No Strings Attached

Plot synopsis:
15 years agoWe see two young kids, named Emma and Adam, sitting on a bench looking uncomfortable while other teenagers are making out at a summer camp. Adam cries, revealing that he's attending summer camp because his parents are going through a divorce. Emma awkwardly puts her arm around him and comforts him by saying that people just aren't meant to stay together forever. Adam seems consoled. He then asks if he can finger her. She refuses.5 years ago20 year-old Emma Kutzman (Natalie Portman) wearing a trench coat walks into a frat party at a university in Michigan and finds her friend, Patrice. Patrice, wearing a tank top and daisy duke pajama shorts, teases Emma for wearing red long johns to the "pajama party." Across the room, Adam Franklin (Ashton Kutcher) spots Emma and tells his friend Eli that he knows her from somewhere. Emma catches his stare and recognizes him from summer camp 10 years earlier. They walk towards each other and chat. Emma invites Adam to "this thing" she has to attend the next day and Adam agrees to accompany her.The next day we see Emma's mom; her sister, Katie; Katie's boyfriend; and Adam standing in a cemetery. Emma invited Adam to attend her dad's funeral, and Adam not knowing the occasion is underdressed. Later in the day, Adam catches Emma consoling her mother outside in the family's garden.1 year agoEli, Adam, and Vanessa (Adam's girlfriend) are at an L.A. farmer's market when Eli spots Patrice. They reconnect and talk. Adam walks up and hugs Patrice. Emma, who is shopping nearby with Katie, sees Adam and walks up to everyone. She is excited to see him (as is Adam) until Adam introduces her to Vanessa. Emma reveals that she just moved to L.A. to work as an intern at a nearby hospital. She gives Adam her phone number, and they promise to keep in touch. They don't.Present dayAdam is working as a production's assistant for a TV show. He is a budding screenwriter; he writes an episode for the show but has yet to gain the nerves to give it to the director/producer. His dad, Alvin (Kevin Kline), is a successful film star (or producer) but Adam wants to break out on his own. While visiting Alvin at his estate, Vanessa surprises Adam wearing only a bikini. It's apparent the Alvin and Vanessa are dating. Disgusted, Adam leaves.At the bar where Wallace, another friend, works we see Adam and Eli drinking. Adam is visibly upset. He then decides that the best course of action is to dial all the girls on his cell phone until one agrees to sleep with him. With each call, he drinks more and more until he passes out.The next morning Adam awakens in an apartment to find himself laying on a couch with only a dish towel covering his "lap". A girl named Shira is sitting on a bar stool eating breakfast. He thinks they slept together until her roommate, Guy, walks in. Adam is unsure about what occurred the previous night. Then Patrice walks into the room, and Adam is thrilled to recognize her. She pretends that they had sex. Then Emma walks into the kitchen and tells Adam that he called her, came over, and passed out. Everyone laughs.Adam and Emma go into her bedroom so that he can retrieve his pants. Emma reveals what happened yesterday evening: Adam, thinking he was at home, strips to his birthday suit and danced around; he also cried when telling her that Alvin and Vanessa are dating. They laugh and sit on her bed. Sparks fly, they kiss, they have sex.Before leaving for work, Emma makes Adam promise not to divulge what just happened. He agrees. Meeting Eli for lunch Adam tells his friend that he slept with Emma, but she has yet to return any of his phone calls. Just then, Emma gets out of the car with a handsome co-worker, Sam. It's clear that Sam likes Emma. They chat for a bit before Emma and Sam go into the bistro to grab coffees and salads. Adam then decides to surprise Emma.He goes to the hospital with a congratulatory balloon and they talk. Emma's embarrassed that he tracked her down, telling him that's she is not the relationship type of girl. She leaves to go back to work, and Adam, a bit sad, meets up with his friends for drinks. During the night, Emma texts Adam with, "What are you doing?". Eli and Wallace agree that she's asking for a booty call and advise him to play it cool. He does and Emma invites herself over to his house.They meet and have sex again. Afterwards, Emma starts dressing and Adam asks her to stay for a muffin. Again, Emma declares that she's not into dating or spending the night or eating breakfast with a man. Adam agrees prompting Emma to ask, "Do you want to do this? Use each other for sex?". Adam says, "I can handle it." They agree to a few ground rules: no dating, no spending the night, no putting each other on their emergency contact list, and if one begins feeling more than the other the "relationship" but immediately terminate.The next few weeks (or months) find Emma and Adam doing it everywhere. It's obvious they are both starting to fall for each other but are refusing to acknowledge it. In the meantime, Adam attempts to hand his screenplay to his boss. It doesn't go well, but Lucy, his boss's assistant, apprehends the play and says she'll take a look at it.The next evening we find Emma, Patrice, and Shire sprawled out on their living room. Their periods have synced, and they're all miserable. Adam surprises the ladies