Kiss this sequel goodbye
The Age
Thursday March 10, 2011
KISS ME AGAIN (MA) Rating: 2/5 Selected cinemas (145 minutes) IN 2001, Italian director Gabriele Muccino made The Last Kiss, a sleek and somewhat shallow tale of a young man, Carlo (Stefano Accorsi), his male friends, and their collective unwillingness to settle down. His desire to hold on to freedom seemed to be catching his parents' marriage broke down at the same time his relationship started to dissolve.The Last Kiss was remade in Hollywood, with Zach Braff (Scrubs) as the non-committed one. Muccino, too, went to Hollywood, where he made The Pursuit of Happyness and Seven Pounds.In Kiss Me Again, he returns to the story of Carlo and his friends, 10 years on. Most of the same actors are involved, although the parents' generation is completely sidelined. No one is particularly contented: they want what they do not have, or wish they were with someone else, or regret what they have given up, apart from one character, Alberto (Marco Cocci) who seems to have been completely forgotten when it comes to plotlines.But the discontent doesn't translate into anything substantial. There's something far too bland and repetitive, this time around, about the characters and the crises that Muccino imposes on them: the decor is handsome, but the drama is dull and listless.
© 2011 The Age