No Strings Attached (2011)

Directed By: Ivan Reitman

Starring: Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher, Kevin Kline, Greta Gerwig, & Lake Bell

MPAA Rating: R

My Rating: 7 / 10

Would it be a stretch to say that the romantic comedy subgenre has been in a slump the last few years? Would anyone disagree with me? I didn't think so. It's no secret that somewhere between the vibrating pantie scene in The Ugly Truth and, well, everything in The Bounty Hunter, the romantic comedy has become a consistently unfunny, unlikable, and thoroughly unbearable affair. All of this coming from someone who thought Killers was actually pretty funny...so you know I'm not terribly hard to please when it comes to these movies. It's rare nowadays to see a romantic comedy that doesn't make me want to throw myself off the concession stand before the ends credits...and, let's face it, if you have seen a trailer for No Strings Attached, you were probably under the same assumption I was: it's just more of the same. But, I realized that I had yet to see a 2011 theatrical release and really needed to if this blog was going to retain any (rumored) relevance whatsoever. So, dodging the continued downfall of Nicholas Cage and Seth Rogen still trying to be funny, I decided that No Strings Attached was probably the least psychologically-scarring movie in theaters.

And, surprisingly, I actually dug it a lot. Is it a revolutionary romantic comedy? No. Are they going to end up together at the end? You know it. Does it follow the rom-com formula explicitly? Of course. But, I'm not concerned with any of those questions. After all, let's be real, if you've seen any movie with Meg Ryan in the last twenty years, you have practically seen every other romantic comedy as well. What separates No Strings Attached from, say, The Bounty Hunter (by far, one of the worst rom-coms in recent memory) is the execution. It has a great cast, it's actually really funny, and it feels genuine. Neither the relationship nor the inevitable problems it faces ever feel contrived. They actually spring from the well-developed characters, rather than a manipulative screenplay. No matter how cliched a movie might be, as long as we can truly believe what we are seeing on the screen, that is all that really matters. So, while No Strings Attached doesn't reinvent the wheel, it uses the already-established wheel better than just about every other recent romantic comedy.

While many people predicted that this would be the end of Natalie Portman's career hot streak started by Black Swan, that her run as an A-list actress would end from the first peck with Ashton Kutcher, No Strings Attached might very well be the film that solidifies her as the next big thing. Where so many other actresses (Katherine Heigl and Jennifer Aniston come to mind) haven't been able to churn out a truly successful rom-com in quite a while, with most of them giving critically-panned performances and never generating box-office clout, Portman swoops in and shows them all how it's done. Here, she's sympathetic, likable, and very witty...the complete opposite of the bitchy shrew that have become typical as rom-com heroines. We actually want her to have a happy ending, which makes the all-too-predictable conclusion actually satisfying. And to all of the die hard Ashton Kutcher haters out there (and there's plenty of them), you will all be sorely disappointed to find that Kutcher is a solid leading man when given the right script. This is perhaps his best performance since That 70's Show, and I hope he keeps taking good roles like this, rather than the subpar ones he's most known for. Pause: his next film is reportedly New Year's Eve, the sequel to the criminally-underwhelming Valentine's Day. I hope he reads this and takes my advice before signing the contract: Ashton, don't do it!

The question I always ask when watching and reviewing Hollywood's latest romantic comedy is simple: would a woman and her date enjoy it? If the answer is no, then I just can't recommend it. I know plenty of women who would swoon at the thought of Matthew McConaughey doing just about anything...give him roses and a box of chocolates and, suddenly, he's the second coming of Jesus (These same women think that Fool's Gold is, like, the best movie...like ever!). At the same time, their boyfriends practically want to dry heave at the mere thought of having to watch How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days one more time. The whole point of a "date movie" is for both people to enjoy it. No Strings Attached truly is one of the few recent ones that I believe both men and women will enjoy. The humor is witty and intelligent, the performances are good, the subject matter is decidedly adult (It earns its R-rating proudly.), and the film is gleefully free of excessive schmaltz or cheese. Yes, the ending, in which our happy couple predictably reunites, is a little groan-worthy...but I'm just thankful it didn't happen at an airport, as a plane to Paris takes off outside.