TRAILER: Could Friends with Benefits Be the Movie No Strings Attached Wished It Was?

Confession time: I love Justin Timberlake. Not his music career, mind you -- though who doesn't love a little "Rock Your Body" every once in a while -- but his acting one. You can grumble that he jumped the shark with endless appearances on SNL and his performance as himself -- er, Sean Parker in The Social Network, but for my money, Timberlake constantly hits it out of the park. He even makes something as disposable as Bad Teacher look moderately watchable in a "Let's wait to see it on a Wednesday night on HBO2!" sort of way. All of which is a long way around saying that his presence in Friends with Benefits is key to making this summer rom-com look positively charming.

Timberlake and Mila Kunis star as recently dumped besties (by Emma Stone and Andy Samberg in cameos, respectively), who decide to embark on a "friends with benefits" relationship similar to the one you saw Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman dive into in No Strings Attached. The difference? At least in the trailer, the characters portrayed by Timberlake and Kunis appear to be best friends; in No Strings Attached, Kutcher and Portman were more like "passing acquaintances." That Benefits also looks much funnier -- Woody Harrelson, Patricia Clarkson and Jenna Elfman, FTW! -- and was directed by Will Gluck (Easy A) instead of a fossil like Ivan Reitman are also to its advantage. Plus, JT sings along with Kris Kross, and Kunis tells off Katherine Heigl. Sleeper rom-com hit of the summer?

VERDICT: Sold!

[via /Film]



Comments

  • Strawberry Pain says:

    I cannot begin to express how upsetting it is to me that I am charmed by this trailer. Almost as embarrassing as when I found myself inappropriately crushing on Zac Efron in "17 Again."

  • Tommy Marx says:

    I feel your pain, Strawberry, and I raise you mine. This actually looks good!

  • KevyB says:

    I held no hope for No Strings Attached, but it was actually good! And I'm a dude who normally HAAAAATES that kinda crap. But how can you hate any movie that has a Period Mix and uses Bleeding Love as a punchline TWICE? It won't win any awards, but it was certainly better than 95% of the crap Hollywood craps out.

  • Karissa says:

    Strawberry Pain, I was thinking the exact same thing.

  • Lucius says:

    When I first heard about this movie, I thought 'Didn't they just come out with the same movie with Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher', but this actually looks good. And it's directed by the guy who did Easy A, which was really good.

  • bob says:

    They should make it with justin and natalie then it would be a great movie. Natalie > mila any day of the week. Shes hotter and more talented. Justin > ashton any day of the millenium. Ashton is ugly and has no talent. I will not watch anything with him in it.

  • darci says:

    The TV spots and trailers have me really excited to see Friends With Benefits - the riffing between Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis is reallly hilarious, although I hope they didn't just pull out all the funny parts for the ads...
    I especially liked the spot that had "Love In America" by JTX, I love the playful synth lines, hope I hear the song in the actual movie, too ( watch at

    )