Jason KingNo Strings Attached (8/10)
February 10th 2011 22:51
:
Awesome Valentine's Day Film
Category: Reviews
It really helps your mood when you watch a film with its target audience. I had already written this film off as Valentine's Day standard chick flick romcom. It had Ashton Kutcher, who has been trying really hard to be called Hugh Grant but then it had Natalie Portman - who after her superb turn in BLACK SWAN has climbed the Salty Ladder or awesomeness. I took my two bitches, Rosie and Dinx to this one and we had a ball. Poor Rosie suffering from chronic back pain hardly moved from her sitting position with support pillows in the cinema and stifled her giggles - where as Dinx and me did not hold back - it was hysteria - and I even had one of those giggle fits in a film where one comment just kept me laughing non stop. Kevin Kline on drugs in a hospital mentioning how he is considering killing the cutest dog possible - it just set me off and just made me laugh again - I love you Kevin Kline!!
No Strings Attached is a Valentine's Day chick flick romcom but it's a damn good one and it had me belly laughing and in some scenes crying at the humour, some of which is on par with the toilet tongue in cheek style of things like the Hangover. It is all about insane politically incorrect humour that is there to offend and steps over the line of where you shouldn't go and THIS is what makes it so funny.
In this comedy, Emma (Natalie Portman) and Adam (Ashton Kutcher) are life-long friends who almost ruin everything by having sex one morning. In order to protect their friendship, they make a pact to keep their relationship strictly "no strings attached." "No strings" means no jealousy, no expectations, no fighting, no flowers, no baby voices. It means they can do whatever they want, whenever they want, in whatever public place they want, as long as they don't fall in love. The question becomes- who's going to fall first? And can their friendship survive?
The general plot is perfectly predictable and you know exactly what is going to happen - but it is those scenes with stand out actors and brilliant support acting that make this all worthwhile - it also helped having Ivan Reitman directing. He has done the works and is Hollywood royalty - think of things like Ghostbusters, Kindergarten Cop, Up in the Air, Twins, Junior, Animal House and many many more. He handles this one well and keeps it casual and relaxed and damn funny.
Ashton Kutcher is home in this film and while he is great in the role he is not taking any risks - always the romcom - YOU ARE NOT HUGH GRANT SO MOVE ON. He is also becoming a lot like his costar in last years hideous Valentines film KILLERS with Katherine Heigl. But thank god this one is good and hysterical. I did notice though that Ashton looks like he has been hiding from the sun and has skipped a few gym sessions - looking a bit pasty Ashton tut tut - but still HOT!!!! This style of film is a walk in the park for him - the humour and romance is easy and having Portman to act with lifted his game a bit.
And this brings us to Portman, she must have loved letting loose and having some insane fun after the stress of Black Swan - she is amazing in this as she always is. She can do comedy and she does have timing but in this one - I could see her acting in a few scenes and while you can buy the romance in their love and relationship it is lacking in chemistry. I thought they made a great couple but Rosie said there was limited chemistry and the more I thought about the more I had to agree. In a few scenes she actually comes across as scared of what she is doing but being such a pro she hides it well and it is good seeing her being the insane girlfriend. The first scene where they have sex is just wrong - he is massively hungover and would have been smelling like a beer tap drip tray the morning after and yet she just jumps him - I would have been "oh please shower and wash your teeth first" LOL.
The support cast in this film is insanely awesome - Kevin Kline of course needed to be in it more but he plays Ashton's character's father who was a famous TV star of old and has too much money and sleeps with anything and smokes a shitload of pot
Brilliant. Then my fave standout was Lake Bell (best known for What Happens in Vegas, It's Complicated) - she is just hysterical playing this loopy neurotic who works with Ashton - I just loved loved loved her!! Greta Gerwig was also great as flatmate to Portman's character - she is so familiar but cannot work out from IMDB where the hell I know her from - do not recognise any of her films.
The film has some amazing scenes that will have you crying - what they do when all the girls living in the same house have their periods together is just hysterical - Ashton making a period mix cd for Portman had me choking and the songs he selected - PURE GOLD!!!
The film released yesterday and this is by far the best film to watch with your partner this Valentine's day!! It is one of the better romcoms out in a long while on a list filled with a lot of mediocrity. Worth 8 out of 10.
No Strings Attached is a Valentine's Day chick flick romcom but it's a damn good one and it had me belly laughing and in some scenes crying at the humour, some of which is on par with the toilet tongue in cheek style of things like the Hangover. It is all about insane politically incorrect humour that is there to offend and steps over the line of where you shouldn't go and THIS is what makes it so funny.
In this comedy, Emma (Natalie Portman) and Adam (Ashton Kutcher) are life-long friends who almost ruin everything by having sex one morning. In order to protect their friendship, they make a pact to keep their relationship strictly "no strings attached." "No strings" means no jealousy, no expectations, no fighting, no flowers, no baby voices. It means they can do whatever they want, whenever they want, in whatever public place they want, as long as they don't fall in love. The question becomes- who's going to fall first? And can their friendship survive?
The general plot is perfectly predictable and you know exactly what is going to happen - but it is those scenes with stand out actors and brilliant support acting that make this all worthwhile - it also helped having Ivan Reitman directing. He has done the works and is Hollywood royalty - think of things like Ghostbusters, Kindergarten Cop, Up in the Air, Twins, Junior, Animal House and many many more. He handles this one well and keeps it casual and relaxed and damn funny.
Ashton Kutcher is home in this film and while he is great in the role he is not taking any risks - always the romcom - YOU ARE NOT HUGH GRANT SO MOVE ON. He is also becoming a lot like his costar in last years hideous Valentines film KILLERS with Katherine Heigl. But thank god this one is good and hysterical. I did notice though that Ashton looks like he has been hiding from the sun and has skipped a few gym sessions - looking a bit pasty Ashton tut tut - but still HOT!!!! This style of film is a walk in the park for him - the humour and romance is easy and having Portman to act with lifted his game a bit.
And this brings us to Portman, she must have loved letting loose and having some insane fun after the stress of Black Swan - she is amazing in this as she always is. She can do comedy and she does have timing but in this one - I could see her acting in a few scenes and while you can buy the romance in their love and relationship it is lacking in chemistry. I thought they made a great couple but Rosie said there was limited chemistry and the more I thought about the more I had to agree. In a few scenes she actually comes across as scared of what she is doing but being such a pro she hides it well and it is good seeing her being the insane girlfriend. The first scene where they have sex is just wrong - he is massively hungover and would have been smelling like a beer tap drip tray the morning after and yet she just jumps him - I would have been "oh please shower and wash your teeth first" LOL.
The support cast in this film is insanely awesome - Kevin Kline of course needed to be in it more but he plays Ashton's character's father who was a famous TV star of old and has too much money and sleeps with anything and smokes a shitload of pot
Brilliant. Then my fave standout was Lake Bell (best known for What Happens in Vegas, It's Complicated) - she is just hysterical playing this loopy neurotic who works with Ashton - I just loved loved loved her!! Greta Gerwig was also great as flatmate to Portman's character - she is so familiar but cannot work out from IMDB where the hell I know her from - do not recognise any of her films.
The film has some amazing scenes that will have you crying - what they do when all the girls living in the same house have their periods together is just hysterical - Ashton making a period mix cd for Portman had me choking and the songs he selected - PURE GOLD!!!
The film released yesterday and this is by far the best film to watch with your partner this Valentine's day!! It is one of the better romcoms out in a long while on a list filled with a lot of mediocrity. Worth 8 out of 10.
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