Yes, it’s a formula film. We all know what’s going to happen. It’s the staple of the “rom com” and has been since the invention of writing. You know, boy meets girl, etc. While we won’t give anything away by telling you the ending (does anyone seriously not know how this one ends?), you can rest easy that you’re not going to get blindsided by “Love Story.” However, what makes director Will Gluck’s “Friends With Benefits” succeed where countless others have failed is largely do to leads Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis. Both actors show a gift for comedy as well as a willingness occasionally to look silly on camera, and their chemistry is apparent from the first frame they share. Sure, Timberlake is still a little rough around the edges (his laughter can appear a bit forced at times), but comedy is hard, and if he’s this good in only his second comedic lead, well, the kid’s got a future.
The story is pretty basic. Kunis is Jamie, a New York corporate headhunter assigned to land Timberlake’s Dylan for a client. He’s a hotshot web designer who rather improbably goes from designing a blog (albeit one that gets 6 million hits a month) to art directing GQ. There’s clear chemistry between the two, and after Dylan accepts the job offer, it’s only a matter of time before the new kid in town and his new best friend are doing it like bunnies in a Spanish Fly factory. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a film that managed to merge sexy and funny as this one, and it’s almost entirely due to the leads who work together like they’ve been doing it for years.
The only real problems are in the script’s refusal to keep the attitude of the first hour. Writers Keith Merryman and David A. Newman and director Gluck make a big self-referential show of making fun of modern Hollywood romantic comedies. Jokes about obvious music cues so the audience knows when to laugh/cry/be scared? Check. Bits about the pop song during the end credits that has nothing to do with the film? Check. Making fun of obvious movie clichés? Check. All good stuff but then the film goes and does each of those things that its characters were making fun of.
As good as Timberlake and Kunis are, supporting turns by Woody Harrelson as the brash, honest and macho gay GQ sports editor and Patricia Clarkson as Kunis’ mother steal the film. Clarkson shines as the prototypical 1970s’ burned-out parent who drinks too much, dresses 35 years younger than she is and pretends not to care that her daughter thinks she’s a freak but secretly does. Again, a stereotype but Clarkson owns it.
Most of the film is an enjoyable, smart and funny romantic comedy with engaging actors and a sharp, modern sense of humor. Yes, the movie violates its own snark by eventually committing many of the “sins” its characters poke fun at, but we can forgive much of that. There’s just enough smart, sexy and snappy patter to invoke a faint echo of the classic Howard Hawks and George Cukor romantic comedies of the 1940s. But a faint echo it is.
