Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Friends with Benefits - DVD Review

Starring Justin Timberlake, Mila Kunis, Woody Harrelson, Patricia Clarkson, Richard Jenkins, Jenna Elfman, Bryan Greenburg, Nolan Gould, Andy Samberg and Emma Stone. Directed by Will Gluck.
★★½

Yet another movie that tries to teach us that sex can be business-like between friends without any of that yucky emotional stuff. I'm sure nothing will get complicated.

Timberlake and Kunis start off with a professional relationship and then they become friends, actual friends. Somewhere in there they decide to have sex but make a promise that if either one starts to feel emotional about it, they stop it, because they like each other too much.

And for a while it works. And then they hit a point where they stop as they decide to see other people. And that works for a while. Ah, but those pesky emotions...

Kunis has the right rhythms for a rom-com lead without feeling like we're ever going to venture into sappy territory. She's a genuinely funny performer. Timberlake's been good in supporting roles (The Social Network) but here, he's just fine.

I didn't like the main plot at all. I did like some of the detours it took, like with Timberlake's father (Richard Jenkins) having signs of Alzheimer's and how the family deals with that. But really, this is basically the same movie as No Strings Attached.

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