“FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS”
Story by Keith Merryman & David Newman and Harley Peyton
Screenplay Written by Keith Merryman & David Newman and Will Gluck
Directed by Will Gluck
*** ½ (three and a half stars)
If you have been a reader of Savage Cinema, or if you happen to know me in the real world and we have discussed movies together, you are all more than aware of my complete disdain and distaste for the modern day romantic comedy film. While I do not hate romantic comedies as a rule, I hate what that genre has steadily become: a collective of poorly conceived, lazily written stories with agonizingly contrived situations where beautiful stupid people don’t do or say the most obvious things, solely to keep the wheels of the plot grinding along, no matter how illogical that plot happens to be. Yes, I know that romantic comedies are frothy film fantasies meant to be enjoyed like cotton candy. I get it. And I do like cotton candy. But, there is a certain reality when it comes to affairs of the heart that films which features the likes of Sandra Bullock, Katherine Heigle and/or Kate Hudson never, ever seem to grasp or even acknowledge. That disconnect with how real people act, behave and feel is just so painful to regard for me, that all I want to do with that type of cotton candy is throw it away and demand my money back.
So, imagine my surprise as I found myself enormously entertained with “Friends With Benefits,” the new film from Director Will Gluck who made a sensational film last summer with the wonderful teen comedy “Easy A.” In fact, it was that very tremendous sense of good will created by “Easy A” that, at least, made me curious about “Friends With Benefits,” a curiosity which was accentuated by the early positive word of mouth from film critics. On this very afternoon, with an earned free movie screening from the local Sundance theater, I decided, despite my extreme trepidation, to give this one a shot. Hey! It was a free movie and if I hated it, I lost nothing but my time. Thankfully and terrifically, “Friends With Benefits” was so rewarding that it was a movie I would have happily paid to see!
The basic plot of “Friends With Benefits” is exceedingly simple and deftly introduced. The film opens with not one but two break up sequences, briskly and hilariously setting up the emotional states of our two leading characters: the “emotionally damaged” Jamie (Mila Kunis), an Executive Recruiter for a top New York firm and the “emotionally closed” Dylan (Justin Timberlake), a Los Angeles art director for a small internet company.
While assisting GQ magazine’s search for a new art director, Jamie recruits Dylan to New York for a job interview. The twosome have instant chemistry and form a fast friendship as Jamie serves as Dylan’s tour guide of her beloved city as she attempts to sell him on this incredible job opportunity. After Jamie and Dylan spend a whirlwind evening together touring all manner of New York sights and locations, including a flash mob as well as a tranquil moment in a cherished spot of solitude for Jamie, Dylan accepts the job and makes his cross-country move.
As Jamie and Dylan’s friendship grows stronger, they begin to detail their romantic woes after viewing one of Jamie’s cherished romantic comedy films in her apartment. Tiring of all of the emotional wounds and romantic games, they each announce to each other that sex should just be an act of emotionless necessity, as innocuous as the cracking of one’s neck. Soon, the two decide to have sex with the promise that no emotional hang-ups will be a piece of their personal puzzle as their friendship cannot be damaged. One sexual tryst leads to another and another and another and before you know it…I’m certain that all of you know exactly in which direction this film is headed.
Usually, this would be the point where I would essentially check out of the movie, decrying the extreme phoniness and trite commitment to the material and the concepts and themes contained therein. As most movies of this sort just want to have the absolute thinnest of a horrifically conceived plot (that I cannot fathom that any of the filmmakers and actors ever believed in) and the hopes that the film as a whole can skate by on the audience’s collective love for the leading actors’ charms. Of course, on the surface, the storyline and set up of “Friends With Benefits” does not bode well for those of us who generally cannot stand movies like this. Like I said, I have nothing against the genre as a rule and I can concede that even the most ridiculous plot can work if it is exceedingly well written, directed and acted. “Friends With Benefits” is indeed exceedingly well written, directed and acted, with the enormous charm and comedic skills of Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis placed front and center.
While these two share undeniable chemistry and they make a great pair visually throughout the entire film, one of the treasures of “Friend With Benefits,” is how much time Gluck allows these two very intelligent, razor sharp people to just talk to each other, which allows the audience to become lost in the pleasure of listening to their endlessly witty banter and conversations! As with Bert V. Royal’s outstanding screenplay for “Easy A,” “Friends With Benefits” contains mountains of clever, vulgar, insightful and consistently hysterical dialogue that Timberlake, Kunis and the entire cast deliver with the alacrity of a classic screwball comedy. You will have to work to keep up with these characters, especially as you are laughing so hard and loudly that lines of this film’s terrific dialogue will easily be missed.
