Plot
While trying to avoid the clichés of Hollywood romantic comedies, Dylan and Jamie soon discover however that adding the act of sex to their friendship does lead to complications.
Release Year: 2011
Rating: 6.6/10 (60,438 voted)
Critic's Score: 63/100
Director:
Will Gluck
Stars: Mila Kunis, Justin Timberlake, Patricia Clarkson
Storyline Jamie (
Writers: Keith Merryman, David A. Newman
Cast: Justin Timberlake
-
Dylan Harper
Mila Kunis
-
Jamie Rellis
Patricia Clarkson
-
Lorna
Jenna Elfman
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Annie Harper
Bryan Greenberg
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Parker
Richard Jenkins
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Mr. Harper
Woody Harrelson
-
Tommy Bollinger
Nolan Gould
-
Sam
Andy Samberg
-
Quincy
Shaun White
-
Himself
Andrew Fleming
-
Driver
Catherine Reitman
-
Female Co-Worker
Courtney Henggeler
-
Flight Attendant
Masi Oka
-
Darin Arturo Morena
Tiya Sircar
-
Hostess
Opening Weekend: $18,622,150
(USA)
(24 July 2011)
(2926 Screens)
Gross: $55,802,754
(USA)
(18 September 2011)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
Director Will Gluck's previous film was
Easy A, which features Emma Stone and Patricia Clarkson as mother and daughter.
Goofs:
Continuity:
When Jamie & Dylan are sat on the Hollywood sign, behind Jamie, there is a sports bottle. This then disappears during the scene.
Quotes: Dylan:
What do you know about women anyway? Tommy:
I've turn down more tales than you would never have. Dylan:
Yeah bro: you're gay! Tommy:
But the offers keep rolling in, naturally. Look at me! And hey, I love women: they are beautiful, majestic, mysterious, mesmerizing creatures. Smart, empathetic, far superior to man in every way. If I had a choice, I would be with a woman to my dying day. But me likes cock, so... I'm strickily-dickily.
User Review
A Cliché Romantic Comedy that Pokes Fun at Other Romantic Comedies
Rating: 8/10
I was able to see a sneak screening of this movie almost 1 month prior
to it's official release. I honestly walked in simply thinking I was
seeing another typical romantic comedy with my girlfriend. To my
surprise it was much more.
Timberlake plays an LA Blog Art Director who has just been recruited to
work for GQ in New York by Kunis who is a headhunter. The two had great
chemistry through out the movie.
What's funny is that even though it does contain the usual Cliché
scenes that most romantic adult comedies contain, it does tend to poke
fun at them and have some sort of realism to the plot.
Both Timberlake and Kunis are likable and really funny. Woody Harrelson
was the best addition to support this younger cast. Harrelson plays a
flamboyantly gay sports editor who goes from making sexual advances to
JT, to offering him some pearls of wisdom with his love life.
I would have to say this movie was very enjoyable and if your skeptical
about seeing it in the theaters, definitely put it on your "must rent"
list.
Plot
Meet Chloe and Owen: best buds since their sandbox days. Now, in med school as they attempt to balance the weight of their studies...
Release Year: 2009
Rating: 5.1/10 (141 voted)
Director:
Gorman Bechard
Stars: Margaret Laney, Alex Brown, Anne Petersen
Storyline Meet Chloe and Owen: best buds since their sandbox days. Now, in med school as they attempt to balance the weight of their studies, his job, her band, their parents, their friends (their sanity), they find little time for relationships...but lots of time for the desire. One fateful day, a brave Owen proposes the "perfect" solution: Friends (read: no messy relationship stuff)...with benefits (read: insanely messy sex stuff). "Perfect," that is...if the two hadn't always been secretly in love with one another So what DOES happen when two close friends decide to secretly blur the lines dividing friendship and relationship...and the rest of their tight knit group of friends finds out? The answer: complications arise. A LOT of complications. In fact, to quote their therapist, "It's brought down empires; imagine what it can do to a group of friends".
Writers: Gorman Bechard, Ashley McGarry
Cast: Margaret Laney
-
Chloe
Alex Brown
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Owen
Anne Petersen
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Alison
Jake Alexander
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Jeff
Lynn Mancinelli
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Shirley
Brendan Bradley
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Brad
Marc Balfour
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Richard 'Dick' Weed
Irene Longshore
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Polly
Stefanie Estes
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Tatiana
Rooney Mara
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Tara
Bill Fairbairn
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Owen's Father
Lynn Laurence
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Owen's Mom
Ashley McGarry
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Ashley
Sam Dingman
-
Sam
Jason Yachanin
-
Jason
Taglines:
Most friendships are complicated. Some are more complicated than others.
