`LAST KISS' NOTHING LIKE THE FIRST TIME.

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic

A lot of people liked ``L'Ultimo Bacio,'' that Italian movie from a few years back about a bunch of guys in their 30s, who still acted like children, and the women who screamed at them.

I found it trite, loud and overheated, although not without insight into how that generation behaves. Nevertheless, its finis brought me nothing but a sense of relief.

Now, I'm sure that the American remake, ``The Last Kiss,'' has its flaws. But at least in our version, people don't start yelling until they have something worth yelling about. That makes up for a multitude of sins.

The main transgression here is that the movie is half-serious and half-funny. I mean that in two ways. Yes, it's a buddy comedy with a lot of romantic humor going on, but it's also about the pain of relationships and loaded with a bunch of dysfunctional ones. That's fine; comedy plus drama often equal something resembling real life.

Tonally, though, the movie keeps bouncing between emotional realism and broader situation comedy. Scripted by ``Crash'' purveyor Paul Haggis, ``Last Kiss'' frustrates in much the same way that his Oscar-

jacker did: Just when you're really getting involved in the characters' lives, something contrived happens and you have to start being convinced all over again.

Michael (``Garden State's'' Zach Braff) is a Wisconsin architect who's been content living with Jenna (Jacinda Barrett) for several years. But now that she's pregnant and talking real-estate purchase, he's not so comfy anymore. When cute collegian Kim (``The O.C.'s'' Rachel Bilson) inexplicably gets the hots for him, Michael entertains the notion, resists, then does what most guys with a pulse would do. Of course, Jenna finds out under the worst possible circumstances, and the screaming section of the film commences.

But wait. Michael's buddies have their issues, too. Co-

worker Chris (Casey Affleck) is in a horrid marriage, and his baby son hasn't helped the situation any. Sad-sack Izzy (Michael Weston) can't get over the girl who dumped him and his father is dying. Studly bartender Kenny (Eric Christian Olsen) ... well, his biggest problem is when the sex freak of his dreams decides it's time for him to meet the parents. See what I mean? I know that kind of thing happens, but it just plays like a TV-level joke in this context.

But wait, there's yet another miserable couple. Jenna's parents Stephen (Tom Wilkinson) and Anna (Blythe Danner) have been together a long time, but they really don't like each other very much.

They're primarily in the movie to give their daughter and her rotten boyfriend some good talkings-to. But they're also the prime representatives of Michael's key justification for not totally committing to Jenna: that they don't know any happily married couples.

The ultra-talented Wilkinson and Danner usually manage to do something watchable with their iffily written roles, while Braff hauls the main acting load for the younger crowd. He actually makes Michael a lot more sympathetic than his narcissistic Italian counterpart, and even when the character doesn't do the right thing, Braff finds just the right degree of passion and confusion to go with the action. I think Michael's a sweetheart. But then, I'm a guy.

Director Tony Goldwyn goes to some emotionally fraught places most big-studio romances won't approach nowadays, though perhaps not as far as a truly fearless filmmaker would. And although you may not believe it if you haven't seen the original, Goldwyn really dials back the screaming. That makes him a minor genius in my book.

Bob Strauss, [phone]

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THE LAST KISS - Three stars

(R: sex, nudity, language, drug use)

Starring: Zach Braff, Jacinda Barrett, Rachel Bilson, Blythe Danner, Tom Wilkinson, Casey Affleck, Michael Weston, Eric Christian Olsen.

Director: Tony Goldwyn.

Running time: 1 hr. 44 min.

Playing: In wide release.

In a nutshell: Honest and hokey in about equal measure, with a few good laughs and an awful lot of tears.

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When Michael (Zach Braff) finds out his live-in girlfriend is pregnant, he runs scared, finding himself attracted to a young college student (Rachel Bilson) in ``The Last Kiss.''