Distractions limit rom-com’s effectivity

KUNIS AND TIMBERLAKE. Erratic roller-coaster ride.

“Friends with Benefits” is an interestingly trendy film, because it identifies a new wrinkle in the times’ social and sexual fabric – friends who’ve had their hearts broken in the past and now rely on their best buddies of the opposite sex, not just for friendship and emotional support, but also for sex – without the emotions.

At first, that sounds like having the best of both and in fact all worlds! On second thought, however, it isn’t only highly improbable, but is a veritable contradiction that threatens to ruin friendships and even sours up the sex due to guilt.

Guilt

That’s what the characters played by Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake end up realizing in this sexy rom-com. The “benefits” can be yummy, but the guilt, the guilt – is a major bummer.

Talk about contradictions and compromises, while the movie’s theme is trendily valid, its bed scenes are so numerous and detailed that the production’s real intentions can also be questioned – and criticized.

OK, OK, the friendly bedmates who love to canoodle without guilt are part of today’s socio-sexual landscape, but must they canoodle so often?!

Of course, some viewers won’t mind the plethora of horizontal and vertical and diagonal positions at all, at all! But, enough is really too much, and much too repetitive for genuine thematic comfort and import.

Storytelling

Somewhere between the third and 13th bed scene, some less voyeuristic viewers could be groaning, “OK, you’ve made your penile point – now, can we continue with the storytelling – ?!

To be sure, we admire Kunis and Timberlake for being so un-coy about sharing their physical bounties with viewers. Talk about utter commitment to their “art,” this is it! But, in terms of plot and character development, this flick is as deficient as its lead players are ready, willing and all too able to bare and dare.

It’s a good thing that, as the bedroom acrobatics start to pall, some subplots take over that enable us to remain interested in its lead characters – even after they’ve put their clothes back on.

For instance, the female lead is given a mother who’s even more promiscuous than she is, and Timberlake turns out to have a dad suffering form Alzheimer’s.

Those “added attractions” may not be as palpitatingly exciting as the leads’ sexploits, but they do give the movie the context and contrasts it needs to end up as more than just soft porn with identifiable lead stars.

At the conclusion of the film’s erratic roller-coaster ride, we appreciate its stars’ hard “work,” but its many distractions end up limiting its effectivity as a clarifier of new trends involving sex and friendship.