A few strings are still tied to deliver the expected

Rating: 7/10 (6 June 2011)

Natalie Portman and Nicholas Cage are two actors that have won an Oscar and continue to do films, some in below average quality, and some just completely awful compared to the one they won for. Portman has done No Strings Attached and Your Highness aside from her amazing drama Black Swan. Cage has done pretty much anything else since Leaving Las Vegas, most of it being bland and goofy films that showcase his oddball sense of direction and hairstyles.
No Strings Attached is a romantic comedy, that at first seems like a different film making the characters shy away from romance and love, when ultimately we know what will happen. It doesn't take a genius to find out that Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman wind up together at the end of the film. Did you expect anything different? Movies like this are nice to watch, and most of the time keep a positive feel. But they are ruined by the inevitable outcome all of these movies have. The plot revolves around a medical student named Emma (Portman) and a TV executive named Adam (Kutcher). Both were the teenagers that knew each other, but never spoke in school and now they are starting to hang out more and talk with each other.
Emma is a workaholic and Adam just says "yes" to everything. When Emma says their relationship will be a sort of FWB style bond, Adam agrees and they have random sex on on/off occasions. Then they start feeling things for each other, we get a bunch of lovey-dovey between the two, and so on.
There are little perks to this movie. Jennifer Irwin has a minor role as one of the Television directors. I appreciated Irwin's work as Aunt Linda on the sitcom Still Standing, and she still doesn't seem like she changed her personality in this. Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman play a likable and cute couple side by side. Kutcher cleans up his act a little, and Portman has some fun with her character being a little foul-mouthed and outspoken. And we do get some cute dialog between them as well.
The R rating isn't as R as I would've thought. It's a questionable, high-maintenance PG-13 movie with a few dirty words. The sex scenes are extremely clean and are only suggestive. No Strings Attached is bumped up by a few smiles brought on by the cast and the dialog, but the plot and overall execution is just another, we-know-it-before-we-see-it sort of turnout. I expected a bit more daring acts from Kutcher and Portman together. Kutcher is a good actor in good movies, and Portman is on the rise to be an A list star. They only give their very early performance like skills in this film when they are so much more.
Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Natalie Portman, Greta Gerwig, Jake M. Johnson, Cary Elwes, and Jennifer Irwin. Directed by: Ivan Reitman.