Furthermore, Gluck has something even more playful and thought provoking up his cinematic sleeves. For all of its intents and purposes, “Friends With Benefits” is a romantic comedy about romantic comedies. It is a film that is completely self-aware as it is just as knowledgeable about the conventions and clichés of the romantic comedy genre as we are. The main characters’ “meet cute,” and the playful beginnings between the two gorgeous yet romantically unlucky people. The impossibly wealthy lifestyles that are in complete contrast to their respective careers. The shared secrets that show how each character is obviously the other’s soul mate, even though they will not admit it to themselves. The obligatory misunderstanding which of course leads to the obligatory break up, the obligatory epiphanies of true love and the obligatory climactic “happy ever after” conclusion. And yes, there is also the flamboyantly gay best friend (played enthusiastically by Woody Harrelson).
Even the wonderful character actor Richard Jenkins gets in on the act as Dylan’s Alzheimer’s addled Father, who, of course, suddenly breaks from his increasing dementia to offer sage advice to his son at a crucial moment. None of these qualities should be considered as spoilers except to those who have never seen a romantic comedy before. That said, I loved how Will Gluck allowed the characters and the audience in on the joke just as we are also invested with Jamie and Dylan’s predicament. Gluck is amazingly skillful with this juggling act of constantly breaking the fourth wall while also upholding it.
While most romantic comedies depict dumb people saying and doing dumb things, “Friends With Benefits” is blessedly about smart people who make not-so-smart decisions but those decisions are grounded in a reality that makes them understandable. Exploring the adult realities of casual sex notwithstanding, Gluck’s film is very perceptive and clever as it shows, especially in our ever increasingly media driven landscape, how our ideas of romance and true love are shaped by the very music and films that entertain and sustain us. For instance, Jamie watches a cheesy romantic comedy over and again hoping for her real world Prince Charming yet also loudly bemoans Katherine Heigle and her rom-com movies when her relationships all fall apart.
Simultaneously, Gluck also presents how the relationships we see and experience as children shape who we become as adults as Jamie and Dylan’s views of commitment and romance are stemmed in both of their fractured family and parental relationships. I appreciated the time Gluck allotted to situations and characters that most films of this sort would pay short shrift too. Patricia Clarkson scores highly and receives great laughs as Jamie’s promiscuous, free spirit Mother, who constantly teases her daughter about the identity of the Father she never met.
More seriously is the lengthy section set in Los Angeles, as Dylan and Jamie visit his Father, sister (Jenna Elfman) and nephew. I appreciated how the Alzheimer's’s subplot was not treated superficially and as a source of real pain for Dylan and his family. Because of the health of Dylan’s Father and emotional state of Jamie’s mother, we understand why these two characters are the way they are more fully, which ultimately makes the romance of the film more believable than it otherwise would be. No, it’s not “The Tree Of Life” by any means and it doesn’t need to be. I just admired the extra attention and effort Gluck and his screenwriters gave to the proceedings.
“Friends With Benefits” is a big city fairytale with a beating heart and a working brain, traits that would not have to be mentioned at all if they were not such rarities within this particular genre. While Will Gluck does not quite transcend the genre as brilliantly as he performed with “Easy A,” and the film falls short slightly due to its predictability, he has created another fast paced, brightly presented and well executed comedy that contains honest laughs, a pureness of heart and a frisky, mischievous enjoyment that becomes infectious.
While the characters are romantically cynical, this film is defiantly not as it truly upholds a sense of romance in addition to having great sex and who could really argue with that? Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis are each other’s equal and Timberlake, in particular, continues to surprise and impress me, especially as I had dismissed him for so long because of his youthful pop star status (which this film slyly mocks). His comedic work on “Saturday Night Live” and his dramatic turn in David Fincher’s “The Social Network” (2010) showed he was the real deal. “Friends With Benefits” confirms it yet again.
I’m telling you, dear readers, I feel as if I have fallen into an alternate universe where summer movies have returned to presenting strongly told stories in inventive, fresh and entertaining ways and this film was a joyous surprise. Will Gluck’s “Friends With Benefits” is a smart, sophisticated and sexy film that is just perfect for a summer’s evening at the movies.
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