While Friends with Benefits doesn’t have the same kind of magic or quirkiness of Easy A, it’s still worthwhile to check out. Timberlake and Kunis share on-screen chemistry and even though the script embraces the same clichés it opening mocked early on, I still found the film to be funny. As far as the Blu-ray is concerned, the video/audio are good and the features, save for the features, are unremarkable.
Friends with Benefits (2011)
REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall
Genre(s): Romance, Comedy
Sony | R – 109 min. – $35.99 | December 2, 2011
MOVIE INFO:
Directed by: Will Gluck
Writer(s): Harley Peyton and Keith Merryman & David A. Newman (story), Keith Merryman & David A. Newman and Will Gluck (screenplay)
Cast: Justin Timberlake, Mila Kunis, Patricia Clarkson, Jenna Elfman, Bryan Greenberg, Richard Jenkins, Woody Harrelson
Theatrical Release Date: July 22, 2011
DISC INFO:
Features: Commentary, Featurettes, Deleted Scenes, Outtakes, Trivia Track, BD-Live
Number of Discs: 1
Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), French (DTS-HD MA 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Video: 1080p/Widescreen 2.40
Subtitles: English SDH, English, Chinese, French, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish
Disc Size: 31.8 GB (File Size – 26.7 GB)
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Region(s): A, B, C
THE MOVIE – 3.75/5
Will Gluck’s latest comedy, Friends with Benefits, takes much needed jabs at the romantic comedy genre… before plunging head first into what he and his characters had been mocking for the first two-thirds of the film.
Dylan (JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE) is a highly sought after art director who works for a small company in Los Angeles when he’s recruited by headhunter Jamie (MILA KUNIS) to come to New York City and interview for a job with GQ, a major step up in career, salary and life. At the beginning of the film, in an admittedly clever sequence, both Dylan and Jamie were dumped by their significant others (credited cameos by ANDY SAMBERG and EMME STONE) and they both are of course sick of relationships.
When the two meet in New York, during which Dylan eventually agrees to work for GQ, he and Jamie forge a nice friendship. After watching a sappy and clichéd romantic comedy (uncredited cameos by JASON SEGEL and RASHIDA JONES), they make start talking about relationships and sex leading to the pair agreeing to have sex but leave the rest out of the equation and remain strictly as friends outside the bedroom. This friends with benefits deal they strike sounds good but each carries baggage that eventually gets in the way.
Of course no romantic-comedy would be complete without a quirky supporting cast: Tommy (WOODY HARRELSON) is Dylan’s gay and flamboyant (aren’t they all?) co-worker at GQ who is obsessed with anything and everything about the male genitalia (aren’t they all?); Lorna (PATRICIA CLARKSON) is Jamie’s hippie and slightly loopy mother whose had more than a few relations with men; and in the needed dramatic element necessary for these films we meet Mr. Harper (RICHARD JENKINS), Dylan’s father who has early on-set of Alzheimer’s.
First to the good: As he had done with Easy A, co-writer/director Will Gluck has a certain edge to the script that while it’s nothing ground-breaking or even original, it tends to sound like something we never heard before. Here, Gluck pokes fun at the romantic comedy genre, its clichés and the differences between men and women. Now, this only applies for about the first half before delving into the cliché in its own right, although I suppose that was Gluck’s point…
I also enjoyed the cast. I’ve never been a big fan of Justin Timberlake and normally take a wait and see approach when it comes to singers transitioning into the acting realm, but I thought he was well cast in the leading man role hitting all the right comedic and even dramatic notes (especially between he and his family). And for her part, Mila Kunis continues her winning streak following a fantastically haunting performance in her supporting role in Black Swan showing she’s versatile in both drama and comedy, not limiting herself to one genre.
Now the not-so-good: I don’t know what to make of the plot. Will Gluck pokes fun at the romantic comedy genre and yet takes Friends with Benefits in the same direction including a finale straight out of any generic rom-com flick. He tries to justify it with one line (something to the effect of “You wanted your life to be like movie”) but it doesn’t fly with me. That being said, one could also argue that Mila Kunis’ character wanted that Hollywood ending and worked as a way for Dylan to get back in her life (spoiler, but the writers follow the tried and true Boy Meets Girl/Boy and Girl routine).
On the other hand, I will say that the scene and sequence is unique enough that it makes for a fun ending even if it was highly predictable. And that’s what it comes down to with the romantic-comedy genre where the stories remain the same but the parts get interchanged. For Friends with Benefits, Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis have fantastic on-screen chemistry and the jokes for the most part were actually funny.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 3.0/5
Audio Commentary – Co-Writer/Director Will Gluck & Stars Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis provide a light-hearted and all around fun commentary track that combines fun conversations between friends and general info on the behind-the-scenes action.
Bonus Benefits: A Pop-Up Trivia Track – Playing over the film, this trivia track offers up tidbits on the film like one of the actresses in the beginning is in fact Ivan Reitman’s daughter. It’s really nothing special as a good portion is just obvious or just not that interesting. ** Blu-ray Exclusive **
Deleted Scenes (8:49; HD) – There are 10 scenes excised from the film but nothing really special, though there are a couple funny ones including “Ferris Bueller: The Musical”. These are accompanied by commentary from Gluck explaining why they were removed.
Outtakes (6:40; HD) – Here we get a fair selection of line flubs and on-set antics between the cast and crew.
On Set with FWB (5:39; HD) – This is a simple behind-the-scenes featurette showing them filming on location in New York City/Grand Central Station and Los Angeles/Hollywood Sign. It includes basic sound bites with the cast (Timberlake, Kunis) and the director. ** Blu-ray Exclusive **
In a Flash: Choreographing a Mob (5:48; HD) takes the viewer through the two key flash mob scenes featured in the film and how it came together. ** Blu-ray Exclusive **
BD-Live – Yep, it’s a portal to a whole new world… nay, UNIVERSE! ** Blu-ray Exclusive **
Previews – Midnight in Paris, Columbiana, A Good Old Fashioned Orgy, Straw Dogs, 30 Minutes or Less, Attack the Block
VIDEO – 4.25/5
Friends with Benefits sleeps its way onto Blu-ray with a 1080p high-def transfer and presented in its original 2.40 widescreen aspect ratio. I won’t say this is a brilliant looking transfer especially given it’s a new release but it’s about what I would expect as the detail level is good, there’s a fine amount of natural noise sprinkled but not too heavy and the color array seems to be well balanced. I was also impressed with the black levels which showed no signs of artifacting or pixilation which tends to show up during darker shots or scenes.
AUDIO – 3.75/5
The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track meanwhile is good but nothing special. Now, since this is a comedy I didn’t expect anything spectacular but I was left a bit disappointed as even the scenes with songs playing over (for which there are many) never quite had much depth to them. The dialogue levels, however are good being crisp and clear throughout.
OVERALL – 3.5/5
While Friends with Benefits doesn’t have the same kind of magic or quirkiness of Easy A, it’s still worthwhile to check out. Timberlake and Kunis share on-screen chemistry and even though the script embraces the same clichés it opening mocked early on, I still found the film to be funny. As far as the Blu-ray is concerned, the video/audio are good and the features, save for the features, are unremarkable.
Brian Oliver, The Movieman
Published: 11/26/2011
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2.