Friends with Benefits – Film Review

Jamie (Mila Kunis) is a New York-based executive recruiter who entices Dylan (Justin Timberlake), an art director from Los Angeles, to take a job at the New York office of GQ magazine. Finding that they have much in common, the two become fast friends. Feeling jaded by a number of broken romances, Dylan and Jamie decide that they are ready to quit looking for true love and focus on having fun. However, complications unfold when the two best pals add sex to their relationship.

Would it make any sort of sense if I said that Will Gluck‘s Friends with Benefits is one of the most 2010s movies in existence? To me, everything about it screams that decade. In the 2010s, we were basically showered with tons of romantic comedies that were leaning toward a raunchier side such as this, Easy A, Bad Teacher, and Hall Pass.

And since these kinds of movies aren’t usually for me, I didn’t end up watching Friends with Benefits until now. I was surprised to find that I actually enjoyed it mostly, however. This isn’t one of the best comedies of the decade by far, but it does manage to inject a sense of wholesomeness into viewers’ bloodstreams even if it is outrageously predictable.

Seriously – even if you’ve only ever seen a handful of movies in your life, you’ll be able to see exactly where this film is going right from the opening few scenes. But what makes this film worth checking out is the sense of humor present, the syrupy-sweet relationship stuff, and the energetic lead performances by Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis.

The idea of having Timberlake as a romantic lead kind of worried me before I even clicked play on this movie because, to be blunt, I don’t think of Timberlake as an attractive, charming lead. Heck, this movie also features Andy Samberg and Emma Stone who would’ve been better lead actors.

However, I must admit that Timberlake did win me over in the end. While he’s not a great actor per se, you can tell that he had a blast with this role and he did manage to make me smile a few times. Mila Kunis is the true standout here, though. She’s full of charm, personality, and likability.

And somehow, these two do work well together. The dynamic between their characters Dylan and Jamie is quite strong despite their relationship being incredibly cliché. As soon as Kunis’ character Jamie said that she could never be with someone like Dylan, I knew that wouldn’t be true for long.

And as mentioned earlier, the jokes in this movie are actually quite strong despite the fact that this was written by three different people. The tone feels consistent all the way through and it all feels competently put together which definitely came as quite a surprise.

Although it’s full of clichés, Friends with Benefits is a surprisingly enjoyable romantic comedy thanks to some great jokes, likeable leads, and the film’s overall brimming sense of joy.