Netflix Picks: No Strings Attached

No Strings Attached, 2011

Summary: She's a busy doctor with no time for a boyfriend and no desire to deal with potential heartbreak. He's an ex-frat boy whose dad just started dating his ex-girlfriend. They both have their reasons for wanting a physical relationship without the emotional element, so they embark on a friends with benefits deal that works out just fine for a little while. Until he really starts to fall for her.

Opinion: I mean, wouldn't it be fun if one of these rom coms actually ended with the star couple splitting up, instead of oh-so-unwittingly falling in love? Just for the change of pace?

That is not this movie. But that's okay, because this movie is lots of fun either way. I expected a little less raunch, but I wasn't disappointed by it. It made the movie that much funnier. Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher play the "friends," and it doesn't hurt the film at all that they're both spectacularly charming, witty, and good looking. And though Natalie Portman strikes me as kind of an *ahem* uptight bitch in real life, she's silly and self-effacing here, and I have to say, she's a lot more likable with that stick removed from her nether-regions.

** Rent it! (This is my new rating system. I'll keep it simple, with films falling into one of two categories: Rent it, or Skip It.)