Torture, Pain, Agony, Suffering, Distress, Grief, Woe, Anguish all these words together grammatically connected into a meaningful sentence cannot yet justify the emotional cinematic horror one goes through during the Portman Kutcher supposed comedy/romance flick “No Strings Attached”. I feel as if I have been violated by director Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II).
Oscar Winner Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher quite surprisingly fail in this allegedly summer romance hit. Never in my wildest of notions would I imagine that talent at such royal Hollywood caliber can disappoint. It was a learning curve and I have finally come to terms that, writers and directors can on their own bring down the whole production to its knees. Portman and Kutcher put up a brilliant performance and there is no error in their executions. The subtle humor, the growth of the characters, the idea of being friends with benefits, fabulously orchestrated. Never were they anything short of excellent than what was required.
If the acting was satisfactory or even above average at its minimum, why does it drastically gasp for air for survival? I would take a jab at the screenplay. The writing of the story was fine. Somewhere in between bringing the story into a script it fails us. The gist of the movie comes along, the flow not so much. All the principles captured and the values have been lost I would say. It drags so badly that I personally watched it in 2 segments. Truth be told I shut it down half way but with the respect for the starring cast I had a change of heart and powered my way through it with a sick bag in hand. Now that I have established that the screenplay was putrid, the final save was all in the hands of the veteran Ivan Reitman. This is a tough save and the effort rendered to saving it is minimum! A director will always have quite many resources that are within his budget. At the top of my head I would say a gimmick that would have ideally livened the sluggish moments would have been some good music; a healthy soundtrack always covers up for poor screenplays. This would have distracted me to enjoying the music since the picture was nauseating. The audience requires feeling the sensation of the senses been aroused if not even a considerable itch. FAILED IT!
Emma (Natalie Portman) and Adam (Ashton Kutcher) have known each other and go way back as 15 years. Over time they have a few random meetings but nothing gets going until the day Adam finds out that his father is sleeping with his ex-girlfriend Vanessa. Such a revelation drives Adam up the wall and over it. In a drunk reaction to this new revelation Adam wakes up with just a towel covering his dignity the following day at Emma’s’ apartment soon to realize that much apart from intimacy has taken place. Here they discover the blissful lifestyle of being friends with benefits. Is that even humanly possible?
As interesting as that may sound, it’s not. I regret that I did not take the time to read a review before I wasted a few hours on that. To my dearest readers, you will find this considerably a drag and is not a movie that you want to watch if you’re looking for entertainment. That being said, we all have our different perceptions. Over to you! As for me I wonder if I can even rate it for 2 stars!
Title: No Strings Attached
Directed by: Ivan Reitman
Starring: Ashton Kutcher & Natalie Portman
Rated : R for sexual content , language and some drug material
Rating: 04/10
Personally I was attracted to the movie because I felt that the characters were good together. I thought the casting of Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher was great. I thought they had some sort of chemistry.