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.
