The Last Kiss

Writer and director Gabriele Muccino examines facets of love, marriage and parenthood in a circle of Italian friends. The central figure is Carlo (Stefano Accorsi) who, when his live-in girlfriend (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) gets pregnant, promptly becomes infatuated with a teenage nymphet (Martina Stella). But everybody in this crowd has romantic crises; it’s like an epidemic. Muccino’s approach is gently comic, which tempers the incipient soap opera of the story, and he gets wonderful performances from his ensemble (Accorsi and Mezzogiorno have some amazing fight scenes that are at once harrowing and hilarious). The film runs on a little longer than it needs to—Muccino either doesn’t notice when his story ends or just can’t tear himself away from the characters—but it’s smooth and professional.