Escape to the Movies: No Strings Attached

[Wolfram23]

Man... Natalie Portman... I'd **** the **** out of her. She's super sexy. She was awesome in Black Swan, and then there's this, and then there's Your Highness where she looks great again and I'm sure that movie will be absolutely hilarious if the trailers are any indication (usually they're not...)

Anyway totally going to take my gf to this one.

 

[K_Dub]

Color me shocked. I mean, it's still a rom-com, so I don't plan on paying any more than $2 to see this if I do decide to watch it. But still. A decent rom-com. Who'd a thunk it?

 

[chibivash]

bob spent the first half building up that rom-coms sucked. i was waiting for him to go for the jugular on this one. surprised it never came. oh, could be fun.

 

[Dublin Solo]

Isn't that movie some kind of remake of "When Harry met Sally"?

How is that subject new to anyone in Hollywood?

I don't get it.

 

[kerokline]

I don't know Bob, I'm all for casual sex, but I know that I couldn't do it myself. In my less humble moments, I might even believe that no one can successfully pull off such a feat. Which is why I (usually) forgive Hollywood for that particular trope.

And I do sympathize with not liking RomComs in general. I haven't seen the movie (yet, I want to), so maybe your complaint is about a poorly executed plot point and not the plot per se, but there is more to human sexuality than is dreamt of in your philosophies.

None of which is to slight your review, of course. I wouldn't keep watching if you didn't make me think

 

[Greenshoes]

You are right Moviebob, Evolution was a good time.

 

[Jetsetneo]

I'm pretty much gonna agree with Bob about the entire thing. Everything he said I also knew/could guess. Except down to his thumbs up for the movie. I'm just sayin it seems like Bob spent the entire show showing us why and how things like this are canned for mass production in Hollywood, gives reasoning for why it, quite frankly, sucks, and then gives it a pass? Just seems contradictory to me.

I've made my mind up about this movie and similar ones before (pass, only daring to go see it if the Gf absolutely has to). So ultimately this review has little to no impact on me, but I feel I'm a bit disappointed in Bob's review itself, or maybe Bob himself, I don't know I'm trying not to get personal here.

 

[CronoT]

Yeah, I tend to avoid Romantic Comedies for the very reasons that Bob mentioned. The only ones that I bother to watch these days are ones where I like the actors. Aston Kutcher is very indifferent to me, and Natalie Portman is about the same. Portman was good in the Star Wars Prequels, but everything else after that was 'Meh...' to me.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Evolution? Underappreciated?

That movie along with all the actors involved (except Dan Aykroyd and Julianne Moore) should be shot into the blimming sun.

 

[fnartilter]

Is Ultraman shooting lightning from his nipples? 'Cause that is way cool!

On another note, I don't hate Ashton Kushner; I just don't connect with him in any way or form.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Couldn;t it be said, as per the dialogue Adaptation, that a plot without conflict is boring as shite?

So wouldn't a movie based solely on two people being FWBs also be boring as shite due to no clashing of some kind?

Of course you could spice it up about a movie that starts of with a pair of FWBs and half way through the fil;m one of the pair loses it because he/she becomes emotionally attached to the point of psychoticism and it becomes a psychological thriller as he/she gos insane and starts hunting the other person down.

There you go ... non-liberal and not just a boring film about two people having romantic-less sex o.o

 

[stranamente]

Those costumes are ugly...ful.. I mean... bleah... And how am I supposed to forget Rebecca Romijn?
Not going to see that...

 

[Necromancer1991]

Thank you for the Glenn Beck joke, that made my day , anyway sounds like your average crappy Ashton "I'm only popular because I look nice" Kutcher movie. Yes I am aware of his few good movies, but than again if I have a good script I could cast 2x4s and still get a decent performance.

 

[Scrythe]

I just witnessed someone give Ashton Kutcher a compliment. I feel itchy now. Real itchy.

 

[comadorcrack]

YEAH! Evolution was freaking awesome!! And I actually kinda like Ashton Kutcher... Mostly cos of That 70's show and Dude where's my car... but still....

 

[walsfeo]

Not exactly the kind of movie I come here to see reviewed. Didn't you do a romcom within the past month or two? Did you get, or are you looking for, a girlfriend or something?

Sure, you did a good job with it, but there wasn't much passion or excitement. I much prefer when you place movies in their historical perspective, and then tell us why the suck or rule. In short, this review wasn't awful, but wasn't anything special either.

 

[jumjalalabash]

Anyone else get a total sense of deju vu when Bob was explaining the general idea of the movie...

 

[tautologico]

Isn't that movie some kind of remake of "When Harry met Sally"?

How is that subject new to anyone in Hollywood?

I don't get it.

When Harry met Sally wasn't about Friends With Benefits. It was about "can a man and a woman be just friends?" or something like it. Harry and Sally hook up just once during the middle of the movie (one time she's vulnerable), but then they consider it a mistake, and things get awkward for a while. They get together for real in the end, as a couple. The idea of FWB is not even remotely suggested in the movie.

 

[Frankydee]

Good stuff, I recall Evolution, no one seemed to like it but me for some reason.

Also I don't think I got the memo about having to hate This Ashton guy. I got the more recent one about that douchebag from the Twilight movies but hell I can't even remember his name.

Shows how much I pay attention.

 

[maninahat]

The best kind of review; you play your cards on the table, you acknowledge who this movie is for, and you explain the movie in a way that alienates no one, regardless of whether they like this sort of movie or not. Pretty useful review.

My only issue is the final part, in which you describe Portman's character as an unusual inversion of the kooky guy, straight faced girl.

So Portman plays a manic pixie dream girl eh? Hasn't she done that before? Hasn't lots of romances done the same thing before? It doesn't sound that innovative when you consider a character like that has appears in nearly every other rom com ever since the brilliant Bringing Up Baby (who hadn't invented the idea, either). It isn't a bad thing, but I don't see how it is anything worth mentioning.