Friends (With Benefits) (2009)

Meet Chloe and Owen: best buds since their sandbox days. Now, in med school as they attempt to balance the weight of their studies, his job, her band, their parents, their friends (their ... See full summary »

Director:

Gorman Bechard

Writers:

Gorman Bechard, Ashley McGarry

Stars:

Margaret Laney, Alex Brown, Anne Petersen

3 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Margaret Laney	...	Chloe
Alex Brown	...	Owen
Anne Petersen	...	Alison
Jake Alexander	...	Jeff
Lynn Mancinelli	...	Shirley
Brendan Bradley	...	Brad
Marc Balfour	...	Richard 'Dick' Weed
Irene Longshore	...	Polly
Stefanie Estes	...	Tatiana
Rooney Mara	...	Tara
Bill Fairbairn	...	Owen's Father
Lynn Laurence	...	Owen's Mom
Ashley McGarry	...	Ashley
Sam Dingman	...	Sam
Jason Yachanin	...	Jason

Storyline

Meet Chloe and Owen: best buds since their sandbox days. Now, in med school as they attempt to balance the weight of their studies, his job, her band, their parents, their friends (their sanity), they find little time for relationships...but lots of time for the desire. One fateful day, a brave Owen proposes the "perfect" solution: Friends (read: no messy relationship stuff)...with benefits (read: insanely messy sex stuff). "Perfect," that is...if the two hadn't always been secretly in love with one another So what DOES happen when two close friends decide to secretly blur the lines dividing friendship and relationship...and the rest of their tight knit group of friends finds out? The answer: complications arise. A LOT of complications. In fact, to quote their therapist, "It's brought down empires; imagine what it can do to a group of friends".

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Plot Keywords:

band | friendship | medical student | father son relationship | penis injury | 

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Taglines:

Most friendships are complicated. Some are more complicated than others.

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Details

Official Sites:

MySpace page Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English Arabic

Release Date:

5 July 2010 (USA)

Filming Locations:

New Haven, Connecticut, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

What Were We Thinking Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Gorman Bechard wrote the first draft of the "Friends (with benefits)" script in 1999, he titled it "Fuck Buddies", but soon found that attracting a talented cast to a film of that name became rather difficult, thus forcing the name change. Though on his personal computer, anything related to the film is still kept in a folder named "Fuck Buddies".

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Quotes

Brad: You wouldn't have these problems if you would just follow my rules: 100. Friends don't let friends fuck ugly people 99. Try everything twice, the first time you might have been doing it wrong 98. Fat girls give the best head because they're always hungry 97. Cologne: overrated... Deodorant: a must 96. Blondes are usually too dumb to realize they're having more fun 95. After puberty, that's not "baby fat" 94. ATM = the Holy Grail 93. All hippie chicks deep throat, but few vegans swallow 92. ...

User Reviews

familiar but surprising, and very entertaining

I was able to watch a copy of this movie the other night that a friend of Mr. Bechard let me borrow, and the first word that comes to mind is "surprising". Surprisingly funny, surprisingly touching, and just surprising in general.

I have to admit to being a bit skeptical at first. The movie started off feeling a bit gimmicky (some scenes are split-screen, characters have interview-like discussions with a psychologist off camera, movie is divided into chapters like a book...) and cliché (both in characters and concept), and there were definitely moments early on when I felt like the movie was going to be painfully predictable. But then something changed; I'm not sure if it was the flow of the movie, or the way I was perceiving it, but what at first struck me as a set of cliché characters started feeling like a group of my old friends. The excellent dialogue, directing, and cast performances really flesh out these characters (ESPECIALLY the supporting cast), and in doing so lend the movie a certain familiarity and credibility. The two supporting male characters (Jeff and Brad), in particular, started to remind me so much of a couple friends of mine it was scary. I began caring about what happened to the people involved, and that to me is really the keystone of a good story.

Then, just when I was getting comfortable with the plot and the group of friends, the movie started throwing curveballs... decidedly raunchy and often uncomfortable curveballs at that (in a good way, of course). This is where a lot of the surprise came from. Eventually I stopped thinking that I knew what was going to happen and just sat back and enjoyed the ride. The "gimmicks" actually turned out to be quite effective tools Mr. Bechard used to round out the characters and set up and deliver some really hilarious lines. The movie itself came away feeling well paced, well thought out, and the acting was at such a level I forgot I was watching an indie flick. The soundtrack was also very good and tied in perfectly with the rest of the story.

I would definitely recommend this movie to my friends, although it might not be for everyone (especially for the summer Hollywood blockbuster types). Just be patient, give it a chance, and I know it will make you laugh (and probably cringe few times too).