FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS Review

"Friends With Benefits" (2011)

This year has brought us two romantic comedies with exactly the same premise. First there was "No Strings Attached" about two friends agreeing to have sex without a relationship. Now we have "Friends With Benefits" about two friends agreeing to have sex without a relationship. So, who wins? From director Will Gluck (who directed last year's breakout comedy hit "Easy A"), the latter is the clear victor thanks to good casting, good writing, good direction and great sex.

Will Gluck might just be on to something. First with the glowing Emma Stone in "Easy A" and now this, he really has a way with getting actors to perform at their comedic best. Romantic comedies are all about the chemistry, and Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis sure have it. They fit together and spar perfectly with each other in quick bursts of playful, sexy energy. Both of these talented actors have showed us their funny and serious sides--Timberlake stealing the show when he hosted "SNL" and his effective performance in "The Social Network" while Kunis made a splash in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and stood her ground against Portman in "Black Swan." Here they take what they've got and bring it together on screen in a sizzling display of wit, charm and sex appeal.

Timberlake plays Dylan, the dapper head of a small blog site in Los Angeles who gets whisked off to New York City for a job interview with GQ magazine. He's brought there by an executive headhunter named Jamie played by Kunis. With two attractive, well-dressed leads it only makes sense to make their romantic playground two big glamorous cities. Jamie spends the evening after Dylan's interview showing him around the city to convince him to take the art director position. Of course he accepts, and through time in the office and a few lunches and dinners out as well as getting drunk in Jamie's apartment on a few occasions...you know where this is all headed.

Dylan figures he's too emotionally unavailable while Jamie figures she's too emotionally damaged. They're not looking for a relationship and require only the physical act of sex, so they agree to give it a try. What follows is a romp under the sheets where we don't see what's going on but we can certainly infer. They rattle off a running list of the things they like and don't like in bed while doing the deed. Their casual sex is humorously awkward while sufficiently steamy -- with the sheets conveniently placed but also still showing enough skin -- and provides some of the movie's best moments of rapid-fire banter.

It's no spoiler saying that we know who ends up together in the end. No romantic comedy would give us these two individuals connecting on such a level and then tear them apart at the end. Doing that would just be criminal. The movie doesn't stray far from the conventions of the genre, but they're put to use in the best manner I can recall from recent memory. The added fun is that Dylan and Jamie believe they're too hip to fall for love movie clichés in their own life. While consciously avoiding them, the movie steers them directly toward each other and, as a result, those very clichés. But I didn't mind because the romantic comedy formula will never change. The breath of fresh air here is that Dylan and Jamie aren't treated with condescension toward their situation but instead realism and cynicism as presented in their characters--with a dash of updated and timely humor about iPad apps and Youtube.

All of that is fine and well, but things really get kicked up to a new emotional level when the parents are introduced. The always excellent Richard Jenkins as Dylan's father suffering from Alzheimer's and Patricia Clarkson as Jamie's free spirit mother show up as the loving but imperfect parents who give us clues as to why both of our leads are so afraid to commit. And you can't forget the brief but hysterical cameo from Emma Stone as Dylan's crazy ex-girlfriend at the movie's opening who's a huge fan of John "Fucking" Mayer.

"Easy A" (2010)

In the tired genre of teen movies, which then got rejuvenated with the likes of "Superbad" and then exhausted again, here is "Easy A" which flips the genre on its head again pumping it with a level of sharp, intelligent satire that'll have even Diablo Cody blushing. And as a teen movie derived from classic literature, such as "Clueless," "10 Things I Hate About You" and "She's the Man," this movie uses Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlett Letter" to clever effect. It's the story of a girl named Olive Penderghast who is labeled as the school skank at East Ojai High School. The truth, though, is that she's a virgin, and it starts with one fib to her best friend about how she spent her weekend. Embarrassed to admit she spent it dancing around her room singing along to "Pocket Full of Sunshine," Olive creates an elaborate story about how she lost her V-card to a college guy.

Olive is embodied by Emma Stone (probably most recognizable from "Zombieland"), the beautiful, husky-voiced redhead who exudes genuine charm and sass in every single scene. Sometimes there are those actors who go unnoticed until a certain role lets them shine. This is Stone's role, and she's now, safe to say, a breakout star. She is irresistible and nothing short of remarkable as Olive who wears her skimpy lingerie wardrobe and embroidered letter A to match her reputation with such biting wit and irony that it goes right over the heads of all her peers. Nobody knew who she was at her high school until she became known for her floozy promiscuity, and now everyone knows her. Rather than denying the bold claims against her, Olive embraces her new imaginary and degrading identity.

Olive finds a way to put her new rep to good use by helping out a gay classmate named Brandon (Dan Byrd) who gets harassed at school. At a bustling party, Olive stages a drunken hookup with Brandon allowing for the bullying against him to stop. Word of this favor gets out, however, and while there are still those who believe Olive is legitimately whoring around there is now a sector of guys who are willing to pay Olive in gifts to let them say she slept with them. Lies get piled upon lies and stories continually get more twisted placing Olive under the scrutiny of the worst of the school population including Marianne (a hilarious turn by Amanda Bynes), an overly pious bitch who promotes Olive's exploits as a lesson to everyone else.

One of the movie's best features is Olive's relationship with the adults in this hormone-filled environment. Her parents are played effortlessly by the talented Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson who are admirable, understanding and almost impossibly down-to-earth, funny and kind. The scenes between them and Olive are full of joy and warmth. Thomas Haden Church is great as a teacher, Mr. Griffith, who attempts to view Olive's situation from an objective lens even as his wife, Mrs. Griffith (Lisa Kudrow), the school's guidance counselor, takes a certain interest in it. Lisa Kudrow is also great, and her maniacal whimsy makes me wish she could land a lead role in something soon.

Director Will Gluck ("Fired Up!") and writer Bert V. Royal have made "Easy A" not only a great comedy but a really great, a surprisingly and pleasingly great, movie that is near-perfect on its own terms. What makes it that good? It's the level of sophistication at which every instance of comic timing and variation has been spun from the simple and potentially one-trick premise. It's the way the movie is an ode to 80s teen movies while keeping with the spirit of today's habits of social networking and the rumor mill and doing so with such verve. And, of course, it's Emma Stone, the exuberant delight that she is.