Review of No Strings Attached (2011) by The D — 08 Oct 2013

No Strings Attached is a romantic comedy/drama directed by Ivan Reitman, starring Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher.

Most of this movie is fairly familiar and ordinary, nothing new substance wise really. Even though the movie is pretty generic, Natalie Portman completely carries the movie with her amazing performance. It is her performance that really elevates this film from a run of the mill romantic comedy to an above average romantic comedy that's enjoyable to watch. Acting opposite of Natalie Portman is Ashton Kutcher, who almost butchers the film with his terrible excuse for a performance. His performance is so bland, generic and emotionless and is basically the complete opposite of Portman's performance.

The plot of this movie is something that we've seen a hundred times before, where Portman and Kutcher want to become friends with benefits and have sex without emotions and feelings getting in the way. If you've only seen a few romantic comedies in the past decade, you'll still be able to predict where this is going. What elevates it is Reitman's confident and fearless direction and Natalie Portman's genuine, heartfelt performance.

Another thing the movie has going for it is that it's rated R, which allows the filmmakers to get away with more vulgar humor and more realistic sex scenes.

Overall, I enjoyed the film and would recommend this to anybody who enjoys romantic comedies. It's almost worth recommending solely for Portman's performance by itself.

I'd give this film (6/10).