prollynotyours

pelikula:

Friendship Has Its Benefits
by Issa Perez de Tagle

No Strings Attached (2011)
D: Ivan Reitman
S: Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher

“Can sex friends stay best friends?” This movie’s tagline asks the perennial question of whether or not two people can have sex without love getting in the way. Now, I’m sure that there are many of you who can testify in the affirmative. Unfortunately for this film’s leads however… they can’t be part of that concensus.

On paper, Emma Kurtzman (Natalie Portman) and Adam Franklin (Ashton Kutcher) had every excuse to keep things strictly “business”. Emma was a Medical intern with major intimacy issues, working crazy hours. Adam just got badly burned by his own father who seemed to think it was a great idea to hook up with his son’s ex. Most importantly, they’ve been friends since summer camp days, randomly meeting each other every few years through sheer coincidence. So basically, they’re both horny with a lot of baggage, and they’ve known each other since forever but not really. Then why, to quote Portman’s character, can’t they just have sex?

Maybe it’s like looking for missing keys or socks. When you’re looking for them, they’re nowhere to be found but give yourself a few days to forget about them, and voila! There they are in plain sight. The point is, both Emma and Adam stumble upon something neither of them was searching for. But it’s really more of how each character deals with what they find that makes this rom-com a little better than the others of its ilk. (Although maybe it helps a lot that Jennifer Aniston isn’t in this.)

Again, Portman proves what a gem of an actress she really is. She delivers laughs, blushes and tears in all the right places and brings a rare touch of depth that typical rom-com characters don’t have. Watching her stuff her face with donuts while weeping to “Bleeding Love” is perhaps the best moments in this film.

As for Kutcher, I believe it’s an accomplishment that he managed to NOT completely annoy me throughout this movie. I was honestly afraid that he’d drag Portman down to his vulgar level but instead she lends him a bit of her class.

Their chemistry might be a bit on the bland side though. For two extremely hot actors, they didn’t really generate much heat together. But the coupling is pleasant enough that it won’t bother you too much.

One could argue that the main formula deviation of No Strings Attached is the role reversal: the guy is the clingy one and the girl has all the commitment issues instead of the other way around. Although that may be partly true, they also have the advantage of having a decent script and a likable supporting cast to help them along. Or maybe Portman is just that good. I haven’t quite decided.

Honestly, I think this is a chick flick that guys can take their girlfriends to watch and not feel completely tortured for an hour and a half. Not to say that it doesn’t have the usual rom-com pitfalls. It still suffers from cheap jokes, severe predictability and obvious lack of originality — just not as glaringly as the others in the same genre. It even manages to pull some of them off. I actually really laughed in some parts. 

Obviously, there are very few commercial rom-coms that I truly find endearing these days. But this one… I have to say, wasn’t half as bad. So I think it’s safe to conclude that Emma and Adam aren’t the only ones who’ll find themselves pleasantly surprised by the time the credits start rolling.

(via vaaaaaaaal)