T. Anderson's Magnolia; but this is Italy and it all works differently. It isn't about anomie and chance encounters: everyone's connected. The Last Kiss is a well-oiled machine with jaw-dropping energy.

Its action is so lively, its motion so perpetual, you may fail to notice what a stagnant society The Last Kiss represents - how complacent the characters and their creator are. The way they buckle down and accept the mind-numbing `comforts' and intellectual limitations of Berlusconi's Italy. It's a place they all seem destined to accept as the best of all possible worlds.

The Last Kiss revolves (almost literally: the steadicam pans from scene to scene while operatic music swims across the transitions) around five young men about to turn thirty in a provincial town. At the center is Carlo (Stefano Accorsi). His fiancée Giulia (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) is pregnant and he can't face the prospect of a wife, a child, and a house. He's not ready to grow up. Most of Carlo's buddies have the same problem. Paolo (Claudio Santamaria) goes through the death of his father right after he's had an angry breakup with his girlfriend, and he can't face going into the family religious object business. The mercurial Adriano (Giorgio Casotti) has a young child and a ball-buster wife (Livia, Sabrina Impacciatore) and these challenges have him fed up with his marriage and ready to leave it. Alberto (Marco Cocci), a dreadlocked, joint-smoking Greenpeace hippy, amuses himself seeing how many women will jump into bed with him; he's a sciupafemmine, a Don Juan who chews them up and spits them out: marriage is not on his horizon.

But Marco (Pierfrancesco Favino) is getting married: he's buying into the normal life. Marco's four friends are all at Marco's wedding, and it's there that Carlo meets Francesca (Martina Stella), a tantalizingly delicious blonde schoolgirl who successfully puts the make on him. Meanwhile Giulia's mother Anna (a simpatica Stefania Sandrelli) is fed up with her taciturn psychiatrist husband Emilio (Luigi Emilio) and goes through her own period of rebellion, trying to revive an affair of three years ago with a college professor (Sergio Castellitto).

Carlo gets his wild night with Francesca, his `last kiss' which turns into more than that after Giulia finds out and they have a big fight (where the movie's yell-fest reaches fortissimo). He runs back and sleeps with the 18-year old, and then spends the rest of the movie trying to patch things up and get his life back on its track. Meanwhile Adriano, Alberto, and Paolo are planning to run off to Africa, or somewhere-an escape that's really a last fling: but their whole series of tantrums and complaints are background noise, an obligato to the main themes. The focus is on Giulia's mother, Adriano, and Carlo. Where the movie is really headed for its finale is to Carlo and Giulia reuniting, and a soothing voiceover from Carlo about how nice it will be to have grass and a suburban house and kids. . .and all the rest, and the two of them are reconciled at her parents' house where Anna is back with her father. It seems that Adriano really has left his wife, for a while anyway, but that subject is dropped.

Closely examined, despite its Magnolia-like intercutting of related subplots, its splendid cast and beautiful look, The Last Kiss reveals a worldview that's numbingly vapid. Its young men on the verge of thirty and one older woman in revolt against the ordinary paths they've chosen only play at escape: the final sequence is a corny affirmation of comfortable bourgeois family life, big house, big car, perfect bambini. Anna is back with Giulia's father. Her little revolt is over.

What is the theme that unifies Muccino's movies? Is it coming of age, as in Come te nessuno mai, or is it playing at revolution, as in that same rather charming first film about high schoolers staging a Sixties-style strike while what the boys really want is only to get laid? If Come te is Muccino's freshest and most unassuming effort, Ricordati di me, his most recent one, is his cheesiest: again, a swirl of stories about individuals in a family who are all in revolt against their lives - and come back to conventionality at the end - but with much tackier subplots. He's made a trilogy: (1) first sex, (2) last infidelity before marriage, (3) first infidelity after, with being aTV go-go dancer treated as a viable life choice. The theme is simply: revolt a little, it'll make you feel better. `Normality is the true revolution.'

Italians who remember the great directors of the past shake their heads at such stuff. The idea that all temptations to rebel end in a little reconciliation is complacent even for TV sitcoms. It's as if Muccino has all this promise as a filmmaker - he can orchestrate his subplots in such an entertaining way and the editing is inspired - he's a real Robert Altman with a Tuscan accent - but his head is too empty; there's no there there.

