Friends With Benefits Synopsis: A young man and woman decide to take their friendship to the next level without becoming a couple, but soon discover that adding sex only leads to complications.
After moving to New York from LA for a job with GQ, Dylan becomes friends with Jamie, the headhunter who brought him in for the job. After a while, they start a physical relationship with no strings attached. For a bit, the situation works out and benefits them both. Until, of course, actual feelings threaten to derail their friendship.
We can all agree that most movies with a âfriends with benefitsâ storyline lead directly to romance. And I am more than okay with that as long as I enjoy the journey. I saw Friends with Benefits in the theaters back in 2011, but I only remembered bits and pieces of it. Watching it again, I wasnât expecting to like it as much as I did. Despite its cliches, it works. Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis have strong chemistry, but Iâm starting to suspect Kunis would have pretty good chemistry with most people.
I really enjoyed this movie because it poked fun at rom-com clichĂŠs while enveloping itself in them in a refreshing way. Jamie and Dylan had equal depth, although I struggled to see what their exes saw: Jamie is emotionally damaged for wanting romance, and Dylan is emotionally unavailable. Maybe it was hard to see those flaws because we see them together for most of the movie, instead of other people; save for a few dates, Jamie goes on with a handsome doctor.
Richard Jenkins gives a lovely performance as Dylanâs father dealing with Alzheimerâs, and Patricia Clarkson is quite fun as Jamieâs flaky, albeit cool, mother.
The movie balances the romance with the right amount of raunchiness and is witty enough to draw genuine laughs. Not all of the jokes land, and there are times when I felt like it was trying to be more clever than it was. Woody Harrelson plays a gay sports reporter who essentially makes a lot of jokes about being gay while he tries to educate Dylan on what women want, despite, you know, being gay. He did make me laugh quite often, however, and I suppose I could see where they were trying to push the âhereâs the gay best friend!â trope with a cheeky wink.
Friends With Benefits is a pretty smart rom-com. I enjoyed it a lot, but Iâm honestly not sure if it would have succeeded much without the strength of Kunis and Timberlake’s chemistry. But it works, and itâs still a movie I would recommend to anyone who wants a bit of an edge to their rom-coms.
Watched: 05/05/2021
Notable Song: Closing Time by Semisonic
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