Friends with Benefits puts a witty, self-reflexive exclamation point on this summer's triumvirate of surprisingly successful comedies (Bridesmaids and Horrible Bosses were its funny forebears). It is also the second leg of 2011's casual sex double-feature, arriving just 5 months in the wake of No Strings Attached, and it is now safe to say that the post-modern coupling strategy of emotionless sex and its subsequent pitfalls has been suitably mined for the time being. But No Strings was essentially a standard-order milquetoast rom-com that flirted with interesting ideas and threw in some raunchy humor for good measure; Friends with Benefits is at once a charming romance and a pointed satire on charming romances, a movie that relentlessly skewers the conventions of the mythic Hollywood love story while still proudly embracing them. It's quite comforting to know that the filmmakers understand just how ridiculous the trappings of conventional romantic comedies are...and kinda fun to see that they will still brazenly cling to those trappings because, hey, it's a movie. And movies can be silly and wacky and fun.
Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis headline the film, and no other romantic pairing will likely come close to achieving the kind of natural, flawless chemistry that these two actors create here. There is something magnetic to the goofy energy that is generated the instant Dylan (Timberlake) locks eyes with Jamie (Kunis) in the airport terminal where they meet cute at the start of the film. He is a master of New Media who has turned an upstart LA blog into one of the most popular destinations on the web; she is the NY Head Hunter who recruits him to take over as Creative Director for GQ magazine. Both have just been dumped by their significant others (played in genius cameos by Emma Stone and Andy Samberg), and they bond over their disdain for relationships while taking a movie-rific tour of NYC.
Thus, the movie's central conceit is set in motion. Two wounded souls decide to engage in an emotionless, no-strings sexual relationship, and swear on an iPad Bible app to not let the sex interfere with their quickly budding friendship. The plot unfolds from there, and it gets a little more complicated than it needs to, though it's for the noble purpose of providing an emotional understanding of how these characters became so fearful of love and commitment. But this is not a movie about plot -- it is a movie driven entirely by charm and character, courtesy of a cast and filmmakers just as interested in poking holes in the fabric of the romantic myth as they are in crafting a romantic myth.
The man weaving these elements together is Will Gluck, a longtime TV writer and producer who came into feature directing just two years ago, and who announced himself as a unique purveyor of kitsch and satire with last year's shockingly intelligent Easy A. Here the director continues down a path of bulldozing the traditions of by-the-numbers comedies and then adding another layer of meta-commentary by employing those very traditions. Friends with Benefits takes aim at the insipid emotion and random use of pop songs in shallow romantic comedies and frequently touches on the contradictory frustrations of supposedly slick technology with throwaway jokes about iPads, cell phones, and viral web media. It also puts its own spin on the use of zany sidekick characters, giving free rein to Patricia Clarkson (as Jamie's flaky mother) and Woody Harrelson (as Dylan's rambunctiously gay colleague) to essentially run about the set doing and saying whatever they want, mining comic gold with every successive pun. Clarkson in particular puts a spin on a familiar phrase that is so ingeniously funny that she should be credited in slang dictionaries the world over.
Gluck himself is an interesting case. He can't shoot adequate coverage to properly edit a dialogue sequence, but he has an undeniable knack for honing wonderful characters and building hilarious moments. His script essentially consists of concept only, and yet the unique charm he injects into the material makes the story more engaging than most traditional romantic comedies. Gluck's movies are dripping with clever wit and unabashed charm, and it is a construct he has clearly mastered. Perhaps the novelty will wear off in subsequent iterations of the same tone and style, but right now, his is the voice most comic directors will soon be mimicking, and Friends with Benefits is another surprisingly wonderful expression of that voice.
