Friends with Benefits

And so we get to our typical rom-coms of the year. The sickeningly beautiful actors all coming together to reflect upon how viewers aren't, and will never be, as perfect as they are.
All they have to do is deal with hilariously unfortunate implications, a few misunderstandings and every so often a comical scene showing their "quirky and clumsy" side... showing them fall over. How very original.

At least with the most recent rom-com Friends with Benefits, we see a slightly postmodern twist on the rom-com genre. Characters fully aware of the rom-com formula, you say? Trying to steer clear of the clichés, I hear? This isn't your traditional love story?

.... how original.

Well, it would be. If a certain "lets be friends but bone each other with no emotional attachment" plot hadn't already been done months beforehand and starred another certain female lead from another certain Oscar-nominated film about another certain crazy ballerina.

Yes, this film was very clearly the counterpart to No Strings Attached. They're called: Dueling

movies. Similar actors, similar ideas, coming out at similar time. You'll see it a lot with Dreamworks films vs. Pixar films or lately with Marvel films vs. DC films now The Avengers along with their origin stories are having the Hollywood makeover. You always see it, even if you aren't always aware, its there staring you right in the face: Haven't I seen this movie before? Only with slight differences?

There's no denying that both Portman and Kunis deserve a break after the physically demanding roles they played in Black Swan, I just didn't realize their breaks would be so parallel to each other. I'm talking same airline, same country, same hotel, suites next door to each other and at the same restaurant that night kind of similar. But which one had the better break?

Portman, after Black Swan, starred in two comedy films: Your Highness and No Strings Attached.

Your Highness was met with some pretty negative reviews, and for a comedy film, it hadn't made me laugh as much as it should have. Portman plays a relatively minor role in the film, and is not an integral part to the plot. She merely serves as a distraction, an obstacle and an eventual love interest... and there's a scene with her in a thong.
No Strings Attached was, once again, met with some bad reviews and I can't say I disagree. For a rom-com it seems a little awkward to watch and there is sadly no chemistry to be seen between Portman and Kutcher.

In contrast to two mediocre "comedy" films that star Portman, Kunis stars in a single good one. Friends with Benefits is the story of two friends, Jamie (Mila Kunis) and Dylan (Justin Timberlake) with, you guessed it, benefits!

Yes, we already know where this'll end up- its a rom-com and they -SPOILEEERS!!havetogettogetherintheendSPOILEEERS-!!

But lets be honest, its the inevitability of every rom-com. The genre isn't there to be subverted or challenged, its there as a formula for the typical love story. Two people fall in love, problems ensue, are overcome, they live happily ever after. The story may be told with a different take, the problems may be different, the setting and time may have changed, but the ending is always the same: if two people really love each other, they will end up together before the credits roll. The only film I've seen that doesn't end with such an ending is He's Just Not That Into You,

where Jennifer Connelly's character ends up divorcing her husband, and everyone in that part of the story doesn't have a happy ending- more of a bittersweet one for Connelly herself.

The pace of Friends with Benefits is fast and non-stop, something you don't usually see in a rom-com, but in this case it seemed to work quite well with the story. The fast-paced lifestyle and careers of both the main characters (one of who, can easily transfer jobs from L.A. to New York and back again as if its nothing) suits the way the story is told to viewers. Things start to slow down by the second act, paying more attention to the rom instead of the com.

One thing that surprised me about this film is the casting of Justin Timberlake. When he began acting in Shrek 3, I honestly thought it was because of his relationship with Cameron Diaz that got him the part, and he was just another big name in music trying to get into acting- but with no real acting talent.

In The Social Network, he pops up again as one of the main characters. Good acting, but not enough to really remember him for his acting- just that he was in the film.
And suddenly, whilst watching this film, his acting seems more noticeable. He's wasn't trying too hard (at least it seemed that way) and the chemistry between Timberlake and Kunis was fun to watch.

There was one thing that disappointed me though.
Throughout the film, there are certain jokes made at the expense of the Romantic Comedy genre itself, scenes where the two are watching a typical rom-com and they talk about how typical it really is. Its clever for a rom-com, but by the end of the film, the entire story falls victim to the usual formula, and the end scene was too obvious. I'd expected the self-reflective element of this film to carry on right through to the end, but I'd hoped for too much.