Friends With Benefits (2011)

“We get it! You’re men! You like sports! You’re men! You like sports! ” – Annie Harper

Number of Times Seen – Twice (27 Nov 2011 and 11 May 2019)

Brief Synopsis – A head hunter and a new client become quick friends and decide that in order to not make their lives more complicated, perhaps they should start to have a physical relationship with no emotional attachments.

My Take on it – This is a film that came out at a bad time because another movie with virtually the same plot came out just a few moth’s earlier.

Unfortunately for this film, No Strings Attached (2011) is a better movie and works the concept in a much more plausible way.

Mina Kunis and Justin Timberlake are both fine actors, but they don’t manage to create a good enough report with one another here and that makes the chemistry between the characters fail throughout.

This, in turn, makes the film less enjoyable to watch especially since it doesn’t feel believable enough.

The overall story as presented here is shown in an intriguing arc, but even though rom-coms are always formulaic and predictable, this one doesn’t manage to engage the viewer enough in order to believe the magic of the romance of these characters.

Jenna Elfman is great in a supporting role as Timberlake’s sister as is fun to watch in her few scenes.

Bottom Line – Doesn’t work as well as No Strings Attached (2011) which came out the same year. Kunis and Timberlake are both fine actors but something is missing with their chemistry in this film which would make things more enjoyable and believable to watch. The story has an interesting arc that isn’t as engaging as one would hope from a rom-com even if things are quite predictable along the way.  Elfman stands out among the supporting roles as Timberlake’s sister.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Ashton Kutcher who is in the movie No Strings Attached (2011) has a baby with and married Mila Kunis who stars in this movie. They attempted to originally have a “no strings attached” relationship, but eventually fell in love. Both movies have a very similar theme. Also Justin Timberlake made a song and album called and “No strings attached” with fellow band mates Nsync. (From IMDB)

Rating – BAFTA Worthy (5/10)

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