"No Strings Attached"

Okay, I'll make one thing perfectly clear: I'm not a fan of rom-coms. In fact, if there's a rom-com in town, I do my best to avoid it. I don't like rom-coms that much, because I just don't find them interesting.

And yet, I can't help but take a look at this movie. I mean, come on, it's got Natalie Portman in it! It's not like her next project would be as great and awesome as Black Swan was, but still, she'll be one of the bright points of the movie, right?

Of course. Let's go into today's movie...

No Strings Attached

Emma (Natalie Portman) is acquaintances with Adam (Ashton Kutcher). After a whole series of personal incidents for Adam, the two of them decide to become friends with benefits. After they decide on this, however, things begin to get complicated between the two of them, and they begin to realize that hey, they may be in love with each other!

So yeah, I think we all know how this goes, and why I might not be interested. It's a rom-com: standard rom-com formula dictates that Emma and Adam have to be together by the time the movie ends. So any real tension the movie has sort of evaporates when we have to deal with the predictable plot. It doesn't help that the movie drags at a particular spot once we hit the third act. The pacing gets painfully slow once we hit that third act, where the mandatory apart time occurs. Yeah, yeah, formula...

Fortunately for us, though, there's enough good about this movie that it avoids becoming dull and repetitive. For one, the jokes, while oftentimes rather dirty and in mildly poor taste, all work reasonably well. Some were even hilarious, and there were fortunately enough of them that we could get interested. And yes, they all worked when they were in bad taste.

As well, Portman and Kutcher keep things light in the air throughout. There is definite chemistry between the two even if Kutcher is a little bland in some spots, but when they're both on screen they tend to sizzle rather brightly. So the two leads keep things interesting as well, and by the time we reach the noticeable slump, we actually do care a little bit.

Say what you will about the rom-com formula and this movie, but No Strings Attached manages to be funny and feature some great bits between Portman and Kutcher. Is it perfect? No. But it's not a bad rom-com either.

And that's saying something, right?

2.5/4

If you want to go see it, go see it. If you don't want to go see it, don't.

This is Herr Wozzeck Reviews. I'll see you guys next time.