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Friends with Benefits starring Justin Timberlake & Mila Kunis

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Friends-with-Benefits-movie-poster-(2011)
Friends with Benefits movie poster via posters555.com

 

Premise

Jamie (Mila Kunis) is a successful executive recruiter from New York. Dylan (Justin Timberlake) is a successful blog’s art director from LA. When GQ wants an art director, Jamie knows that Dylan is the guy. When he comes to New York, she dazzles him with the city and he can’t say no to such a terrific job offer.

Being new to New York, and seeing how fun Jamie is, Dylan wants to keep hanging out with her. But because they were both recently dumped (Jamie for being too romantic, and Dylan for not being emotionally available), they opt for being really good friends instead of trying to date. And then when they both miss dating and sex, they come up with the idea of having sex, as friends.

Friends with Benefits- Mila Kunis with Justin Timberlake

They think they figured out how to prevent all awkwardness, and for a while, they do have a great time as friends with benefits. Their friendship even survives the attempts of dating others. But real problems start when they will have to face that they might mean a little more to each other than just friends who hang around a lot…

 

Why should you see this movie?

  • Friends with Benefits is a lot of fun! I never thought I’d laugh at a Justin Timberlake movie so much. I always thought I could only handle him in small dozes (like in The Social Network).

 

Well, I’ve got to hand it to him- he made a great couple with Mila Kunis: they were both hilarious, entertaining, sweet and entirely likeable.

 

  • This romantic comedy has the right combo: 70%comedy, 30% romance.

 

  • It makes fun of romantic comedy clichés, but it is smart enough to abide by the clichés the romcom audience wants, especially our happy ending.

 

  • The supporting cast has Jenna Elfman (our very own Dharma from Dharma and Greg) and Bryan Greenberg  (One Tree Hill, Prime) and Patricia Clarkson (Married Life, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Cairo Time).

 

 

  • There are cameos by Emma Stone and Andy Samberg- they are the ones who dump Timberlake and Kunis in the beginning of the movie.

 

  • Kunis’ Jamie is a big romantic comedy fan, and her favorite movie is the fake movie starring Jason Segel and Rashida Jones. And Rashida Jones, Jason Segel and Any Samberg did star in an actual romantic comedy (well, a bromance) together called I Love You Man.

 

Segel also co-starred with Mila Kunis in the romcom Forgetting Sarah Marshall. She played the love interest and the movie was written by Segel.

 

  • Hawaii Five O’s nerdy medical examiner Masi Oka makes a cameo as a plane passenger sitting next to Timberlake’s Dylan.

 

  • It really is funny and romantic. And the sex scenes are hilarious.

 

Rated at 6.6 on IMDB. See it if you like your modern romantic comedies.

Friends with Benefits scene- Mila Kunis with Justin Timberlake
Friends with Benefits- Mila Kunis with Justin Timberlake. Image via moviecarpet.com

 

Entertainment References:

Poking fun at other romcoms and pop culture in general, the movie has some familiar references:

 

  • Dylan accuses Jamie of acting out a scene from Will and Grace, referring to the airport scene where they first meet. She’s on the conveyor belt, looking for the sign with Dylan’s name on it.

 

  • Dylan starts humming the Semisonic song Closing time when they are having sex for the first time. He insists the song belongs to 3rd Eye Blind, a popular 90s modern rock band that got a lot of radioplay during the same period as Semisonic. He later says that the lyrics are meaningful, and jokes about 3rd Eye Blind being poetic. In the end, he admits that the song is Semisonic’s.

 

3rd Eye Blind is the band that sang “Semi-Charmed Life”, How’s It Gonna Be” and “Jumper.”

 

  • Patricia Clarkson’s Lorna wants to have a mother-daughter getaway, and she says it will be just like a Nora Ephron movie. Nora Ephron is the screenwriter of the Meg Ryan movies You’ve Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle and When Harry Met Sally.

 

  • In the beginning of the movie, right after Jamie was dumped by her boyfriend (Andy Samberg), she is complaining about romcoms to her friend. They pass by the DVD poster for The Ugly Truth, a romantic comedy starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler. She shouts: “Shut up, Katherine Heigl, you stupid liar!

 

 

 

  • Before her boyfriend broke up with her, she was waiting for him to see Pretty Woman again. Pretty Woman stars Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, and is one of the most famous romantic comedies of all time.

 

 

  • Emma Stone starred in the 2010 comedy Easy A, directed by Friends with Benefits director Will Gluck. Her sexually liberal mother with a happy past was also played by Patricia Clarkson.

 

  • Both lead character say that they want to be like George Clooney after they are dumped.

Jamie says “I’m just gonna shut myself down emotionally. Like George Clooney.”

Dylan says “I just want to work and f***. Like George Clooney.”

 

Also on Mila Kunis

Forgetting Sarah Marshall starring Jason Segel, Mila Kunis, Russell Brand & Kristen Bell

The Black Swan starring Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis & Vincent Cassel

 

Also on Justin Timberlake

The Social Network starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield & Justin Timberlake

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Easy A starring Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Thomas Haden Church & Dan Byrd

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Easy A starring Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Dan Byrd & Thomas Haden Church
Easy A starring Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Dan Byrd & Thomas Haden Church. Featuring Lisa Kudrow, Cam Gigandet, Stanley Tucci, Patricia Clarkson & Malcolm McDowell. Image via sinemag.com

Easy A is easily one of the best movies set in a high school. It is original, totally fesses up the clichés it uses and rubs its nose in it – while making us laugh and smile the whole time. A bit like Gossip (minus the darkness and drama) combined with 10 Things I Hate About You, but it is its own movie. Here we go:

Olive (Emma Stone) is a pretty, smart and accomplished high school student but no one really seems to know who she is, apart from her best friend Rhiannon (Alyson Michalka), school’s hot mascot (Penn Badgdley) and her favorite teacher Mr. Griffith (Thomas Haden Church).

