For all its set-up as an antidote to the banal cookie cutter Hollywood rom-coms, and a more acerbic look at modern lives and morals, it is ultimately an unconventionally conventional romantic tale.
(Our second review of Friends With Benefits after Adam Whyte's earlier in the week HERE). Theres always a danger in setting yourself up as a defier of convention, and that is if you dont follow through you leave yourself open to accusations of hypocrisy. The fact that thats exactly where Friends with Benefits finds itself makes you wonder whether that was the intention all along, a story structure mirror to Mila Kuniss own character arc, or whether its just that with stories like these you are always going to end up at the expected point. For all its set-up as an antidote to the banal cookie cutter Hollywood rom-coms, and a more acerbic look at modern lives and morals, it is ultimately an unconventionally conventional romantic tale, but what marks it apart from the run of the mill is a snappy and very funny first and second act, and that rare holy grail of casting, actual on-screen chemistry between its two sparking leads. From a nicely unbalancing introduction to the characters in question and their individual and amusing (and to some us, amusingly familiar) relationships collapse, Jamie (Kunis), a hot-shot recruitment head-hunter in New York, sets her sights on Dylan (Justin Timberlake), an LA based artistic editor for an online magazine. She wants him for the Artistic editor job at GQ and flies him out for the interview and to sell the Big Apple to his west coast sensibilities. Naturally, after a whirlwind show-around, an artfully choreographed flash-mob in Times Square, some booze, and city view to die for, Dylan bites the bullet and agrees to the move. As a man alone in a new town Jamie takes him under her wing not something she does for everyone of course and they find an easy-going friendship comes easy as pie. Until of course, during an evening watching one of the worst fake movies within in a movie ever put on celluloid, a conversation about the unrealistic expectations of romance leads to the conclusion that sex between two people, two friends, should be as normal as well, tennis. The addition of a nights alcohol intake makes for a very convincing argument and before you can say game on Dylan and Jamie are putting theory into practise. One of the films coups is that the sex in this semi-alternate rom-com universe is actually funny in itself, not in a slapstick way, but in an honest, and for some of the audience Im sure, sometimes all-too familiar way (well, as honest as Hollywood allows of course). And its credit to the inherent easy-going charm of Timberlake and Kunis, and some smart writing, that the expected inclination to cringe at bedroom Hollwood is completely forgotten. Both of them in fact are a riot as they zig and zag around the tricky combo of friendship and benefits, and theyre ably aided by the natural funny-man genius of Woody Harrelson as boat-owning, gay sports editor Tommy, so its a double-shame when all the hard work is inevitably spoon fed into just the kind of cookie conclusion the film has so artfully tried to up-end. After agreeing (again) to take a bit of a step back from their freewheeling arrangement, a trip back to LA to stay at Dylans family home introduces the somewhat clichéd dementia suffering parent (ably play by the great Richard Jenkins), and the wise and wise cracking older sister (Jenna Elfman). Theres even a cute nephew who does magic tricks. Badly. And its here, in the sunny ocean-side relaxation of southern California that the dream of no-strings sex unravels, underlined by a brilliantly obvious and diametrically opposite sex scene accompanied by warm music and the night-lit ocean. Pay attention, theres emotion mixed up in the fun and games now. Perhaps the director Will Gluck and the other writers really are in on the joke, shrugging their shoulders as if to say hey, you know you can only bend the rules so far, throwing in a scene at the actual Hollywood sign, and an early glimpse of the 70s swinging classic Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice on Jamies TV. But whatever the intent, in the conclusion we are bombarded by the classic come-arounds, the set-ups you can see coming from a mile away, and theyre played perfectly. You can complain about the lack of conviction, but you cant fault the quality of the sell-out. Friends With Benefits is out in UK cinemas today.