Here we go with another romantic comedy, this time with former pop star Justin Timberlake and That 70s Show actress Mila Kunis. The story follows Dylan (Timberlake) being recruited to New York by headhunter Jamie (Kunis) to work at GQ magazine. Both of them have recently had breakups and now consider themselves emotionally unavailable. Being the new guy in town Dylan doesn’t have many friends and ends up hanging out with Jamie very often. Eventually one day a conversation turns into a discussion of sex and the complications arise from this agreement.
The strongest point of this movie is the chemistry between Timberlake and Kunis. Both characters were able to work off each other very well. Throughout the movie the characters are very likeable and not very over the top. The only negative comment I have to say is that Justin Timberlake is now getting typecast into a geek. This is the 3rd movie in a row I have seen him play some kind of computer nerd (The Social Network, Bad Teacher, and this movie).
Another part of this movie I enjoyed was its ability to make fun of the romantic comedy genre. At one point the two main characters are watching a rom com and making comments about the story and music used in the movie. At the end of the movie the song they were making fun of is used the titles.
Many people will compare this movie with No Strings Attached starring Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman. The stories are pretty similar but after seeing both movies I would say Friends With Benefits wins out. While No Strings Attached wasn’t a horrible movie, I thought the characters in Friends With Benefits were much more believable. The characters were easier to relate with and the story seemed to flow better. The best example of this is moment when sex becomes more than just sex for the characters. (Now don’t get mad at me and call that a spoiler! It’s obvious that was going to happen.) That scene was shown much more gracefully than the more abrupt turnaround that was seen in No Strings Attached.
Overall this movie was a really enjoyable and perfect date night movie. If you and your significant other want to go see a romantic comedy at the theaters I would highly recommend Friends With Benefits. It doesn’t bring anything new to the romantic comedy but it doesn’t take anything away from the genre either.
Tags: Movies, Reviews, Romantic Comedy