1. No Strings Attached (Paramount, 3,018 Theaters, 110 Minutes, Rated R): I don’t know about you, but when I look at this film, it strikes me as it is above Ashton Kutcher’s usual fare and quite a bit below Natalie Portman’s (an actress who apparently looking to over take Michael Caine as the hardest working actor/actress in film. This is just one of about 500 films she has been or will be in within the last 24 months).
This film does come with a pedigree. It was originally called Fuckbuddies and the script by Elizabeth Meriwether was ranked #5 on the 2008 Black List of worth reading unproduced scripts. It was then renamed Friends With Benefits, but that name had to change when the producers realized there was a similarly themed film with that name starring Justin Timberlake and Portman’s Black Swan sparring partner Mila Kunis in the works.
The trailer had some laughs in it, but mostly from the supporting characters. That really isn’t as good a sign as you might think it is.
