Review of Friends with Benefits (2011) by Clarisesamuels — 08 Dec 2011

This movie is clearly another version of No Strings Attached. It seems that Hollywood producers are psychic, and when one gets an idea, they all get the same idea, and they all produce the same movie at about the same, which may explain why Woody Allen is hysterically secretive about every movie plot he films.

The critics seem to be arguing about this movie: Is it original or cliched? Is Kunis refreshing or shrill? Is the banter charming or relentlessly over-the-top? I would say all of the above, because the movie has strong scenes and weak scenes.

Kunis's character is sometimes the smart, glamorous career woman every woman presumably wants to be, and sometimes she's just neurotic and too focused on men, even while she vehemently denies that men are the most significant part of her life, and that if she doesn't find a serious mate soon, she's going to have a nervous breakdown.

Of course, the rom-com formula is that she is charmingly perfect--her clothes, her hair, her job, and her brilliantly timed wit. (There is a continuity problem with Kunis's hair--most of the time her sleek ponytail falls halfway down her back, but in some scenes she has a small ponytail that barely reaches her neck.

) Of course, the theme is platonic-friendship-with-sex, a contradiction in terms that confuses the two participants more than anyone else. Everyone else knows they're in love and they're deluding themselves; they think they are participating in a grand philosophical experiment that no one ever thought of before, which brings us to the inevitable conclusion that was unintended: in the end, both characters appear to be undereducated.

No one reads books, but movies reign supreme and are to be counted as the major influence that shapes lives, careers, and minds. As intelligent as both characters are, it's mostly street smarts--material success is based on being young, beautiful, hip, energetic, verbal, gutsy, and with a physical athleticism that makes for some smooth moves.

This also happens to be all the attributes necessary to be a Hollywood film star. So, although the characters played by Kunis and Timberlake are suave and attractive, they are also shallow. A weak attempt to portray Timberlake's suffering over his father's senility is a case of too little, too late.

Ultimately, if the characters have to be rich, spoiled, and self-absorbed, the producers should at least make sure that the movie has a plot.