Guilty Pleasures: No Strings Attached

So this weekend absolutely no one will be rushing out to the theaters to see For a Good Time, Call… or at least that’s my prediction. However I’ve been wrong previously. I decided that this week’s guilty pleasure should be focused on one of my favorite romantic comedies of the last couple years. While the film wasn’t completely hated on it was seen as extremely mediocre and underwhelming however since it was one of two ‘friends having sex but not dating’ movies.

Both of these movies (the other being Friends With Benefits) starred male leads that I have no opinion of. I was a little shocked to discover that I liked Ashton Kutcher better than Justin Timberlake (yeah I know, like I said I was shocked). But Ashton isn’t what made me love this movie, it’s the witty satire on Television, relationships and friendships.

The movie takes the “When Harry Met Sally” method of starting with our leads meeting 15 years earlier when they were kids. They meet again a few years later at a college party and again at a swap meet. These early segments aren’t exactly crucial beyond giving the characters a reason to talk at the swap meet and the party.

Finally we’re in present day Ashton’s character (Adam Franklin) works on a High School Musical like set. He wants to be a writer but so far is just a general PA. Meanwhile Emma (Natalie Portman) is in the middle of her residency and has no time for relationships.

Adam’s rich actor father has recently started dating Adam’s ex girlfriend which puts an obvious strain on their relationship. Adam’s only solution is to text every single woman in his phone until he gets a hook-up while doing this he drinks himself stupid. He wakes up the next morning completely naked surrounded by people he doesn’t know. Eventually Emma shows up explains to him that he texted her, she gave him her address and he showed up drunk and started stripping for her.

While he starts getting dressed the random hook-up. They decided that this is exactly what they need in their lives and start having random sex over the next few weeks. Predictably Adam begins to fall for Emma and things become awkward between the two. Emma decides they both need to sleep with someone else but Adam refuses so they go their separate ways and Adam’s ex leaves his father. Adam realizes how awful of a person she really is. Luckily Emma comes back to him and they begin dating. Credits roll.

Yes this movie is extremely predictable. I won’t pretend it’s not. But is that really a bad thing? No one watches a romantic comedy expecting to see Memento, you want to see a couple meet, fall in love, break up and get back together. It’s a simple again, it’s why we watch them.

Elizabeth Meriwether’s screenplay is full of witty one liners, sexy situations and a story that manages to stay fresh regardless of the whole predictable nature of the film. Meanwhile Ivan Reitman directs some of the hottest softcore sex sequences put in mainstream cinema, the fact that these sex scenes also involve Natalie Portman just makes things even more enjoyable.

I’m not going to call this guilty pleasure a must see but if you want a romantic comedy for a date night which you can enjoy as well. It’s worth checking out.