Friends with Benefits is a romantic comedy, but don't let that put you off because it's actually really great. The movie quickly lets us know that it knows that you and everybody you know are sick of romantic comedies, and the crap they feed us about what romance should be.
It's self-conscious of the genre from the get-go; from attacking Katerine Heigl's portrayal of women and relationships, to its take-down of Hollywood movie scores for making us feel how we do every time we hear a nondescript upbeat pop song when we leave the cinema. There's even a with a mock film-within-a-film featuring Jason Segel, Rashida Jones almost every single syrupy rom-com cliché in the known universe.
Mila Kunis is Jamie, is a sassy, quick witted, Manhattan-based Executive Recruiter, while Justin Timberlake is Dylan, a charming, family oriented, Web Designer from LA. They meet when she persuades him to visit NY and interview for a job at the legendary GQ.
They're both good looking and good at their jobs, but somehow that's not enough and they've both just been dumped - he's too emotionally closed and she's too obsessed with the idea of true love - they bond and soon devise a plan to remain friends with each other forever, but to have some sex along the way.
Shut up, it's just sex (Promise!). They're just friends (Obviously!). They're not interested in each other in any kind of emotional way (Ick! Gross!). They're just using each other for their beautiful, toned bodies, that's it (Exactly!).
Until, well, the emotions just creep on in there. Uh oh.
Sure the poster looks cheesy and the premise has been seen too recently in No Strings Attached, but don't be suspicious, this one works much better and Timberlake and Kunis are great choices. Their chemistry is strong, and it's matched and then raised by their dialogue. Director Will Gluck (Easy A), wrote the script with Keith Merryman and David Newman, and there's a lot of fun, fast-paced banter for them to work with.
There's also nice supporting roles worked in for Woody Harrelson, Jenna Elfman and Patricia Clarkson.
So, can a guy and a girl ever really just be friends? Does sex really ruin everything? Yes and no. But the movie doesn't just question whether or not males and females can resist the possibility of romantic love and instead choose to just be friends, with benefits. It's a movie about the intricacies of modern romance and what it makes you realise is that relationships should be about finding someone you can have fun with and then trying to stick with them, because life's too short to do much else.
I had a lot of fun at Friends With Benefits. Much more than I anticipated.
- Four stars
Source: The Vine
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