"Contemporarily Relevant: The Sex Buddy Disparity"

Rating: Null/10 (25 July 2011)

"Contemporarily Relevant: The Sex Buddy Disparity" "No Strings Attached 2"? No, it is another film about a couple of people trying to make an emotionless relationship based around sex work; Natalie Portman's "Black Swan" costar just happens to be in it. Director Will Gluck's ("Easy A") "Friends With Benefits" is a better disparity of the sex buddy concept than the aforementioned because of its array of genuine characters starting with Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis. Dyan (Justin Timberlake, "The Social network") works as an art director of an online media company (my dream job) in California and has just been dumped by his girl friend Kayla (Emma Stone, "Easy A"). The other player, Jamie (Mila Kunis, "Book of Eli") is a headhunter in New York that has also been dumped by her boyfriend Quincy (Andy Samberg, "I Love You Man"). Dyan was "emotionally unavailable" while Jamie was "emotionally damaged" making them the perfect match when Jamie meets Dylan at the airport to facilitate his job offer with a nation renowned magazine. Dylan inevitably takes the job and with one friend in New York to turn to, Dylan and Jamie become really close. As the sexual tension builds, they make fun of a clichÃ© Jason Segel ("Bad Teacher") and Rashida Jones ("The Social Network") rom-com and embark on an emotion free series ofsexual escapades. The relationship becomes much more as they begin to open up to each other transforming the happy-go-lucky comedy into a dramatic (but not overly dramatic) conclusion with splendid performances by Richard Jenkins ("Hall Pass"), Patricia Clarkson ("Easy A") and Woody Harrelson ("Zombieland").
The coolest part of the film is that everything from its lingo to the character's jobs and even the credits give the film a relevant contemporary feel. Also, while the characters are goofy, they have a lot of heart making the film's conclusion clichely fulfilling and allowing the cast to fluently connect with the audience. The chemistry between all of which makes the movie feel unscripted, making Timberlake and Kunis into a naturally perfect on screen matchup. Timberlake and Kunis must step aside, as Richard Jenkins runs away with his authentic portrayal of a man suffering from Alzheimer's that will make you laugh and cry (especially for one like me who works at an Alzheimer's and Dementia home).
Everything bad about the film is self-explanatory because if you are expecting a genre defining rom-com without a predictable ending, you have been misled. While, Director Glick follows suit of "Easy A", making fun of the genre, in the end there really isn't much more he could do. The genre is fixed, and can be very repetitive leaving too much room for pointless moments. "Friends With Benefits" seems to avoid space filling jokes most of the time, but still lets moments like the unnecessary Sean White cameo overstay their welcome.
Romantic Comedies have not changed much at all over the years, but if you are looking for a film that is current and has praiseworthy actors embodying genuine characters, "Friends With Benefits" is the fun and true solution.