No Strings Attached (2011)

Directed by: Ivan Reitman | 108 minutes | comedy, romance | Actors: Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher, Cary Elwes, Lake Bell, Kevin Kline, Olivia Thirlby, Talia Balsam, Mindy Kaling, Greta Gerwig, Ophelia Lovibond, Phil LaMarr, Adhir Kalyan, Stefanie Scott, Rachael Markarian, Jake M. Johnson, Brian H. Dierker, Ben Lawson, Mollee Gray, Matthew Moy, Tom Tangen, Natalie Vindivich, Vedette Lim

Ashton Kutcher hasn’t actually played nicer roles since his early days as Michael Kelso on ‘That 70’s Show’. The now thirty-something has since been cast in dozens of romantic comedies as a fresh, wise-cracking pretty boy and love interest of female opponents. Natalie Portman has taken a completely different path and just before the release of ‘No Strings Attached’ has received all the accolades for her heavy but impressive role in ‘Black Swan’. There are serious doubts for both actors: has Kutcher not shown enough of the same and has he not already passed his momentum a bit? And isn’t Portman in turn too inexperienced in this genre to act seemingly effortlessly and lightly as befits a romantic Hollywood comedy? The reactions have been generally positive: the two are said to convey a rousing chemistry on the silver screen, despite their different backgrounds, the main ingredient for any romantic comedy. It can indeed be seen that the two are well attuned to each other, he remains charming despite his well-known trick and she is more clever than expected in a nice way.

The chemistry between the two protagonists can hardly make up for the fact that the film actually has nothing to do with content. The few jokes that are made can all be seen in the trailers and can therefore be summarized in three minutes. Moreover, every humorous moment is based on a faint prejudice. Two gays for a father? They dance like complete morons. A Negro in the group of friends? It’s cool and funny. Women? They all have their periods at the same time and then lie on the couch like terminally ill eating chocolate. Or are heartbroken and stuff themselves with donuts. Men? They do it with everyone (but are actually desperate for ‘the one’). And to supplement this arsenal of bland clichés, and to guarantee ratings by getting the script R-rated, a handful of gross sex and drug jokes have been added. There is a lot of talk about ‘fuck’, a few times ‘licking it off’ and someone is in the hospital after an ‘overdose of cough syrup’ . This vulgarity has recently been seen more often in romantic comedies, which apparently can no longer rely on charm or witty characters who don’t just talk about sex.

The trailer and the synopsis of the film promise that this is about ‘best friends’, who decide to become completely free sex buddies: so no strings attached. In the film, however, it turns out that it concerns two people who once saw each other once before, at summer camp, meet again years later and then go to bed together. Go to bed together very often. Not very interesting so far. What comes next you can predict with your eyes closed: they want each other, they don’t want each other, and in the end they want each other anyway. That’s the way every Hollywood romantic comedy works. Nothing wrong with that, provided this formula is decorated with some originality. There is nothing wrong with flatness in itself, as long as it serves the humorous level and is not only used to generate attention through a 12+ approval. All in all, a thirteen in a dozen film that will bring the fans exactly what they expect but otherwise – literally and figuratively – has little to do with it.