Trivia:
When Gorman Bechard wrote the first draft of the "Friends (with benefits)" script in 1999, he titled it "Fuck Buddies", but soon found that attracting a talented cast to a film of that name became rather difficult, thus forcing the name change. Though on his personal computer, anything related to the film is still kept in a folder named "Fuck Buddies".
User Review
It rocks!
Rating: 10/10
After many years of wonderful but exceedingly depressing films (You Are
Alone) and novels (Good Neighbors, Unwound, 9th Square), filmmaker
Gorman Bechard returns to his comedy roots (Psychos in Love, and his
wonderful first two novels, The Second Greatest Story Ever Told and
Balls) with Friends With Benefits, a movie that is billed as a romantic
comedy, but is so so so much more.
I was lucky enough to get a screener of this film to coincide with the
world premiere at STIFF last week. Though I couldn't make it to
Seattle, I nonetheless watched the movie on Friday evening, as if I
were there.
You know it's a Bechard film right off the bat when some of the first
words out of any character's mouth are "The Replacements, Husker Du,
Archers of Loaf." That made me smile. It also assured me another
rocking the free world soundtrack was approaching quickly. The
StarSpangles kicked things off during the opening credits! Side note:
the rights to the songs in this film would cost the average Hollywood
studio a good quarter million dollars, and yet the budget here for the
entire film was less than that. So it certainly says a lot about
Bechard's film-making abilities that bands of this magnitude trust him
with their music, and want to be a part of his films. That speaks
volumes.
Friends is a simple enough story at heart. A boy and a girl, Owen and
Chloe, friends since childhood, both now in med school, both too busy
for romance, decide to become friends with benefits, and have no
strings attached sex, to at least lessen their burden of horniness. Of
course, they've been secretly in love with each other forever, and thus
the problems begin.
And though they certainly do have their issues, it's nothing compared
to their four friends, who at first warn them of the dangers of
sleeping with your friends, until of course the temptation becomes
unbearable.
I won't reveal what happened next, but will say that about the half-way
point I thought, oh, no, I can't believe Bechard is going there. Such a
cliché. Well, he did...but then within second, he went one step
farther, the cliché was slaughtered, and all was well with the world.
Friends With Benefits crosses the line, wonderfully and comically. I
won't say which line, but trust me; you'll know it when you get to it.
I was trying to think of a good comparison to other movies, and I would
have to say it contains the best raunchy humor of a Judd Aptow film
combined with the sweetness of the best romantic comedies like The
Wedding Singer, or The Sure Thing. It's a marvelous story (with amazing
music) about love and lust and longing and sexual identity, and it so
rings true to life because damn if me and everyone I know didn't
experiment a little in college. It IS true to life. The acting is
great. The cast is adorable. I want to go for a drink with Alison. I
want to do dirty things to Owen. I don't know if the band in the film
really play together, but they sure seem as if they do. The editing by
Bechard and Ashley McGarry, also his writing and producing partner on
the project, is fast and furious. Amazing use of split screens!!! The
script is crisp, with dialog that real people would actually speak. The
movie looks amazing.
OK, if I were to nitpick, the first 10 minutes are a little slow. But
then, the first 10 minutes of most indie films are slow. Hell, most
indie films are slow, period. And I'm not in love with one of the small
supporting roles, but we're talking a few lines of dialog. It's not
horrible, just not as great as the leads. Okay, I really thought
Jessica Bohl in You Are Alone was the greatest unknown casting find of
all time, but Bechard and McGarry somehow managed to find a half dozen
unknowns as talented as Bohl. Don't know how, just hope it continues.
But really, once you get to Owen on his knees -- oh, damn, the dirty
thoughts again -- suggesting that he and Chloe add some benefits to
their friendship, well, the movie soars, it flies, and before you know
it you're wiping a few tears from your eyes right before the end
credits roll, then laughing again when an early joke finally receives
its punch line AFTER the end credits.
Yes, I am a fan of Gorman Bechard. And though he really only seems to
have a cult following, those that get his work truly "get it". The
reviews of Alone or Psychos here on IMDb, or the reviews of his novels
on Amazon prove that. One day the world will know what us few already
do, Bechard knows how to tell a story, how to make you think, care,
laugh, cry, how to turn you on. He's the best kept secret in the
entertainment world. Friends With Benefits is just another great
example of that. To paraphrase Chloe, it rocked!
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