God damn you Hollywood making two films about the same thing within a year! All kidding aside,
Friends With Benefits does have a lot common with the January release
No Strings Attached. When it comes to what film about having sex without the emotional investment is better, I give the edge to
Friends With Benefits (although it's really not by much
). Friends With Benefits works because of the chemistry between Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis. There is as definite spark between them every time they are on-screen together and it's fun to watch these two together. The supporting cast also helps the quality with a hilarious turn from Woody Harrelson as a gay friend of Timberlake's character. I wish Harrelson was in it more, his character was easily the best in the whole film. The biggest advantage
Friends With Benefits has over
No Strings Attached is the dialogue. Writer/ director Will Gluck (
Easy-A) is a gifted dialogue writer. There are a good number of quick-witted, sharp one-liners that are a trademark of Gluck's style of writing. I can see him becoming a pretty in-demand writer in the coming years. Of course, the same thing that brought down
No Strings Attached brings this down, the god damn sappiness. It's not quite as sickeningly sappy as
No Strings Attached, but it's definitely sappy enough to bring down my enjoyment of the film. At the end of the day,
Friends With Benefits ends up being a pretty good film. It doesn't reinvent the romantic comedy wheel, but there is enough laughs and good comedic performances to justify a watch.
3.5/5 Stars
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