NMR: No Strings Attached

This was better than I expected it to be thanks primarily to the breezy chemistry between Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman. Kutcher, by no means a master thespian, knows his limits and plays to his strengths here, while Portman seems to be having a lot of fun being in lighter fare after spending most of her time in more serious films recently. Their chemistry makes the predictable storyline palatable. What was disappointing here and what hurts the movie is the weak group of friends that they cast around the two leads. The majority of the them come off as weak leftovers from a Judd Apatow film. Their purpose in the film is to provide some laughs as they remark on the silly predicament that the leads are in, but they were unable to muster more than a smile out of me. The one exception is Kevin Kline who plays Kutcher's randy dad. He naturally gives it all and I wish there had been more scenes involving him. There have certainly been far worse romantic comedies that have been released recently, so if you're doing the whole date night thing this will probably suffice and have enough to make both parties happy. What will be interesting is how this compares to the other 'f*** buddies' movie coming out next month, Friends With Benefits starring Kutcher's friend Justin Timberlake and Portman's Black Swan co-star Mila Kunis. Rating: *** 1/2