Muccino's characters, for all their charm and good looks, are pretty silly people. Carlo, Last Kiss's main character, is attractive in his way but his shit-faced grin palls: he's an airhead to be tempted by Francesca, the blonde Lolita, because she's an airhead too, just a pretty schoolgirl who confuses wanting to get laid with finding the love of her life. There's no edge to the temptation, because Francesca's pull on Carlo was so superficial. It's lively and glossy and it has moments of flirting with satire and farce, the sheer energy of it can be lots of fun to watch, but when you get down to it, Last Kiss is on the level of a TV sitcom. In fact American cable network dramas arguably go deeper than this. Is Muccino the best that mainstream Italian cinema can now produce? Let's hope not.

Nice movie. The story is realistic and every 30-years-old can find something of him/herself. Some excesses: Carlo falls in love at speed-light for a 30-years-old; some friends of him leave the job without particular difficulties; reconciliation between Carlo and wife it is too "easy". A more depth in the psychological and sentimental aspect would have given more wealth to the movie. But, probably, to condense them in a 115 minute movie it's a too hard job. Anyway, it's a nice movie.

'The Last Kiss' is a beautiful Italian film, a romantic comedy and drama told in multiple storylines reminiscent of 'Magnolia' or 'Short Cuts'. It is one of the best films ever to deal with twenty-something males who haven't really grown up and accepted the responsibility of an adult life, and also about the women who have to deal with them. Most of the men in this film have commitment-phobia. Babies are being had, weddings are taking place, apartments are being purchased, but all these men can think about is escape. They are planning on buying a beat up old van and traveling the world in search of an adventure. Anything will do, as long as it doesn't involve growing up, becoming an adult and assuming responsibility for the direction of their lives and relationships.

It sounds weighty and significant. Perhaps it is. But the movie is so effortless, lighthearted, energetic and funny that time seems to fly by. It is one of the most entertaining films of the year. It's no wonder that 'The Last Kiss' won so many Audience Awards at film festivals in 2002, including at Sundance. The film also became one of the biggest box office successes in European cinema history. This film, which Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called "Sex in the City with men", garnered tons of 3½ and 4 star reviews, hit dozens of Top Ten Lists, and will easily become a favorite for those who are lucky enough to see it.

The performances are all stellar. The primary couple in the film, supremely played by Stefano Accorsi (Carlo) and Giovanna Mezzogiorno (Giulia), are fascinating to watch. They are emotionally polar opposites at different stages in their lives. The film builds around this couple and the explosive crescendo that seems imminent from the opening scenes. Carlo is immature and irresponsible. Giulia is calm, methodical and assured in her wants and needs. She loves Carlo, despite his flaws, but tells him that the one thing she won't abide is infidelity. Needless to say, the temptations present themselves during the film and we get to watch one of the most explosive arguments in the history of cinema as Giulia has a melt down when she finds out the truth.

The film dances around to other storylines from time to time, but it always returns to the central couple. All the other vignettes are interesting but serve primarily as breathers and changes-of-pace. You won't be as invested in those characters as you will be with Carlo and Giulia. Giovanna Mezzogiorno is spectacular here. She bounces effortlessly between calm and rage, trust and jealousy, romantic and pragmatic. It is one of the best performances of the decade. Special note must also be given to a new Italian starlet named Martina Stella, who is vibrant and mesmerizing as the object of Carlo's lust. She plays a love-struck young girl named Francesca, who is so painfully unaware of life's cruel hardships and realities. Her naiveté and wide-eyed innocence makes it easy for us to understand why Carlo might stray. Martina Stella is a wonderful new talent that we should keep our eyes on over the next few years.

I pointed out the structural similarity to Paul Thomas Anderson's 1999 masterpiece, 'Magnolia'. However, there is more than just a passing resemblance. 'The Last Kiss' is obviously inspired by it's predecessor. It looks and sounds a great deal like that classic. The camera movement is energetic and dynamic. There are a ton of complex 'steadicam' scenes. The score is that anticipatory and frenetic string ensemble that allows us to flow from moment to moment as the editing shifts us from one storyline to another. In fact, the scores are so similar that I initially thought it had been borrowed. The way I see things, if you are going to emulate a film, you can't do much better than emulating 'Magnolia'.