with Sprinkles cupcakes, and for Emma, he gives her a period CD. She is touched. They go to her room and fall asleep. Fully clothed. The next morning Emma wakes up to find Adam spooning her and she's dismayed at herself for allowing it. She wakes him up and tells him they need to cool their situation by sleeping with other people. Adam, not amused but too chicken to confess his feelings, says fine and leaves.That night Adam is hanging out with Wallace when Megan, another friend, confesses that she's in love with Lisa, who happens to be sitting next to Adam. The girls start making out. Wallace takes a picture of the girls kissing Adam and texts it to Emma. She's at her work party when she receives the message. Irate and very drunk, she takes a cab to his house. When Adam opens the door, she starts getting mad until Megan appears. She's wearing nothing but her underwear. Then Lisa appears, also scantily clothed. Emma is visibly upset then goes nuts on the girls, prompting them to leave. Adam and Emma have sex. And Emma tells him not to do that again. Their "relationship" continues.A few weeks later Adam is at work when Alvin surprises him with a birthday song. The entire TV cast sings him happy birthday. Alvin invites his son to dinner because he and Vanessa have something to share. Adam, still upset at his dad, punches him, which lands him in the ER. Emma rushes to his side and finds out that she's on his emergency contact list. She tries to break it off, but Adam intercedes, telling her that he's heavily sedated and about to meet his dad and ex-girlfriend for dinner and needs a support system. He asks her to join him. She agrees.Alvin, Vanessa, Adam and Emma are sitting in a fancy restaurant when Alvin and Vanessa tell Adam that they want to make a baby together, but before they do that, they want Adam's blessing. Adam responds by hitting his head on the table. Emma responds for him, telling off Alvin and Vanessa, saying that they shouldnt make a baby since they're babies themselves. She lets out her true feelings for Adam indirectly by telling Vanessa that if she had to choose between Alvin and Adam she'd choose Adam every single time. Before leaving she retorts that Adam is the best sex of her life. They exit the restaurant and Adam asks her out on a real date. Emma, a bit hesitant, agrees.It's Valentine's day, and Adam picks up Emma at work and they go miniature golfing. They talk and laugh and hit it off yet again. At the diner, they share a milkshake when Adam decides it's time to confess his feelings and begins to tell her he's falling for her. But she doesn't let him finish. At LACMA, Adam tries again and tells her that he's in love with Emma. She responds by hitting him and telling him that he's ruining their relationship. She commands him to take her back to work, and he does. At the hospital, Adam says he can't keep doing this anymore and ends their "relationship." They leave.Six weeks pass and we find out that Emma's depressed. Meanwhile, Lucy has given the episode to their boss who decides to use it. On the night of Adam's episode, we see him basking in his success. Meanwhile, Emma is in Santa Barbara for her sister's wedding. Emma and her mom have a talk in which her mom tells her not to close up her life but instead embrace it, even if it means getting hurt when falling in love. Emma realizes she loves Adam and Katie tells her to call him. She does, and Adam who's at the cast party answers it. After hearing, Emma say she misses him he tells her that she's only saying that because she's feeling lonely since it's her sister's wedding. She'll get over it. He hangs up on her and takes Lucy home.Emma, realizing that she has to do something big, leaves Santa Barbara and heads back to Adam's house in LA, hoping to find him there and confess her true feelings. She arrives before he does and hides out in the bushes when she realizes that he is bringing a girl home. After Adam and Lucy enter the house Emma gets into her car, calls Katie, and cries, telling her she's too late. She starts driving back to Santa Barbara when she gets a text from Shira who is working at the hospital.While Emma is driving back to Santa Barbara, Adam and Lucy start making out, but it's apparent that they aren't in sync with each other. His phone rings and Adam picks up. The call is about Alvin, who has apparently overdosed. Adam rushes to the hospital to discover that Vanessa, who is waiting for him, wants out of the relationship. "He's too old, and I'm too young," she says. She gives an excuse why she can't see Alvin and disappears. Adam finds his dad's room, and they talk. Alvin tells Adam that while he has a selfish heart, Adam doesn't and is a good guy. Adam forgives his dad and tells him that he'll call him the next day.While Adam walks out of the hospital, he calls Emma and tells her that she has no right to tell her she misses him when he hasn't heard from her in weeks. As he is telling her that, she has to do more than just call him her car pulls up and Emma runs out of the car. Unsure of his feelings towards him, Emma cries and tells her she is in love with him. Adam embraces Emma. They kiss.The next morning we see them eating breakfast and discussing the new rules to their official relationship. They head back to Santa Barbara, just in time for Katie's wedding. Holding hands, the music swells and the film ends.

