By It’s hard to get a pin on No Strings Attached. On the one hand it stars the the insanely talented and gorgeous Natalie Portman and the other it stars the annoying-as-hell-when-he-isn’t-playing-a-stoner Ashton Kutcher. The marketing campaign has pushed it as both a romantic comedy and a raunchy sexcapade akin to American Pie. Its director, Ivan Reitman, has put together both comedy classics and horrific flops and it has the always wonderful Kevin Klein in it. What the heck are we supposed to think as pre-judging audiences?
Yes, this is a movie you could pre-judge in so many ways that it’s tough to know whether you should see it or run screaming for the hills. Thankfully, you’ve got Flixist and we can tell you what the film is really all about.
It's hard to get a pin on No Strings Attached. On the one hand it stars the the insanely talented and gorgeous Natalie Portman and the other it stars the annoying-as-hell-when-he-isn't-playing-a-stoner Ashton Kutcher. The marketing campaign has pushed it as both a romantic comedy and a raunchy sexcapade akin to American Pie. Its director, Ivan Reitman, has put together both comedy classics and horrific flops and it has the always wonderful Kevin Klein in it. What the heck are we supposed to think as pre-judging audiences?
Yes, this is a movie you could pre-judge in so many ways that it's tough to know whether you should see it or run screaming for the hills. Thankfully, you've got Flixist and we can tell you what the film is really all about.{{page_break}}
The really strange thing about No Strings Attached is that it is actually all the things you think it is at once. It's a raunchy, sappy romantic comedy starring one of Hollywood's best actresses and one of its most annoying. Somehow this incredibly hard to peg film works. Not When Harry Met Sally works, but works none the less at almost everything it is trying to do.
The concept behind the film is that Emma (Portman) is an emotionally detached, insanely attractive nerd who doesn't like getting close to people due to issues she has. Meanwhile Adam (Kutcher) is a happy-go-lucky guy who finds himself extremely attracted to Emma. After Adam finds his famous father (wonderfully played by Kevin Kline) sleeping with his ex-girlfriend he goes on a drunken binge and eventually winds up sleeping with Emma the next morning. Emma, who doesn't want to get in a relationship because she'll only ruin it, eventually comes up with the idea that the two should simply be friends with benefits and once one of them starts feeling something they'll end it. Adam agrees, as any normal man would, but it's clear from the start that he's already in love with Emma.
Thus starts a romantic comedy not about a guy and a girl meeting, but a guy and a girl having sex. It's strangely honest in its humor, which is funny and raunchy for most of the film, and surprisingly even more spot on in its relationships. Beyond belief, Kutcher and Portman are really good on screen together, and Kutcher is somehow not annoying. Whether this is because Portman raises him up or he's actually starring in a movie with a decent screenplay I'm not sure, but by the end of the film you're cheering for him instead of checking your watch.
The movie is a bit all over the place, however. Some background storylines get picked up and then dropped and never reappear or simply pop-up randomly near the end of the film. It feels a bit disjointed at time and makes for secondary characters that feel too much like they're simply there for gags — albeit most of those gags are funny. Reitman takes the movie in plenty of directions and if it wasn't for the strength of its two stars and its quality comedy you'd probably be reading a very different review. This is especially true since the end of the film veers away from the rest of the film's fun and relatively original take on things and into rom-com cliche land. Even sadder is Adam's big, final romantic line to Emma, which is cheesy on its own, but is even worse when Kutcher delivers it all wrong.
Still, a single line shouldn't keep you away from what is actually one of the better romantic comedies to come along in a while. This isn't an instant classic in the genre, but it's easily one of the funnier ones to come in the past couple years. It helps, of course, that Portman is radiantly awesome throughout the film, but, in a big surprise for me, she isn't the only reason to go see No Strings Attached.
7.25 – Good. (7s are good, but not great. These films often have a stereotypical plot or are great movies that have a few minor flaws. Fans of this movie’s genre might love it, but others will still enjoy seeing it in theaters.)
