Friends With Benefits

2011
Starring: Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake
Directed by: Will Gluck
Written by: Keith Merryman

I figured this would be pretty bad because of the super-cliche plot, and the fact that Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher did a version of this film called "No Strings Attached" earlier this year.  Something makes me thing Mila and Natalie lost a bet on the set of Black Swan.  I didn't see No Strings Attached, but I'm sure it's a slightly less sexy version of Friends With Benefits.

There aren't many people I want to see have sex more than Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis.  With the exception of Ryan Gosling, Justin Timberlake might be my biggest celebrity crush.  And certainly, though I am 95% heterosexual, I would gladly be in a threesome with Mila Kunis.  She is so adorable in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and I just think she is so fun and gorgeous.

Despite the silly-yet-raunchy sex scenes, JT's beefy body, and Mila's gorgeous eyes, this movie was dreadful.  I think JT and Mila are some of the most naturally charming young actors in existence, yet this screenplay seemed to suck the life out of them.  This movie was filled with the trite-est of dialogue, and the "jokes" were "almost invisible grin" worthy at best.  Here are two things that really bugged me about the movie:

JT's character is from LA, and Mila lives in NYC.  She recruits him to be the new Art Director for GQ, so he moves to New York.  There are tons of super-cliche "New Yorkers walk fast" and "LA has bad traffic" jokes.  The jokes don't appeal to anyone.  They are too vague and obvious for those who live or have visited those cities, and too specific for those who haven't.  Seems like lazy writing to me.

I am also really tired of romantic comedies having characters who talk about romantic comedies.  You know, "It's never like it is in the movies!" etc etc.  There is even a fake rom-com that Mila's character loves that is so over-the-top (starring Jason Segal and Rashida Jones) that it would never get made.  Bad bad parodies.

I'm trying to decide if this movie was worth $10.50 to see JT humping and bumping with his perfect, naked ass.  Maybe.  But probably not.  More like...$6.  That seems a more appropriate of a price to watch a terrible movie with JT's naked ass.

D