No Strings Attached - Movie Review
If reputable acting and delicious eye candy are enough to subdue a painfully formulaic plot, then No Strings Attached is worth the equally painful price of admission. It’s hard to say why screenwriters feel compelled to slightly modify the same script until we’re blue in the face – maybe it’s because we keep falling for it. Aside from the predictable narrative, Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman provide a sufficient level of talent and charisma, and as far as romantic comedies go, this one’s entertaining.
The premise is relatable to young adults, as it explores whether being “sex friends” is really feasible. Emma (Portman) is on her way to becoming a doctor and doesn’t have the time or the desire for a committed relationship, so she proposes to Adam (Kutcher) that they have an arrangement based entirely on sex. The problem, of course, is that people can rarely separate sex and romantic feelings, especially when the sex is ongoing. Adam can’t hide his romantic feelings for Emma, while she refuses to even entertain the idea that she has emotions. Naturally they’re perfect together, so there’s our conflict.
Not that it matters in a movie of this variety, but I was annoyed by the lack of character development. Emma bends over backwards to accommodate her autonomy, to the point where you can’t wait to learn the heart-breaking encounter that stunted her emotional development as a child, but you never do. Her aversion to human affection and relationships is never addressed, other than a brief reference or two to her father’s death. I guess minor, unexplained personality flaws are irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, especially when juxtaposed with such momentous problems as Adam’s father sleeping with his ex-girlfriend.
The romance, though nothing remarkably innovative, is prevailing and charming. Kutcher and Portman know how to win over an audience and do so fairly successfully. Perhaps the greatest contributors of the comedy, however, are the outrageous supporting actors. Kevin Kline plays Alvin, Adam’s weed-smoking father, and Lake Bell plays Lucy, the neurotic hot mess of a production assistant. These two secondary characters provide a concoction of witty dialogue, absurdity and farce to sustain the laughter.
Bypass this movie on a first or second date unless you’re confident your companion won’t leave the theater suggesting the two of you be just friends with benefits, and if you want to incorporate any degree of cognitive thinking, switch tickets with someone who paid to see Black Swan. Other than that, the co-stars are smokin’, the acting is decent, and for a remake of something we’ve all seen a million times, No Strings Attached is fun and amusing.
