Movie Review: No Strings Attached

Director: Ivan Reitman

Starring: Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher

To start off the year Natalie Portman stars along side comic actor Ashton Kutcher in the romantic comedy No Strings Attached.  The film is about two people have met off and on over the years and continually have a kind a chemistry that culminates in them agreeing to be sex friends.  But of course can two people have sex and not let emotions get involved with their plans? 
     Portman dazzles as the Emma, the fun loving girl that prefers to not get emotionally involved in a relationship.  The character of course isn't a challenge Portman since the character is somewhat to that of Sam from Garden State, except for the emotional withholding and quadruple amounts of sex.  She continues to make you love her, no matter what I do, but it isn't that hard to figure out how the character ends up.   
     Ashton Kutcher is adorable as the slightly in over his head Adam.  The character is very similar to his character Oliver from A Lot Like Love, again except for a lot more sex happening in the film.  He plays that perfect kind of guy that you really wouldn't mind bringing home and waking up to over and over.  The chemistry between Portman and Kutcher was very believable which made it kind of awkward for me to watch the first sex scene (no real skin showing), especially because I was sitting next to an 11yr old.
      One of the most surprising things about the film was the Ivan Reitman directed the film. Reitman's last film about five years ago, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, was not much of a success and his biggest films were in the late 1970s and early 1990s.   Most of his film have only been comedies but none of them romantic comedies so, I assume that he decided he was trying something new.
         The film is full of comedic moments that don't appear in the trailer so you will continue to laugh through out the movie.  In the beginning it does have a few week points that don't seem like great transitional scenes but after the first fifteen minutes there aren't really any more moments like that. The supporting cast is great and if you don't actually read the cast list you are surprised by who pops up in the film.
    Even though I liked the film I think that it is fine to wait until this film gets to DVD because it is pretty much the predictable Romantic Comedy.  If you do go see the film it is best seen as a date film to win you points with your date for later (if your date loves Ashton Kutcher or Natalie Portman).  It is not really a repeat watch movie in the theater but will be great as a repeat DVD watch.