Likable actors outshine a less than glowing screenplay in “Friends With Benefits,” a comparable reworking of Ashton Kutcher & Natalie Portman’s “No Strings Attached.” This dressed up retread of two friends deciding to add sex to their ongoing friendship concerns Dylan (an affable Timberlake), a newly hired exec at GQ magazine by executive recruiter Jamie (Kunis). Friendship blossoms but the pair shuns commitment to a romantic relationship of emotional entanglement in favor of plain, run-of-the-mill sex.
In a succession of analogous romantic comedies, “Friends…,” directed by co-screenwriter Will Gluck(”Easy A”) contains familiar prattle with the two appealing leads with comic timing and some snappy repartee spicing up a trite scenario. The duo’s screen chemistry moves the rom-com along, but whatever originality there is soon peters out. A supporting cast features Patricia Clarkson as Jamie’s kooky mother, Richard Jenkins underused as Dylan’s father suffering from dementia, and Woody Harrelson is an on-the-ball, gay co-worker.
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