No Strings Attached

Five years after director Ivan Reitman bewildered viewers with the weirdly raunchy My Super Ex-Girlfriend, he attempts to prove he's just as relevant as his son in this year's No Strings Attached. By the time consumers open the Blu-Ray DVD case and discover the three-year membership to perfectmatch.com, expectations will be significantly lowered when attempting to watch a film about two pretty people who just have rotten luck with their love lives. However, when viewers first witness the opening scene where Adam (the younger version of Ashton Kutcher's character) asks Emma (later played by Natalie Portman) if he can finger her, with Color Me Badd in the background, they are likely to admit there are glimmers of originality and ingenuity that shine in between the cracks of this formulaic rom-com. The plot is paper-thin, at best, mainly dealing with Ashton Kutcher taking on the female role by pandering to Natalie Portman's waif-thin personality and body in hopes of making her more than just a fuck buddy. The film features some outrageous sequences, including a sex montage, Kevin Kline smoking weed, female characters cramping out to a menstrual cycle mix CD and some memorable dialogue from up-and-coming actress Greta Gerwig and Lake Bell. Unfortunately, the film fails to stray from the common rom-com formula and viewers are forced to watch conventional plot devices unfold in a bloated effort with a nearly two-hour runtime. No Strings Attached may have clever dialogue, but the film is five years too late, as the "friends with benefits" phenomenon is as tired as Lindsay Lohan's film career. The Blu-Ray features include a witty, dry commentary by director Ivan Reitman, and a lengthy behind-the-scenes featurette and deleted scenes that explain the ending towards certain subplots that weren't wrapped up in the film.