Friends with Benefits

The last Will Gluck movie that I reviewed was one called Easy A – with Emma Stone in the lead. It was a decent chick flick which I had rated as an ideal “in-flight” movie and given a 5.5. Gluck seems to be building a lovely niche for himself with little improvement on either the scale or the kind of movie that he is proficient at making. Don’t get me wrong here. Both Easy A and Friends with Benefits (FWB) are highly entertaining movies. But they are just entertainment. Casual fun. Not for the serious watcher of “cinema”. I have always liked this genre of cinema i.e. the RomCom and the Chick Flick. FWB gets added to the list. Gluck sure knows how to make them – easy viewing. What I don’t quite understand is the obsession with Emma Stone (enough to give a bit part as an ex-girl friend) and her name from Easy A being used as a tribute of sorts on one of the boards at the airport. Found that to be a bit over the top from Gluck.
And yes, FWB is quite like No Strings Attached. Man meets woman. Man and woman like each other – a lot. But they want to be friends only. No relationships etc. Man and Woman have both been in relationships before. Both have been unsuccessful at the relationship scene. Both come from family backgrounds which are a bit troubled. Man’s mother left the family over a decade ago. Woman doesn’t know who her father is and has been bought up by a reckless, single mom who cannot remember who the father was either. Both Man and Woman are quite afraid of what a relationship would mean to them and whether it would last at all. But since they like each other enough, the decide to be the crutch the other person needs. Just pure “Friends With Benefits”. But then they hadn’t heard about the age old adage popularized by a certain brand ambassador of Rotomac over 20 years back which said – Ek jawaan ladka aur ek jawaan ladki kabhi dost nahin ho sakte (A young man and a young woman can never be “just friends”). And so the complications start creeping in as always and there are lows in the relationship that take it to a breaking point before a gyan session from the single mother to her daughter and the now single father to his son and the eventual happy ending will keep everyone happy.

What works for FWB is the slick humour thrown in all through the movie. Clean and not slapstick which is quite surprising for a movie from across the Atlantic. Like
Jamie (Kunis) : Why don’t they ever make a movie after the big kiss?
Dylan (Timberlake) : They do. Its called Porn.
Loads of rib tickling one liners make this a movie that is imminently watchable. It is fast paced and has 2 lead actors who I am fast developing a huge liking for. I have always leched at Mila Kunis from her That 70s days and she has only grown into being even more delectable. And yes did I mention that she can act – extremely well? Justin Timberlake is as natural an actor like I have ever seen. He continues with the confidence he showed in Social Network and executes the role of Dylan with aplomb. I liked FWB and would give it a 5.5 on 10 as a movie. But as I said before. It is very very entertaining. Go ahead. You will not regret it.

The trailer can be viewed on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2190056729/

Easy A

High School is probably the toughest time in anyone’s life – I don’t say that. Its those blokes from Hollywood go to significant extents to re-emphasize on that point time and over again with the string of chick flicks / RomComs that they come up with based on someone’s life and the pressures of High School. Now the case may not be similar in India but from what I hear, whatever is shown on screen is pretty close to the real deal in the West and in some cases probably made to look better. I can’t begin to imagine the pains that parents would be going through day after day. I wonder what I would do if I had kids. Tip my hat to the parents of most teenagers – especially those with teenage daughters. Cannot claim to understand your pains and fears but honestly, I wouldn’t want to be in your position – not even as close as a country mile and a half.


Did you know that my name is an anagrame for “I Love”? That’s what Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone) asks of the boyfriend of her best friend, Rhiannon (as Alyson Michalka). That too in her sultriest possible way http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3453552153/. She has waltzed into school wearing a black corset with the letter A sewed onto her left breast, black skin tight jeans (and she is really really skinny), black sunglasses, the reddest of lipsticks – in short, looking at her sluttiest best if it could be called that. Most of the guys in class have their jaws on the floor and drool all over. Needless to say Rhiannon is not very thrilled about the entire episode and she promptly declares her friendship “OVER”. Not that Olive cares – anymore that is.

It all starts off when Olive excuses herself from a weekend with Rhiannon’s parents. She lies about a date that she has over the weekend. But she spends the weekend only listening to “Pocket full of sunshine” by Natasha Bedingfield. Olive is basically your average ordinary everyday girl. A nobody @ school. With only one friend i.e. Rhiannon. So when Rhiannon repeatedly asks her how her weekend was and whether “something happened”, she takes recourse to lying once again and says that she got laid. Bad news that the overly enthusiastic “Christian”, Marianne (Amanda Bynes) is in the loo during this conversation. And The Times of Marianne goes to work immediately after that. Before one can say, Jack Daniels, Olive becomes the high school slut. Someone who gives in very easily and is available. Olive takes this in her stride and actually decides its good for her image. So when the gay boy in school, Brandon (Dan Byrd) asks her to lie about having had sex with him, she decides to play along.

Easy A tracks the life of a kid whose attempt to gain popularity just goes that little bit out of control. But the fact that she has trusting parents helps. Probably a good class for parents struggling with teenage kids at home and needless to say, for teenage kids on what should be done and what not. Emma Stone seems to be someone with talent and probably waiting for her big break of sorts. I think she is capable of it. The rest of the cast are atypical chick flick cast with the exception of Patricia Clarkson & Stanley Tucci who play the role of Olive’s parents. Directed by the young looking Will Gluck (nothing much to write home about currently) it is a decent watch. Reasonably entertaining chick flick. 5.5 on 10 from my side.

Trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1057359641/