Bland, tasteless, predictable

Rating: 4/10 (6 January 2013)

Two friends, Emma (Natalie Portman) and Adam (Ashton Kutcher), decide to have a pact where they would have casual sex whenever they needed it, and not bring in emotional baggage and work that goes into building an actual relationship; i.e., sex with 'no strings attached'.
This is one of three prominent movies around casual sex and 'friends with benefits' that popped up in 2011. 'Friends with Benefits' starring Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake follows a similar thread. 'Love and Other Drugs' starring Jake Gyllenhall and Anne Hathaway also apparently started out in the same vein, but developed into something between a drama around Parkinsons and a Viagara drug biopic. It was definitely the best of the three.
For the most part, No Strings Attached is bland, tasteless, and predictable. I think Natalie's a very talented actress who usually picks good roles for herself, but this one fell flat from the get go.