Review of Friends with Benefits (2011) by Jeffrey M — 21 Jun 2012

Friends with Benefits is a textbook example of a modern rom-com and a textbook example of what's wrong with Hollywood today. It's made for shallow 20-somethings who find lazy pop culture references ("Hey, This wasn't in Seinfeld!") to be insightful. There is no substance to be had in this film, which is a common problem for many romantic comedies, but there's no real charm, chemistry, or authentic relationship dynamics to make up for it. There's some funny lines to be found, but otherwise constantly referring to superficial pop culture nonsense is a transparently lazy way of trying to relate to the audience, and is not funny. None of the humor is really organic to what is happening on screen. The development and story arcs end up at a predictable place, with not enough done right to carry it through.

2/5 Stars.