It’s true that “Friends With Benefits” looks suspiciously similar to 2011′s other friendship-centered romantic comedy “No Strings Attached.” In the new ‘s 107-minute from director Will Gluck, Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis star as Dylan and Jamie, two close friends who change their friendship when they decide to have sex.
Gluck is best known for his 2010 comedy “Easy A,” which starred Emma Stone in a modern retelling of Nathaniel Hawthrone’s novel, “The Scarlet Letter.”
“The script by Gluck, Keith Merryman and David A. Newman has a serrated edge, and neither of the leading roles begs for audience sympathy. Gluck’s feature deals every which way with children of divorce and/or single parents, looking for love…I enjoy both Timberlake and Kunis; just this side of manic, they seem right together.”
“It aims to ditch schmaltz and replace it with snap, the kind found in the classic rom-coms of Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn or Frank Capra…The funniest satire of romantic comedies comes in a movie within the movie.
“This is the second movie this year to ask whether it’s possible to have sex with someone without falling in love, and the second to arrive at a mistaken conclusion — because of course it is…The news about this movie is that it makes it clear that both Timberlake and Kunis are the real thing when it comes to light comedy.”
Director and co-writer Will Gluck struggles a bit with consistency of tone here. How
could he not? And while Timberlake and Kunis seem to be having a grand old time for the most part, other details rankle…Ironically, what ‘Friends With Benefits’ shares most with ‘No Strings Attached’ is that you can see everything coming, with no surprises. Where’s the fun in that?”
Rating 8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment