Review: 'No Strings Attached,' no taste required

Film: No Strings Attached (A)
Director: Ivan Reitman
Cast: Ashton Kutcher, Natalie Portman,  Lake Bell, Mindy Kaling, Kevin Kline
Rating: *½

No Strings Attached, a romantic sex comedy with a role reversal, sees Adam Franklin (Kutcher), son of famous TV star Alvin Franklin (Kline), in search of a long-term relationship with the clinical Dr Emma Kurtzman (Portman). The good doctor, however, only wants to be ‘sex friends‘ and Adam Franklin is relegated to being a de-stresser of sorts who must pleasure her on call. But is this all she wants of him?

No Strings Attached is a chick flick with all the strings attached, all the  clichés in place, and all the regular contrivances of the romcom at play, with the only spin being that it’s the woman who is afraid of commitment and chasing gratuitous sex.

Excessive bawdiness may be the only thing different in this cookie-cutter screenplay whose humour could, not inaccurately, be best described as a progression of penis jokes.

Portman is loud and puts on a painfully forced performance. Some of the minor characters such as Mindy Kaling as Shira, Emma’s roommate, Kline as Adam’s junkie dad, and rapper Ludacris as Adam’s friend Wallace show a lot more promise. Unfortunately, amusing characters take a back seat to the "plot".

While this reviewer doesn’t think Kutcher’s nude scene 'shootability' merits him being in front of a camera, millions of women might disagree. Some may even find it charming and funny. But, yet again, Hollywood’s booming laughter echoes above it all. Apparently, the way to the bank is irresistibly hilarious.