Movie Moment: Friends With Benefits

Like many moviegoers, when I heard about the romantic comedy Friends with Benefits, I thought, hey, didn't Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher already make that movie?

Well, sort of.

Like No Strings Attached, Friends with Benefits stars a tough cookie heroine (Mila Kunis) with a guarded gooey center. Yet Kunis's Jamie is edgier and more vulnerable than Portman's Emma, making for a more compelling and likable character. Likewise, Justin Timberlake's Dylan trumps Kutcher's Adam. Whereas Adam is eager to be Emma's prince charming from the get-go, Dylan doesn't really know what he wants, which makes him more believable. Although he's a little steamrolled by the more dominant Jamie, he's a worthy opponent, chipping away at her crusty shell until they both end up on equal footing. But what truly makes Friends with Benefits the better movie is that it's really about two friends instead of two near-strangers who just happened to have sex. Kunis and Timberlake have an easy chemistry that cuts through the dating game motions they so cynically mock. Indeed, they first hook up after rolling their eyes at a sappy romance starring Jason Segal and Rashida Jones (which, by the way, was funny to watch given Segal's and Jones's animosity toward each other in I Love You Man). It gives you that whole what-if-two-friends-watching-movies-on-the-couch-just-went-for-it? element that was missing in No Strings Attached.

Stuff to watch for: 1) a cameo by Shaun White as himself and 2) Richard Jenkins as Timberlake's father with Alzheimer's. I know, I know, what's something so serious doing in a romantic comedy? But it works.

Friends with Benefits is fun and, dare I say, poignant without being cheesy. At the end, I left the theater happy.

Movie Moment: No Strings Attached

I've long thought that it's easy to think a movie's good when you see it in the theater. By sheer default, the state of "being out" has you in its thrall. Renting a movie, on the other hand, is a much different kettle of fish. Whatever you're watching needs to be compelling enough to prevent you from getting a snack, going to the bathroom, reading a magazine, crafting, painting your nails, balancing your checkbook, or - horror of horrors --falling asleep (an offense of which I've been repeatedly guilty). All of these interruptions chip away at the movie-watching experience, breaking the theater spell we take for granted and reducing many flicks to mere plot points (ie, romantic comedy: boy meets girl, boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl back; action flick: the bad guys are out to get the good guys and lots of stuff blows up).

I had a chance to put this theory into practice recently when I rented No Strings Attached. You know the premise. Natalie Portman (Emma) and Ashton Kutcher (Adam) play friends with benefits only to find out that getting physical outside the confines of a relationship is harder than it seems. It was cute, enjoyable, and a little crude in places - in short, all the things you'd expect. Even so, one major element was missing: the two were never really friends in the first place, more like acquaintances who've met a handful of times. So, their decision to sleep together just for the heck of it is more like a well-thought-out one-night stand that segues into an "arrangement" than a groundbreaking turning point in a close platonic relationship. Although the movie was entertaining, I think it would've been more interesting had the two been watching TV together on the sofa every night for years only to have an "incident" break the pattern.

Given my opening ramblings, the added bonuses of movie theater popcorn and surround sound might have done the trick too. Then again, I also rented Cedar Rapids last week, a movie so bad no quantity of concession stand treats could sweeten its stench. So maybe I'm just full of nonsense.

Movie Moment: The Fighter

Last Saturday the bf and I landed at the movies after having been out all day. We hadn't checked the show times beforehand (a circumstance alien to my unspontaneous soul) and were at the mercy of whatever was playing. We turned out to be just in time for The Fighter, which we were both interested in seeing. (The bf breathed a sigh of relief when I announced that we were an hour too early for No Strings Attached.)

You probably know all about the plot of The Fighter because it's been out a while and is nominated for several Academy Awards. America loves an underdog, and this based-on-a-true-story account of Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg), a working class down-on-his-luck boxer weighed down by his overbearing manager mother (Melissa Leo), once-legendary-boxer-turned crack-addict brother (Christian Bale), and his own perceived limitations, delivers. Enter the love of a good woman (Amy Adams), and Micky's world explodes, forcing him to question his family and himself, ultimately reconciling what's best about each to triumph over his most fearsome opponents.

The movie was dark and gritty, qualities that usually put me ill at ease. This time was no different, and at first I didn't like it. But by the second half, I'd changed my mind. It's a hard-hearted viewer who doesn't end up rooting for Micky.

Given my preference for lighter fare, I don't see too many Oscar-nominated movies and end up feeling left out watching the big ceremony. So, I was glad to have witnessed Melissa Leo's and Christian Bale's performances. (They're favored to win for Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor, respectively.) Both were outstanding, Melissa Leo as a chain-smoking, hard-bitten lioness viciously protective of her cubs, and Christian Bale as a tortured, talented, and desperate fallen hero.

Maybe I should watch gritty movies more often.