In the past 15 years, Adam Franklin(Ashton Kutcher) has bumped into Emma Kurtzman(Natalie Portman) on many occasions by chance. They were always brief encounters. They meet for the first time during a summer camp when they are kids. Adam’s parents were undergoing a divorce. As a result, he is a mental wreck. Years later, they meet at a frat party and Emma asks Adam to accompany her on her dad’s funeral the next day. After a few years, they meet at a fairground. At present, Adam is working as an assistant in a TV show. Although his father was a popular TV actor Alvin Franklin(Kevin Kline) with a great fan base, he politely refuses all help from his father to advance his career. During one of his visits to his dad, Adam is devastated to find his ex-girlfriend holed up with his dad. As a result, he gets drunk and calls every girl on his phone for casual sex.
Next day, Adam wakes up naked in a strange apartment. There are 2 girls and 1 man in the apartment. During the conversation, everyone claim to have had sex with him. When Adam grapples with this, Emma appears. Emma had taken Adam to her house after getting a call from him. Although nothing happened the previous night between them, Adam had put a quite a naked show. During the conversation about the previous night, both of them get turned on and have sex. After this, Adam courts Emma. But Emma does not want to get into a relationship. They decide to become friends with benefits. But can they stay this way forever?
Ivan Reitman directs this comedy. He takes the usual recipe of a successful romantic comedy and reverses the roles. The girl do not want any emotional entanglement while the boy wants a relationship. It is an interesting premise. But it falls flat because the movie tries to trespass into serious territory by exploring the emotional conflicts of Emma. As for the conflict, it is not very clear why she does not want to have a relationship and ends up as a badly written character.
Ashton Kutcher as Adam sleepwalks through his role. There is nothing new about this one. Natalie Portman is a misfit as Emma. She is good during the emotional scenes. But the movie has very few of such scenes!
Skip it. You have to either be Adam or his dad Alvin to like this move! Adam gets drunk fast and Alvin is always on the weed. Even then, the chances of liking this movie are rare!
Language: English
Genre: Comedy
Rating: *
Tags: Movies,Ashton Kutcher,Natalie Portman,Kevin Kline,Ivan Reitman,Comedy
I think I'll watch it
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review, I think it has already come and gone from the theatres here, so the problem is solved.
ReplyDelete@Talha - :) Thanks for dropping by! Hope you enjoy the movie.
ReplyDelete@Rama - he he he! Don't even try the DVD!