Friends with Benefits Directed by: Will Gluck Starring: Justin Timberlake, Mila Kunis, Patricia Clarkson Rating: NR Release Date: July 22, 2011
TRAILER SCORE: 6/10
MY THOUGHTS: The only reason I'd heard of this movie before watching this trailer was the controversy surrounding the title. Seems an Ashton Kutcher/Natalie Portman project had their eye on that title, but after a bit, the dispute was settled. Friends with Benefits kept its name and Ashton Kutcher's was re-titled No Strings Attached. Let's give both movies the benefit of the doubt and assume that they aren't pretty much carbon copies of one another. Even then, the premise is still thin and hackneyed at best.
Still, there's something to be said about watching pretty people have sex, isn't there? It's been enough to sell plenty of movies before this and sex appeal will go on to sell plenty of movies after. Then again, the fake sex onscreen doesn't make the movie and considering the trailer ends with Timberlake singing "Closing Time" to Mila Kunis's lady parts, I'm not sure this movie has a whole lot else to offer.
Then again, the welcome addition of Patricia Clarkson to the cast gives me some hope. Enough hope to see the movie? Not too likely. Sure, there were a couple parts that made me laugh to myself, like the debate over Semisonic and Third Eye Blind in the throes of passion, but nothing too memorable.
In fact, the only thing that the movie leaves the audience to wonder is, who's gonna be the one who calls it quits and says that he or she wants more? In the day and age of the post-modern rom-com, my guess is JT, but I can't say I care enough to spend 10 bucks to find out. I'll see it eventually, but I'm in no hurry.