No Strings Attached (2011)

A guy and girl try to keep their relationship strictly physical, but it's not long before they learn that they want something more.

Director:

Ivan Reitman

Writers:

Elizabeth Meriwether (screenplay), Michael Samonek (story) (as Mike Samonek)

Stars:

Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher, Kevin Kline

2 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Natalie Portman	...	Emma
Ashton Kutcher	...	Adam
Kevin Kline	...	Alvin
Cary Elwes	...	Dr. Metzner
Greta Gerwig	...	Patrice
Lake Bell	...	Lucy
Olivia Thirlby	...	Katie Kurtzman
Ludacris	...	Wallace (as Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges)
Jake Johnson	...	Eli
Mindy Kaling	...	Shira
Talia Balsam	...	Sandra Kurtzman
Ophelia Lovibond	...	Vanessa
Guy Branum	...	Guy
Ben Lawson	...	Sam
Jennifer Irwin	...	Megan

Storyline

Occasionally in the 15 years since summer camp, Adam and Emma cross paths. When he discovers that an ex-girlfriend is living with his dad, he gets drunk, calls every woman in his cell phone contact list, and ends up passed out naked in her living room. By this time, she's a medical resident in L.A. and he's a gopher on a "Glee"-like TV series, hoping to be a writer. She guards her emotions (calling her father's funeral "a thing"), so after a quick shag in the moments she has before leaving for the hospital, she asks if he wants a no-strings-attached, sex-only relationship, without romance or complications. A prescription for fun or for disaster?

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Plot Keywords:

male objectification | manipulative woman | family relationships | male nudity | sex in a closet | 

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Taglines:

Friendship has its benefits

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexual content, language and some drug material

Details

Official Sites:

Paramount [France] Paramount [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Ukrainian

Release Date:

21 January 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Fuckbuddies

Filming Locations:

2218 S Harvard Blvd, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$19,652,921, 23 January 2011, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$70,662,220

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$149,228,077

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures,Cold Spring Pictures,Spyglass Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS DTS Dolby Digital Dolby Surround 7.1

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the scene the birthday dinner scene Adam (Kutcher) says two of the movie's first titles. "Fuck Buddies" & "Friends with Benefits"

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Goofs

Adam flinches and turns his head well before Emma slaps him in the emergency room. Not only was the slap unexpected, but Adam had taken painkillers, so he should have been far less likely to react that quickly.

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Quotes

Shira: You bringing Adam to the Christmas party tonight?
Emma: No. Things were getting too intense so we decided not to see each other until we hook up with other people.
Shira: Okay. Yes. Good! We are getting laid tonight. This is going to be like Sideways only you're Paul Giamatti and I'm the guy who gets laid.
Emma: I can't get laid?
Shira: No. Tonight is about me, Emma. I'm feeling hot. I'm feeling good. I'm wearing bikini bottoms because my other underwear is dirty. Alright, we're hot. You feel hot?
Emma: [shrugs] No one threw ...
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in Family Guy: Burning Down the Bayit (2012)

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Soundtracks

CLICK CLICK CLICK
Written by Justin Rice & Christian Rudder
Performed by Bishop Allen
Courtesy of Dead Oceans
By Arrangement with Bank Robber Music

User Reviews

Pointless

Adam (Kutcher) and Emma (Portman) have known each other since childhood, but not to damage their friendship, Emma offers a no strings attached relationship which means they can boink anyone they want and each other too and falling in love is out of the question.

This is a Friends with Benefits movie. The first half is raunchy, unfunny sex talk and full of boinking here, there, and everywhere. Got old real fast. Not funny, clever, entertaining, or erotic. Oh, you don't see anything - just them running here and there like they were in some sort of sex marathon. Again, not funny. And, why are we watching?

However, in the 2nd half Emma and Adam took a break and thus a somewhat normal movie broke out. Problem was that one of them was falling in love with the other so a stop had to be called.

Two classy actors and this is all they can come up with? The title should have been Friends With Benefits for a clearer notion of what was inside. When one doesn't care about the characters, what is the point?

Violence: No. Sex: Yes. Nudity: Partial Sex talk: Abounds in the first half. Language: Yes.