This all changes by one annoying coincidence when she lies to Rhi about losing her virginity. The school’s religion-obsessed Marianne (Amanda Bynes) hears it and the next thing, the whole school has spread, changed and “enriched” the story.  Not that Olive’s complaining, at least now everyone knows her name. But when she confesses the truth to school mate Brandon (Dan Byrd), he decides that he can do the same thing- spread a rumor and have a better high school life.

Brandon is gay and he asks Olive to say they slept together. When they fake it for the whole school, the rumor becomes that Olive’s slut. Rhi gets pissed Olive’s getting all the attention and Marianne is becoming more obsessed about making Olive find Jesus. Then a whole bunch of school boys ask for lies from Olive and Olive finds herself understanding what Hester went through in The Scarlet Letter…

The movie has a hilarious story, backed-up with great one-liners and an awesome cast. We have Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci for Olive’s sweet and unconventional parents, Thomas Haden-Church for the English teacher, Friends’ Phoebe Lisa Kudrow as the worst guidance counselor ever and Cam Gidanget as the oldest high school student. Of course the lead Emma Stone fits the role just fine. Amanda Bynes is annoying and funny as hell. And Penn Badgdley does look the part as the understated, good-looking guy who happens to be nice too…

Favorite Line:

Emma: I’m looking for the bible.

Bookstore Clerk: Oh, it is in the Bestsellers, right next to Twilight.

**

Fun notes:

Cam Gidanget, who plays Marianne’s boyfriend was actually in the first Twilight movie. He played the main villain.

Also on Patricia Clarkson:

Cairo Time starring Alexander Siddig & Patricia Clarkson.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona starring Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, Javier Bardem. Feat. Patricia Clarkson

Also on Stanley Tucci

It Could Happen to You starring Nicolas Cage, Bridget Fonda, Stanley Tucci and Rosie Perez

Billy Bathgate starring Dustin Hoffman & Nicole Kidman. Feat. Stanley Tucci

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Cairo Time starring Patricia Clarkson and Alexander Siddig

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Cairo Time starring Patricia Clarkson and Alexander Siddig
Cairo Time starring Patricia Clarkson and Alexander Siddig. Image from: http://www.reelworld.

Juliette (Patricia Clarkson) has two grown children that both left home. Her husband Mark (Tom McCamus) is working for the UN and they haven’t seen each other for a while. So while he is working in Gaza, Juliette flies to Cairo. The idea is to meet in Cairo is soon as Mark is done with his work. In the meantime, Mark has asked his old friend Tareq (Alexander Siddig) to take care of Juliette until he arrives.

Tareq used to work for UN with Mark and he is now retired, running a typical café in the city. While her first days are a little bit boring for Juliette (well, she gets bored most of the time when she’s not around Tareq, she realizes that the person she can get along with them most is Tareq. They both know a little about the other one’s culture and they are both intrigued and amused by it at the same time. Their relationship is a very sincere and naturally-progressing friendship. It is not long before they realize they have feelings for each other. But it is one thing being attracted to another person and it is another to act on it…After all, Juliette loves Mark and Tareq respects his friend…

This movie gives a lovely opportunity to explore Cairo- with its streets and cafes, restaurants and pyramids, the crowds and the dessert…It is a beautiful city. Watching this movie is incredibly serene and comforting experience. It might be the subtleness of the acting, the use of music and the setting or  the combination of all these, but I felt like I meditated afterwards. Yeah, this is a good thing.

While Tareq and Juliette got to know one another, walking through Cairo,I was reminded of Before Sunrise starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, and of course the lovely sequel Before Sunset. Of course in many ways, these movies are very different. In Before Sunrise, the characters are both young and single.  And there is also the fact that Celine and Jesse didn’t have time to be friends. They just had 24 hours together. Here, in Cairo Time, we do get a beautiful love story but the love here includes and starts from friendship. There is a bond and it is even stronger than the chemistry and attraction.

Now, obviously the movie is not everybody. The pace is really slow. Now, the pace works perfectly for the film but it might not be your thing to watch mainly two characters hang out. And if you are expecting explicit sex scenes (or sex scenes of any nature), you will be disappointed. This is not The English Patient. In fact, I’d say that this movie is safe even for a three-year-old. But with all the action and the nudity the movie world loves so much these days, it is nice to get something that is deep and has such an innocent level to it. I love my action and fast movies. But this movie is a very nice, escapist from all that. I am just warning you about what to expect and what not to.

Both Alexander Siddig and Patricia Clarkson are lovely together. And while Mark is essential to the story, he doesn’t have much screen time. But after hearing all about Mark throughout the movie, I think it is safe to say Tom McCamus fits the “hype”.

There is a big chance some things are exaggerated. So what? Relax and enjoy the experience. Written and directed by Ruba Nada. 8/10.

Cairo Time starring Patricia Clarkson and Alexander Siddig
Juliette (Patricia Clarkson) and Tareq (Alexander Siddig). Image from: http://www.cbc.ca/

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