Film Review: Mila Kunis, Justin Timberlake Try ‘Friends With Benefits’

Submitted by PatrickMcD on July 21, 2011 - 11:13pm

CHICAGO – It seems that carnal canoodling without strings attached seems all the rage in romantic comedies these days. The twentysomething set, having seen their share of divorces and break-ups, prefer the Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis method in “Friends with Benefits.”

Rating: 3.0/5.0

Set in the upper middle class fantasy realm, where a person can have a fabulous job in the publishing industry (note to Hollywood, that level of job is dead), this film relies on the charm and chemistry of the two leads, Timberlake and Kunis. The problem is the script and characterizations, because for a story to make fun of the typical rom-com movie clichés, and then blithely practice those same stereotypes, takes some brass.

Justin Timberlake is Dylan, a hot-shot Los Angeles art director at a popular website (at first I thought he was reprising his role in “Social Network). He is recruited by a hot-shot New York City headhunter named Jamie (Mila Kunis) to be art director at GQ Magazine. She convinces him to take the offer to come to NYC, against his better judgment. She also turns out to be one of his first friends in the big city, and they start to hang out together.

While watching a typical Hollywood romantic comedy, Dylan and Jamie start to complain about their love lives, how complicated relationships are. They make a pact, to begin having sex without the messy relationship, which in movieland turns out to be the best ever, rather than empty. It is obvious that a relationship is developing, spurred on by Dylan’s friend at GQ, a gay sports editor named Tommy (Woody Harrelson).

When the 4th of July weekend comes up, Jamie is stood up for a getaway with her mother Lorna (Patricia Clarkson), and Dylan steps in for an invitation to his family’s home. His father (Richard Jenkins) is in the first stages of Alzheimer’s Disease, and his sister Annie (Jenna Elfman) tries to hold it all together. It is during the trip that Jamie learns Dylan’s true feelings, and that leads to a break-up of their pact. What happens next, it seems to me we’ve heard that song before.

”Friends with Benefits” opens everywhere on July 22th. Featuring Justin Timberlake, Mila Kunis, Patricia Clarkson, Jenna Elfman, Emma Stone, Andy Sandberg, Richard Jenkins, Jason Segel, Rashida Jones and Woody Harrelson. Screenplay by Keith Merryman, David A. Newman and Will Gluck, directed by William Gluck. Rated “R”