Tags: boring, adult comedy, cute, flashback, romantic, entertaining

Review:
Sure the ending is predictable and a few of the background actors deliver lackluster performances but Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher fit very nicely together as the main characters, you could really tell they had fun working together.I see a lot of other reviews criticizing Portman for "stooping to this level" and I'm not too sure why, maybe they didn't go see it in the right frame of mind...this movie is what it is, a romantic comedy about two friends who decide to take their relationship to the next level without having any of the commitments and "duties" of being an actual couple, that's what the trailers showed it as, that's what the actors described it as, nothing was a surprise...she did a cute, funny romantic comedy, it's not like she dove head first into the adult film industry.Will this movie be nominated for awards, probably, will it win, probably not, but overall it was cute, it was funny, and I left the theater feeling like the $10 I paid for a ticket was well worth it..
You'd think she would have been able to tell a flawed script when she saw one.Like most romantic comedies, you know the ending from the first scene in the movie.
I am sure that a few 13-year-olds were rolling in the aisles, but that might just be from eating a bad hot dog, which would certainly have been more enjoyable.I heard that Portman wanted this movie to be the female answer to The Hangover.
I gave it a 2.This simply sucks for a movie.It drags on far too long and the dialogue and characters are dull as beans.Ashton sucks as a lead and the story doesn't help.Totally unrealistic.Totally uninteresting and a waste of my download on netflix.I'm glad that this came as a monthly package in my bill and that I didn't have to actually pay for this.How I long for real plots and stories that actually entertain..
sounds like a romantic comedy to me!Natalie Portman shows her range of acting abilities by having two extremely different films in theaters at the same time.
Adam (Kutcher) and Emma (Portman) have known each other since childhood, but not to damage their friendship, Emma offers a no strings attached relationship which means they can boink anyone they want and each other too and falling in love is out of the question.
The audience sat there like statues for the film hoping they would maybe get a string You know we walk into the movie theater with open minds and goodwill and get hit by this and it's just an affront.
This film is about two sex friends who, slowly but surely, develop feelings for each other.Considering the cast and the big budget, "No Strings Attached" is very disappointing.
Let me start by saying that I wanted to watch this movie again immediately after it ended.Not only is there a plethora of one-liners that we will relive with our friends for years to come (think of the timeless quips from Super Troopers, Anchorman, and The Hangover), but also a deep story line.
Apart from a couple intimate scenes, I did not revisit this feeling after getting pulled in.The Soundtrack completely rocked, including an awesome rendition of "99 Problems" by Hugo, and old school favorites, like "Bleeding Love" which get's a great scene with Natalie Portman that will have you crying through your laughter and feeling right along with her.
This movie has a typical romantic comedy plot but honestly, the only variables in all romantic comedies are characters and script dialogue.Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher do a great job of exhibiting chemistry and getting the audience to hope the two of them into a happily ever after denouement.They're both beautiful and appealing to a lot of people.
Some felt, in fact, that it carried the entire movie (Kutcher's career, like that former romantic lead Freddie Prinze, tends to veer more toward "straight man" ie, as merely the "sparkplug" for whomever he is playing against.) Here on IMDb however I find reviews that go further than the mainstream critics, and actually seemed annoyed at Ms. Portman for taking the role in the first place...?
This is what carries the film, and this is what holds it together and makes it work.I will add to this review the same remark I penned recently in another review of a so-called "High Concept" Hollywood comedy -- Ghost Town 2008 --- namely that, at the end of the day, when this film goes into the great digital archive and becomes available to viewers of the future (as in, two generations from now or more), the sneers from today's viewers will fade away and be replaced by the observation that, like Tea Leoni, Ms. Portman simply did not do enough films to satisfy her fans..
As a man, I'll complain to an expected level every time about having to watch romantic comedies with my wife, but I can admit that I find most of them fairly enjoyable in the end.Not so much with this one.This movie brought to mind two movies from the late '80s, not because of any similarity in content.The first was "Funny Farm." When Chevy Chase's wife reads the first chapter of his manuscript, it's so bad that she actually cries before ripping it to shreds in an honest critique.I don't know how this wasn't everyone's reaction to this script.
