The Benefits of Friendship

By Todd A. Smith

  ½

            I know what you are saying Regal Magazine readers.  Not another chick flick movie review in what is supposed to be a men’s magazine.  However, the new Friends with Benefits film is the perfect date film to take your special lady to, because it combines the romance that women love to see, and it is absolutely hilarious no matter what gender you represent.

            Dylan (Justin Timberlake) and Jamie (Mila Kunis) are so unlucky with love and relationships that they vow to distance themselves as far as possible from commitment and love.  They endure hurtful break ups, which include the “it’s me, not you” quote and long for the days of their youth when casual intimacy was accepted without involving feelings and emotions.

            Dylan is a talented blogger who is recruited by Jamie to join the staff of GQ Magazine.  Jamie takes Dylan to all of the hot spots in New York to persuade him to take the job at GQ, even taking him to a flash mob in Times Square. Coming off of break ups, the two immediately hit it off on the friendship level and come up with an arrangement for casual, awkward sex, with no strings attached.

            Nevertheless, the strings from past relationships linger as the two attempt to develop nothing more than a strong, but physical friendship.  Dylan has intimacy issues and makes love and showers with his socks on because of it.  And Mila has trust issues, running background checks on the guys she dates.  She even discovers that Dylan once maxed out an Old Navy card buying cargo pants.

            However, the two quickly realize that there are always complications, when you add intimacy to any relationship. 

Dylan decides to take Jamie to California to meet his family even though the two are not officially an item.  She is the only girl that he has ever brought home to meet his family, despite being in other relationships. 

However, the chemistry that two characters share in the Friends with Benefits film is undeniable and his family can see that there is something more between them other than just friendship.

            While trying to explain to his sister Annie (Jenna Elfman) that Jamie is not his type, he inadvertently pushes Jamie away after she begins having feelings for him.  It takes his father, who is suffering from dementia and refuses to wear pants in public, to explain to his son how the love of one’s life can be lost forever if a man is not willing to express his true feelings.

 The Friends with Benefits film is hilarious; especially Jamie’s sexually-liberated mother Lorna, played Patricia Clarkson, who cannot remember if Jamie’s father is Puerto Rican, Greek, Russian or Eurasian.  After catching her daughter in bed with Dylan, she is even bold enough to program her phone number into Dylan’s cell phone under the name “MILF.”

            However, the Friends with Benefits film is also extremely predictable, even though the final flash mob might have audiences across the country jumping in their seats.  The Friends with Benefits film is quite enjoyable and extremely funny, but you will know where it is headed even if you’re not a fan of chick flicks.

REGAL RATINGS

FOUR CROWNS=EXCELLENT

THREE CROWNS=GOOD

TWO CROWNS=AVERAGE

ONE CROWN=POOR

Smith is publisher of Regal Black Men's Magazine, a publication dedicated to the African American community.