Penn's film doesn't entertain greatly nor does it have much coherent to say.

The film is mostly unmoving, neither the romance nor the social consciousness succeeding in stirring our emotions. Even worse, Penn lets the plight of displaced Africans slip into the background, resulting in yet another well-meaning film that wants to address planetary ills by concentrating our attention on the good-looking outsiders who come in to save the day.

The Last Face would have been a better movie if it had an actual screenplay, rather than the bare-bones one credited to Erin Dignam.

Even without its mopey, painfully on-the-nose dialogue and ponderous story, The Last Face sets itself up for failure with its premise, and Penn's apparent inability to recognize it as such. It's his worst movie.

Nothing about the film comes close to authenticity and it’s largely down to Penn’s remarkably amateurish direction.