This film has the ability to make you laugh and cry with the absolute recognition of your own life . There are so many scenes that will hit home. Virtually every viewer over the age of 25 will be able to see themselves, at some point in their life, manifested in one of these characters. It is a witty and observant script that deals truthfully and hysterically with the complexities of modern relationships. I think that is the main reason it has become a fan favorite.

The cinematography and lighting are first rate. These stunningly gorgeous Italian thespians are made even more resplendent than previously imaginable. Gabriele Muccino directs the film and seems to make every single shot count. You could take any still-frame from this movie and have a photograph to hang in an art gallery.

I've already mentioned the wonderful score, but I would also like to point out another lovely sound in this film... the Italian language. Never before have so many words been crammed into a two hour movie. It is a lovely language to behold. It sounds beautiful whether it is being whispered or screamed. I know it may seem a little meaningless to state such a thing, but I believe that a great film can be enjoyed with either the sound or the picture off. This film assuredly looks gorgeous, but it sounds even better!

There are many things to love about this film. Giovanna Mezzogiorno's performance is miraculous. The stories are poignantly truthful. The character arcs are rich and full and complete. The technical aspects of the film are immaculate. The resolution is satisfying and honest. You will cringe, you will laugh, you will be joyous and angry... this movie will take you on an emotional roller-coaster. You will almost feel Italian (If you aren't already). And the final few moments of the film will leave you smirking to yourself as you contemplate the resounding irony of it all. How cruel these directors can be!

'The Last Kiss' (L'Ultimo Bacio) is easily one of the best films of the year. I suggest you make a special effort to seek this film out... you won't regret it.

This is a comedy, probably. One isn't clear over whether one should laugh at the "Italian" anger here or get involved in the feelings.

The story has been shown many times before. A man gets into a crisis when his girlfriend becomes pregnant and he starts an affair with a schoolgirl. His friends have other difficulties, from being forced to work in the family shop to having (sic!) a newborn baby.

But it is well played and after a while you start to take the feelings seriously. Old story in a modern shape, perhaps.

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")

This is simply beautiful. Director Muccino give us a deep look into parenthood, age and other things. In one side is Carlo, played beautifully by Stefano Accorsi, and his friends. In the opposite side are the women, the mother (excellent characterization by Stefania Sandrelli) of Giulia another excellent performance by this actress that honestly I can't recall her name. They are going to have a baby. And that is very important for a mother and a father but a little incident with some schoolgirl could throw all away. Couldn't be possible?. And there is more, Carlo's friends are going to leave their girls even that one hasn't got a girl. They are going (by boat) to the end of the world. The deepness is awesome. That could be all. All the character's RELATIONSHIP are going down. Director is better than Cantet (Human Ressources) in exploring those things. And sometimes he takes that relationship to a limit beyond the imaginable. The setting is good, the music and the casting are superb and to conclude this is a movie about taking responsibility at the age of 30.

My rating of course due to all those facts is 10 or maybe 40 out of 10.

I have seen this movie yesterday and I was really shaken by it - it is a very nicely made movie with nice pictures, lovely actors/actresses and surroundings. The key fact is that the content is really realistic and it is a movie where you will find your own past or future concerning "modern" relationships, because nearly everybody has gone trough the same experiences in one way or the other. This is what i find so amazing about this movie. He was able to draw pictures of emotions/situations and all people who watches the movie have the feeling that their own story has been told. Young girl being "used" as escape by a slightly older guy - Problems in a relationship because of pregnancy and the fear that life will alter significantly - problems in relationship because a young mother struggles more with baby than take care of anything else , or just being 50 and looking back on the past, realizing that love has gone -

"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)

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.

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.

The Last Kiss, written and directed by Gabriele Muccino is one of the best films that have come out from Italy in the last years. It has the right ingredients to appeal to an international audience.

The morale of the film is, perhaps, that boys will be boys in Italy as well as anywhere in the world. Otherwise, it doesn't make sense why would Carlo betray Giulia at the first chance he gets. The only way it could be understood would have been to have cast a different actress than Giovanna Mezzogiorno in the role. Not only is Ms. Mezzogiorno gorgeous, what man in his right mind would even consider having a fling with anyone else?

