In director Ivan Reitman's new romance movie "No Strings Attached", the Oscar favorite Natalie Portman plays a brainy young doctor Emma, who is so stressed out that all she wants is a friend for benefits, or more specifically, a sex partner, instead of a formal relationship.
The plot has been recycled time and time again in Hollywood, which, despite this, leaves you wondering if an actress as talented as Natalie can bring to the old story something different and new. Now Emma needs a guy that makes a good partner but asks for no commitment and then she runs into Adam, played by the charming Ashton Kutcher, an aspiring writer on a silly TV show targeting high schoolers.
The couple works on a few terms that ensure the relationship doesn't advance to the next level, such as no breakfast together and even no snuggling. Then the question becomes: who's going to fall first?
After highly acclaimed "Black Swan", Natalie Portman seems determined to break the image of a helpless, emotionally fragile ballerina by playing a sex-hungry doctor in "No Strings Attached". But her new character, which many viewers may consider to be bit of ... er,... there's no polite way to phrase this... a slut, does nevertheless retain a morsel of purity and verve. Somehow you feel that she might be playing herself, given her Harvard diploma, well-off family background and near perfect academic performance.
It's obvious that Natalie and Ashton are mismatched, not only because of the height difference but more about their personality and background. In spite of that, working on their level of charisma, they look lovable on the big screen. However, based on such a clichéd plot, the cute couple cannot change the movie's destiny of becoming a faded and torn grab bag. What's worse, the story develops at a quite slow pace and stretches to 100 minutes, though audiences already know where it will eventually lead.
On my 1-to-10 movie scale, I give "No Strings Attached" a 5.5.
友达以上终成恋人