Ashton Kutcher's character taking her back at the end was not romantic, it was ridiculous and in real life relationships like this fail!
But love is not possible to be rationalized and the couple is affected by their behavior."No Strings Attached" is a romantic comedy with a silly and incoherent plot since the motives for the behavior of Emma are not well developed and she becomes an inconsistent lead character.
They look like they could never hook up in real life.Natalie Portman isn't right for romantic comedies.
A lot of people may know that the raunchy "friends having sex" comedy, "Friends with Benefits", with Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis, is actually a lot similar to a movie released months before called "No Strings Attached", with Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher.
Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher star as Emma and Adam, two "friends with benefits" who have a sexual relationship, and they make sure to not crush on each other.
We all have differing expectations of certain films, some people like the tabletop magazine, throwaway, take your brain out ease of watching a join the dots romantic comedy, some on the other hand , want to be moved and touched by what they see in a life affirming kind of way.
Yes your role was completely underwritten and your character had little to no reasoning of why she acted the way she did but despite that the humor came across as crude and vulgar and the movie felt so unnecessarily long and not long enough at the same time as it came to it's ridiculous and confusing unending.
In fact I would like to say in fact that the best part of the movie was surprisingly Ashton Kutcher that found a way to show some actual range with his performance.
Don't let the"7"fool you, its still a good rating coming from me.OK so this movie is a very well...its about friendship taken to a whole new level, and if you saw the trailers it asks you"can best friends be sex-friends?" The movie itself does answer that question with one of those"You have to watch it to understand movie" the story does have a few silly remarks but its moving for me, i never really understood people who do, do the things that Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher do in this movie but it doesn't matter it shows us the true meaning of friends and love!yes this movie has some eh moments of funny,sex, and dialogue.
This film "No Strings Attached" stays true to it's title it shows love and life is complex and it's made enjoyable by plenty of eye candy scenes of hot steamy sex between the two lead characters!
It involves Emma(Natalie Portman in a very sexy role)who after leaving Michigan for the lands of sunny California to do her medical interns as a doctor meets a boy named Adam(Ashton Kutcher) she knew him in college and now he's a young hotshot who wants to be a sitcom director/ producer.
Anyway as many may know and have experienced sex may lead to love as especially Adam feels emotional attachment, as little lady Emma feels she is to much of a traditional girl to go without a string, so the passions cool off.Only after both want love especially more so Emma the film's supporting female characters shine more as love proves it finds people unexpectedly and at the least expected times.
No Strings Attached provide good turns from Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman in this rom-com.
Just watched this romantic comedy starring Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher with my movie theatre-working friend at the place where he works.
I'll just say this was a funny and touching rom-com with plenty of good scenes and lines from the two leads and many of the supporting players like that of Kevin Kline as Kutcher's dad, Lake Bell (who I initially thought was Amanda Peet) as Ashton's production associate, and "The Office"s Mindy Kaling as one of Ms. Portman's roommates, among others.
Considering that neither Natalie Portman nor Ashton Kutcher have done anything remotely funny, and Ivan Reitman hasn't directed anything great since Kindergarden Cop, I wonder what it is that gave me hope that No Strings Attached could be any good.
In short a relationship with no strings attached.Of course Kutcher realises that he is actually falling for Portman and wants something more in their relationship.The film wants to be a raunchy, ribald black comedy.
While she and Kutcher share some delightful chemistry, being first of all good lookers is almost the requisite in any romantic film, the casting of the two who have such a difference in height also made it as passing jibes in the film, while you can't help but to notice some distracting camera angles being employed to make the difference none too jarring so that they can share the same frame, or perhaps Portman could have been standing on a soapbox.Like one character said, we don't choose who we fall in love with, and we just do.
The movie may be on a journey to an obvious destination but at least it does a reasonably decent job of entertaining you along the way.Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman play the couple in question, Adam and Emma.
Surprisingly directed by Ivan Reitman (Up in the Air, Ghostbusters) and starring the aforementioned Ashton Kutcher (Dude, Where's My Car?, That 70s Show) and Natalie Portman (seriously, what is she doing in this movie?!
So throw Ashton and Demi's phone number away and sign on for "Black Swan 2" before it's too late.Signed, The dwindling number of fans you have left.Natalie Portman, is a really great actress and makes the most out of this poorly written character (one of the only reasons to see this movie), but if the movie is not very good then who cares how well she did, really.
