Review of Friends with Benefits (2011) by Rosco — 11 Sep 2011

I found myself quite surprised at how this movie turned out. The trailers made Friends With Benefits seem like an all out laughfest but underneath the laughs lies quite a bit of drama which gives this film a much more depth and allows the characters to flourish.

The plot is simple and straightforward. Dylan (Justin Timberlake) and Jamie (Mila Kunis) are singletons in the Big Apple and come to the decision to be friends who sleep together. (I.e Friends With Benefits) And ofcourse the film explores the effects this has on them both.

The chemistry between Timberlake and Kunis is superb and ultimately one of the keys to how good the film is. The film also has great dialogue thats performed terrificly by the cast, and thats another area where the film excels the some of the side characters, Woody Harrelson in particular, are awesome and obviously the humour is very well done as the jokes will make you LOL! FWB is a decent length but its enjoyable throughout and provides some genuinly funny moments.

Importantly though the serious side of the film shines through when needed and gives it enough all the way through and allow the characters to be likeable and not seem to be the stereotypical cliched couple in so many movies.

The film does become predictable as it nears its conclusion, afterall it as a romantic-comedy and it does slightly lose some of the momentum but that doesn't prevent this from being another fine comedy from Mr Gluck in what is a fine follow up to Easy A and easily one of the best rom-com's of recent times.