Even though the nearly identical mediocre romcom No Strings Attached came out earlier in 2011, something was compelling me to see Friends with Benefits. It might be the man-crush I have on Justin Timberlake who, let’s face it, has had quite an enticing acting career ever since he first brought it on in to Omeletteville in Saturday Night Live.
Turns out I was quite impressed. Not just with Timberlake — who I expected to like — but also with Mila Kunis — who I didn’t — and the script, which did a great job of remaining fresh and invigorating in the face of a logline that pulls for predictability. The script made fun of itself (countless scenes reference how stupid romcoms are), made the sex scenes hilarious, and had their relationship go through a variety of stages, rather than the simple and obligatory “up — lots of sex” –> “down — things start to get more serious” that you might expect. As a result, it was fun and funny to watch, and as always stirred up the romantic in me (which I think is why I like romcoms to begin with).
