Friday, January 21, 2011

When you look at romantic comedies and the slew of amazing female actresses who’ve made names for themselves in the oft-times hum-drum genre, you’re not looking at your average comedian. Romantic comedies beg a different style of performance as well as a different form of reaction from their audience. The leads of romantic comedies need to be able to juggle blunt comedic skills with a tender sap in a way that never allows either to outweigh the other. Too much crass humor and you’ve got typical gross-out sex comedy; too much emotional outpouring and you’re tossed to the wolves of sappiness. It is a supremely delicate balance, but when achieved, oh so rarely, brilliant things emerge. And if No Strings Attached is any indication, Natalie Portman might be the next great romantic comedian of our time. The film, a slightly-more-than-interesting take on the idea of "friends with benefits" (friends who have sex without attachment, for the laymen) is held on Portman’s tiny, tiny shoulders and she manages to muscle it in to a film slightly worth watching.

Review - No Strings Attached

No Strings Attached used to be called Fuckbuddies and the latter name gives a far greater idea of what the film is about. Adam (Ashton Kutcher) and Emma (Natalie Portman) are two fairly typical 20-somethings who decide, mostly due to Emma’s utter fear of emotional attachment, to have a relationship based entirely on sex. Of course the film is wrapped in the tidy packaging of a rom-com - the sex-ship doesn’t go as planned, Adam falls for Emma and Emma’s not in to it and the story evolves in exactly the way you think. Yet, the film still has a modicum of charm, main upheld by Portman’s portrayal of Emma. Portman is a gifted actor (evidenced more now than ever) and, as we’ve seen only briefly in the past, a fairly hilarious person, and the mix of the two gives her the ability to stare at penis with 3-D glasses on and spend the final third of the film in sobbing depression and have both ring true. There’s a good deal of help from the way Liz Meriweather’s casual and blissfully mundane script as never pushes Emma (or even of its characters) in to ridiculous situations solely for the sake of humor. Portman is able to thrive in the role, taking the script’s balanced realism and turning Emma in to a impressively round character.

Part of this is also her cohort in the film, Ashton Kutcher, who shows a layer of maturity unknown previously, and the well-suited cast of characters who surround her. Greta Gerwig, Olivia Thirlby, Mindy Kaling - it’s a strong casting of solid actors and they help to anchor an otherwise superficial rom-com. Not to say that the film doesn’t mire itself in the standard tropes of romantic comedies. As good as Portman is, even she can’t ascend the terrible music choices that slop the film with a coating of sap or the more than linear plotline that drives the film. Yet, the performance (hell, performances) drag the film out from under the tires of the absolute shit bus and give it a comedic credibility I was blindsided by. If anything it’s a surefire indicator that Natalie Portman’s got a few more weapons underneath that trench coat that I can’t wait to see exposed.

- Noah Sanders -



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