Stefano Accorsi's Carlo is obviously dazed and confused by the young girl he happens to meet. This is the message of the film, gamble with your happiness and you'll lose everything.

Beautiful Stefania Sandrelli has a small part as Giulia's mother with her own marital problems. We don't get to see Ms Sandrelli enough on the screen. She's an elegant and welcome sight whenever she graces a film.

Cheaters beware: Don't risk losing someone who loves you unconditionally for a quickie, no matter how gorgeous that quicky might be, or even if she's an Italian Lolita.

"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

Good for Gabrielle Muccino, who wrote and directed this film!. A very good film. The user comment I read in this board mentioned whether or not to take seriously the italian's temper or if the outbursts were meant to make people laugh. The answer (from my South-American Latin perspective) is...of course they were serious and very real!. We don't usually "hide" our feelings. If we feel angry, we show it! If we feel great, we show! When we laugh, we laugh out loud! When we love, we do it with passion! The film is very good. Martina Stella (the 18-yr old high school girl who falls in love with the 29-yr Marco) in her featured debut is very good, and simply delightful to watch, since she is actually very pretty and sexy.

I saw this film on DVD in the same session along with "Bella Martha" (also written/directed by a woman, Sandra Nettelbeck, check it out). Even when the latter is superior, "L'ultimo baccio" (Italian for "The Last Kiss") is nevertheless a very good film. This film mixes a first-rate modern cinematography with what used to be called "Italian realism" of the 50s and 60s. The mix is great and works fine.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I saw this film in an Italian film festival but it was well worth seeing.

In a nutshell this film is all about relationships and how they break down and how they (sometimes) repair themselves. There are lots of films about mid-life crises (and that is dealt with in the subplot) but also the late-20s crises that many of my generation around me seem to be facing. As a late 20-something male I can identify with most of the questions the characters in the film are facing, for example, have I found the right partner for life? Will we be faithful? How can I possibly live up to my family's expectations? I can't say much more without spoiling it but I highly recommend this film.

I reckon Gabriele Muccino has a great future ahead of him. ‘Come te nessuno mai' – his previous work - was a well-written, well-directed, fascinating movie. ‘L'ultimo bacio' is even more beautiful. It can make you cry but it can also make you laugh. Its characters look like real people. Their lives are those of all of us. The tag line (‘the story of every love story') perfectly conveys the sense of this film: it is a universal story. I mean that, even though I'm younger than the protagonists (I'm 21), I feel the same as them. During the projection I was overcome by a stream of emotions. I felt that this movie was about my life, the life I'm living now, in the same way as it seemed to me that ‘Come te nessuno mai' told the story of my schooldays. Moreover, the actors (Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Stefano Accorsi, Stefania Sandrelli, as well as all the others) are excellent. I just want to congratulate Muccino on his success. Go and see this movie, you'll fall in love with it!!! My vote: 9.

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.

I tried to see this movie yesterday and the session was sold out. I couldn't understand because the film was three weeks already in the cinema. I bought the next session thinking that the movie should be very good to make me lose 3 hours. And it was worth the time. The film was funny, intelligent and very real. I could see a lot of friends in the dialogs, my girlfriend, my parents. Everybody loved the movie and I cannot understand why this movie is rated only 7/10 at IMDB Board. It is a 10/10 movie. Go see it now!

Yell yell yell yell scream scream scream scream whine whine whine whine cry cry cry cry plead plead plead plead sniff sniff sniff sniff cuss cuss cuss cuss bond bond bond bond suffer suffer suffer suffer unhappy unhappy unhappy unhappy poor me poor me poor me poor me you've seen this all before you've seen this all before you've seen this all before you've seen this all before yawn yawn yawn yawn snooze snooze snooze snooze.....

The Italian sounded great, and sensuous and romantic-- what they were saying was redundant redundant redundant redundant-- watch a TV soap opera instead, at least they say the vapid lines in English so you don't have to "read" the movie as you try to watch it.

Literally-- skip three chapters ahead and you can pick it right up. Aboslutely nothing new here.