Why you should and shouldn't see No Strings Attached

Rating: Null/10 (3 October 2011)

The Story Emma (Portman) is afraid of relationships, so after she impulsively gets into bed with Adam (Kutcher), she suggests that they "use each other for sex" on an ongoing basis, on the condition that no romantic feelings are allowed. If one of them falls in love, they are to end it.
The premise is nothing new, of course: Jerry and Elaine acted it out (complete with similar "ground rules") on Seinfeld just under twenty years ago in an episode entitled, "The Deal," and it's been used many times since, on Grey's Anatomy, for example. However it's as though everyone involved took the weak premise as a challenge, and turned it into something, if not great, certainly good. The jokes are clever (some even made me laugh out loud), the two leads are charming, and it all works.
Something odd Portman's friend and costar in Black Swan, Mila Kunis (who presumably also remembers Kutcher from That 70's Show) has a movie called Friends with Benefits in post-production. She and Justin Timberlake star as friends who decide to have sex without romantic entanglement. The trailer includes a premise-establishing conversation that's pretty much lifted from the script of the aforementioned "The Deal" episode of Seinfeld. But let's call it homage.
Something eerie... Both Portman and her friend Kunis are, according to IMDb, 5'3"(1.60 m.). Kutcher is seventeen feet taller.
In any case, the "sex buddies" storyline is now officially its own romantic comedy sub-genre.
Why you should see it You like funny dialog and good acting, and are willing to look past an overused premise.
Why you should avoid it You hate romantic comedies. You hate Ashton Kutcher. You hate Natalie Portman. No, scratch that last one. Not possible.
--from my review at www.1man365movies.com