Together, the two of them create a system for themselves to use each other for sex at any time, until one of them falls for each other.I wanted to like No Strings Attached more than I actually did.
especially LA and Plug it into the Mind who created animal house such a long time ago, this is what you get...If you can't feel comfortable with sex and drugs in comedy, you won't like this movie.
If you can't make an individual movie, if you have no new ideas, if you are going to totally set bases on previous love-comedies and make a very bad, very improvised film, then just don't try it at the first place: "No strings attached" is the case for all things mentioned above.
This is a very, very handy movie.You may want to see this film because it's new, and the female face of the year -Natalie Portman- is the star alongside Ashton Kutcher (who, incidentally, probably was the only decent thing around).
But will they hold up?Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman have good chemistry, but there performances are pretty weak in the first half, but they get better a little has it goes on.
Apparently, this is a romantic-comedy about two acquaintances deciding to engage in a sexual relationship sans emotions, and not a how-to on proper tampon remove.After discovering his father is dating his ex, Adam (Ashton Kutcher) goes into a spiral.While corkscrewing his way to the bottom, he's reintroduced to a childhood crush, Emma (Natalie Portman).Unwilling to date, Emma does agree to become his bed buddy – insisting that they call it off once one of them develops feelings for the other.Needles to say, it's not long until one reneges on their promise.What might have been a sardonic statement on a seedy sexual scenario is instead a flatlinning facsimile of every other cliché-ridden rom-com.Besides, there is more to relationships than just sex - there are also the loud arguments.
Even though i didn't felt bore watching this movie, thanks to the screen presence of Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher and also pretty good direction by Ivan Reitman.
I rented this movie from Netflix mostly out of boredom and thought it would be something different And yes this film was so different that it has moments that were just too much information I know it's a romantic comedy but come on they could be thinking of other ideas when it comes to the plot and jokesIt just makes one wonder that because this film easily could rank up there as one of the most Bizarre movies ever made But the film did have some comedy bits that prove to be funny and I had to replay the scene again because it was that funnySurprising cast for this film it makes you wonder how they have gotten them to start in this comedy filmNow this film don't feature the best original story but they did try to make it interesting with the two protagonistsIt also do not have the best acting I ever seen but again most movies like this you wouldn't expect it to be reward winningOverall my best advice is that it's more of A movie to be rented than to own I give No String Attached 7 out of 10.
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'.
There is nothing innovating or new to be seen or experienced throughout the course of this movie, and that makes the movie experience less than adequate.The story in "No Strings Attached" is as oh-so-many other romantic comedies; a guy and a girl from two very different aspects of life come together and find love.
However, there wasn't really much working chemistry between Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher on the screen, and it didn't work all that well in favor of the movie.
However, her huge talent is absolutely wasted in No Strings Attached, because her character is poorly written and Kutcher's performance is so bad that she does not have the opportunity to have good chemistry with him.In conclusion, No Strings Attached is a horrible film which does not deserve even the slightest recommendation and which made me feel like wasting my time.
Even the freshness attached to it, comes up as a sorta relief.'No Strings Attached' stars Natalie Portman & Ashton Kutcher, as two friends who end up having sex one morning and begin to worry about their friendship being ruined.
No Strings Attached is an awful movie with a cliché romantic comedy storyline that's been done many times before.Sadly this movie had a great cast and a legendary comedy director (Ivan Reitman) attached,but they didn't get a great script to work with so all this combined talent was sadly put to waste,There was great chemistry between Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher,but it wasn't enough to make up for the fact that none of the characters are very likable and the movie is simply not funny.It dosen't contain enough humour for the man to enjoy,or an interesting romance for the woman to enjoy,I would not recommend No Strings Attached to anyone.
This movie stars Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher in a modern day love story.
Predictable enough but still the kind of story of a romantic comedy that will keep you entertained.The acting was perfectly good and Kutcher and Portman have good chemistry, joined by some other cast members who do a good job.The humour was pretty well timed and there are some good parts that should give you a laugh if you're feeling up for it.Overall, 6/10 for some odd humour that I got a kick out of and the the charming dynamic between the two leads.
It doesn't take a genius to find out that Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman wind up together at the end of the film.
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.
One of the most hum drum movies ever produced No Strings Attached is a lackluster comedy that plods along to its very predictable ending.The story revolves around the friendship with benefits between Adam(Ashton Kutcher) and Emma(Natalie Portman).
Two friends, Emma (Natalie Portman) and Adam (Ashton Kutcher) become sex-buddies.
While Kutcher does what he knows to do best, goofing around and run after girls, talk to the phone or eat a stake, Natalie Portman is too good for a movie like this.