Romantic Comedies have numerous fatal flaws that make them hard to like. For example, they are completely predictable. Let's face it, when we walk into a rom-com, we walk in expecting our protagonists end up together. But not before we have faced numerous amount of funny situations, talks about sex and feelings, some slap-sick that would hospitalize normal non film folk and the huge ending where they find out they really love each other as though the incredibly beautiful people haven't spent the last 2 hours in a romantic comedy. The mind boggles. Friends With Benefits attempts to inject a fresh take on the genre as our heroes attempt to "remove the cliche of romantic comedies" but if there is one thing people can predict more than romance in films is how "friends with benefits" always works out.
Friends With Benefits does exactly what it says on the tin and stars Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis. They play Dylan and Jamie who becomes friends after Jamie head hunts Dylan for GQ magazine, convincing him to move to New York as their art director. Soon after several months (I assume) of bonding, Dylan and Jamie become disillusioned with "romance" and how cliched Hollywood makes relationships. In an urge for a physical connection, they embark on a friends with benefits policy; sex with no complications. But as soon as they start enjoying their new arrangement, those pesky complications start appearing. Will their friendship ever survive? Can sex be enjoyed between two friends without it becoming more? What do you think?
If there is one thing to be said about Friends With Benefits is that Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis have a great chemistry on screen. As they flip jokes and insults at one another there is a fantastic rapport that flows from one another. Not only do you believe that they could be friends but their blossoming relationship is instantly realistic. As Dylan and Jamie, Timberlake and Kunis are extremely comfortable in their positions and that breezes across the screen in a crisp likability. Also, there a plenty of jokes here that feed the comedy aspect of the movie and have you giggling away as a whole host of supporting characters from gay Tommy (Woody Harrelson ) to his sister Annie (Jenna Elfman) flesh out the betrothed characters in anecdotes that have warmth and depth.
But, although there is plenty of laughs, the movie comes across as bland and boring. There is nothing so outrageously new here that you can enjoy without rolling your eyes and predicting the next scene to the next. You instantly know the point where one falls for the other or the moment they fall out because this has all be done before. The formula has not been switched about enough for the repetitiveness not to sink in and it becomes tedious to watch yet another attractive couple fall in love with each other all over again. It has only been done a million times. With the recent release of No Strings Attached boasting the same premise, Friends With Benefits suffers greatly. What is hilarious though is the beginning sequences where Jamie gets angry about Katherine Heigel movies as though her own film isn't inevitable to end the same way.
Friends With Benefits isn't all bad. Despite its lack of originality, there is heart and you can't stop yourself falling in love with our leading stars. It delivers precisely what it says it will deliver and that is a feel good romantic comedy that will whisk you down the route you are so familiar with. There is no though process going into this movie so enjoy it for what it is; a simple romance.
2/5 stars.
TTFN
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