This throws the central relationship’s appeal off balance
NO STRINGS ATTACHED tries to put a modern spin on the timeworn romantic comedy formula, as it shows a young pair of friends, Emma (Natalie Portman) and Adam (Ashton Kutcher), who decide to have casual sex without any commitments. The movie further twists the traditional norms of relationships by the fact that Emma is the one who wants to eschew commitments and emotions, and Adam is the one who wants a true lasting life partnership.
The movie starts off with a lot of comical � but raunchy and amoral � energy as it attempts to show the alleged fun the couple are having. As time passes, however, Adam falls for Emma, and things get somewhat complicated as she hides a deep secret about why she refuses to become seriously involved with any man. Basically, she’s been shaken deeply by the untimely death of her father and fears losing another man.
Ultimately, the movie drags through Adam’s attempts at a �real� date as it slogs along with uninventive scenes that become repetitive as the couple argues or grows apart before the inevitable reconciliation. The movie errs in its writing by making the audience and Adam wait so long to learn Emma’s problem that she comes off as an unsympathetic shrew for much of the movie. By the time they get together, the story feels rather rote, although the movie does commendably show that commitment is vital to happiness, even though the couple is still cohabitating without marriage. (más…)