Garden State, the drug-addled coming of age film written, directed, and starring Zach Braff, struck a chord with a sizeable chunk of my demographic. Part of that was due to the quirky charm of Braff and costar Natalie Portman and part was due to the brilliant soundtrack, but a bigger reason for its popularity was the way Braff captured the mindset of his character’s age group, with lives in flux and uncertainty around every corner. Though not everybody was pumped full of prescriptions like Andrew Largeman, many of us felt the same cloudy confusion that he did. Braff’s newest star vehicle, The Last Kiss, finds him capturing that same feeling of personal confusion, this time a few years removed from the quarter-life crisis to focus on the minds of those about to turn the big three-oh. And while the execution isn’t as fresh as Garden State’s, the film is equally as impressive.

Braff’s character is Michael, a young architect whose friends are almost all married or close to the altar. His girlfriend of three years (Jacinda Barrett as Jenna) is pregnant and content with Michael’s phobia of long-term commitment, waiting patiently for her march down the aisle. She’s a perfect match for him, but he sees marriage and children as an end that he’s not ready for, as if all life’s surprises end at “I do.”

At a buddy’s wedding, Michael meets Kim (Rachel Bilson), a sexed-up college student who offers him the freshness that he’s afraid he’ll lose if he commits to Jenna. And though all around him relationships are shattering - his friend Chris (Casey Affleck) wants to leave his wife, with whom he has a child but bickers incessantly, and Jenna’s parents (Blythe Danner and Tom Wilkinson) are growing weary of each other after thirty years - Michael entertains the idea of a relationship with Kim.

The film is set in an extreme culture where lives are falling apart everywhere you look, much like Garden State overburdens you with existential questions about controlling your own feelings, but Paul Haggis’ adaptation of Gabriele Muccino’s Italian film still feels very real, and very interesting. The side stories inform your view of Michael’s choices and can still stand on their own.

Braff has an everyman quality that could launch him into verifiable stardom beyond his days as J.D. on Scrubs . But he’s not the best part of the movie. Barrett is perfectly cast, and she plays Jenna with such emotional subtlety that when Braff inevitably opts to flirt with Kim, your feel for her character and side with her. Affleck and Danner, the foci of their respective relationship issues, each play the part with aplomb, lending weight to the B and C plots.

Backed by a soundtrack that rivals Garden State in listenability, The Last Kiss is an affecting, wonderful moviegoing experience that shouldn’t be missed. And, after you’re done watching it, go out and rent Garden State and a few seasons of Scrubs. Braff needs more household recognition.

Rating: * * * * of 5

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