Friends with no strings but benefits attached

Rating: Null/10 (10 April 2012)

Hollywood movies often come in pairs as films with the same premise are released within months of one another. "Friends With Benefits" and "No Strings Attached" were released very close to one another and both pose the question of whether it is possible for a couple simply to have sex and be friends without becoming emotionally or even romantically involved. Many men have never had any problem with this concept and Hollywood is now toying with the issue of whether liberated women can think the same. There are no prizes for guessing the conclusion of both romantic comedies but it's entertaining to see how each film works round to essentially the same ending.
This time round the guy is Dylan (Justin Timberlake) who moves from Los Angeles to New York to take on a new job at the behest of headhunter Jamie (Mila Kunis). Like "No Strings Attached", "Friends With Benefits" has a lot of talk about sex - the script is sharp and often funny - but remarkably coy when it comes to showing it with nothing more risqué than a bare back. The film makes fun of movies that are overly romantic while coming quite close to being one of the works it parodies. So innocent fun which finishes up being rather old-fashioned. The French would have done it differently.