Strings of Awkward Romantic Comedy

Rating: 7/10 (22 January 2011)

Natalie Portman comes out of award season on top with her numerous Best Actress Awards for her performance in "Black Swan" including the Critic's Choice Award, the Golden Globe Award and an Oscar in the near future. Now she takes on the romantic comedy genre for the first time since her 2004 hit "Garden State". Her costar Ashton Kutcher on the other hand is no stranger to the romantic comedy genre with most of his recent films falling into this genre ("Killers", "Valentine's Day", and "What Happens In Vegas"). Together they create comedy through the awkwardly realistic chemistry between their characters Emma and Adam. Their quirky relationship begins when they are both sexually frustrated teenagers at summer camp. This leads them to becoming acquaintances throughout the early years of their relationship until they are thrown into each other's lives for the last time. Emma is a successful doctor who works eighty hours a week and is not looking for a relationship, while Adam is an aspired writer looking for a break working at a "gleeish" television show. Their latest encounter leads the two into a sexual dilemma as they make a pact to enter into a relationship with "No Strings Attaches" in other words no commitment, just sex. However, eventually the strings have to be attached.
The best part of the film is the surprisingly accurate and realistic interactions that Emma and Adam together. They are definitely not faking it as they recreate relationship situations by acting weird around each other, which is exactly what you do when you are in a relationship. Their supporting cast was also very important to the entertainment of the film and the theme of differentiation between relationships. The most notable character being Kevin Klines portrayal of Adam's father Alvin as he dates his own son's ex-girlfriends. The film is all about comedy aspect of all of these relationships and leaves out drama for the most part without totally forgetting about it. This does not change the fact that the film has a very touching ending no matter how cliché it is.
If it wasn't for the great casting of Portman and Kutcher at the center of the film creating superb chemistry all would be lost among ever other rom-com. This is because the film isn't original at all. It is just a basic Hollywoodized picture perfect romantic comedy, but sometimes a movie just barely lucks out when a couple stars are able to salvage the overdone cliché storyline.
Many may say that the film is too similar to the recent release of "Love and Other Drugs" just a few months ago. However, no matter how similar the basic plot structure of these two films is, they are very different films. While "Love and Other Drugs" follows the purely sexual relationship of its two main characters in the same way that "No Strings Attached" does, it also delves into the realms of the genre of drama. On the other hand "No Strings Attached" avoids those depths and instead relies on the awkward comedy of romantic see it now bliss.