From Ivan Reitman, a man whose golden age of films is easily two decades gone, comes No Strings Attached, a by the books romantic comedy where the guy is charming, the woman is initially resistant to said charms, and in the end both fall comfortably in line with the expected tropes of the genre. Granted, our female protagonist resists the pattern she’s supposed to adhere to (mostly), but in the end the film leaves us with the idea that there is no true viable alternative to the cookie-cutter romance we see all the time in the media. Why is it that whenever someone suggests a relationship based on the satisfaction of a couple’s physical needs instead of the full suite that Hollywood always shows it failing? While not a perfect film, The Break-Up’s relative success at the box office showed us audiences are ready for a romantic comedy where everything doesn’t turn out Hallmark perfect – so why couldn’t a film about a non-traditional relationship have a non-traditional end?
Emma (Natalie Portman) and Adam (Ashton Kutcher) had the typical shallow, adolescent fling at a week of summer camp and the warm fuzzy feeling they established then would follow them into adulthood. Years later they meet at a frat party where Adam is drunk and has grown into the stereotypical Greek party-type, whereas Emma is studying medicine at MIT – there’s a pretty bold line separating the two when it comes to ambition. They get to talking and the next morning Adam escorts Emma to “a thing”, which ends up being her dad’s funeral. He hangs around for the wake, and then once again they go their separate ways. Coming to present day, the two run into each other once again at a market with each of their friends in tow. A quick exchange of words, a few flirtatious glances, and a really uncomfortable revelation from Adam’s celebrity father (Kevin Kline) lead Emma and Adam to their first of many hook-ups. They quickly decide to make it a regular thing and establish a set of arbitrary rules with the intention that neither will ever form an emotional attachment. If you’ve ever seen a romantic comedy where the pretty but dim-witted guy slowly wins over the resistant girl, you know how this ends.
Which is exactly why it’s so disappointing. For a brief shining moment Reitman had a chance to turn the romantic comedy genre on its head by giving us an unconventional relationship that has an irregular ending (for the genre). The film has plenty of typical relationships for Emma and Adam to use as meter sticks, like the blossoming romance between their two roommates (Greta Gerwig, Jake M. Johnson). It also throws out plenty of minor plot points that it seems intent on developing and then just leaves by the wayside. The film spends lots of time showing us the two alternative people Emma and Adam could end up with (Ben Lawson, Lake Bell, respectively), but never really makes them out as anything more than a tool and a somewhat sycophantic admirer as opposed to genuine alternatives. About halfway through, the question of whether or not the film will be ballsy enough to give us an ending that isn’t basic Hollywood Romance 101 is answered and they write off Emma’s beau with a trite encounter and a thoughtless joke during the credits.
Really, though, that’s the perfect summation of the film. That’s how it treats the romance, its characters, and its sense of humor. The whole film, despite supposedly being about two people together for nothing other than sex, has a forced sense of humor when it comes to dirty jokes which you would think could arise organically. It throws them in like clockwork with none of them ever connecting to the story itself, they just float there to be brushed away as the romance continues to play out. That’s not to say there aren’t some funny moments (Portman and Gerwig have a knack for comedy), but they’re never essential to the story. You’ve definitely seen funnier movies, and better love stories, but the cast makes the experience bearable.
Cary Elwes, Olivia Thirlby, Mindy Kaling, and Ludacris also star.
"No Strings Attached" opens January 21, 2011 and is rated R. Comedy, Romance. Directed by Ivan Reitman. Written by Elizabeth Meriwether (screenplay), Michael Samonek (story). Starring Ashton Kutcher, Cary Elwes, Greta Gerwig, Kevin Kline, Lake Bell, Natalie Portman, Olivia Thirlby.
