Friends with Benefits

“So gather up your jackets, and move it to the exits - I hope you have found a friend. Closing time - every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.” – Closing Time by Semisonic

I can’t stop myself from singing this song over and over again. I think it’s what they call ‘last song syndrome’. It just keeps playing on my head after I watched the romantic comedy movie Friends with Benefits.

The story was set in New York and Los Angeles. Jamie (Mila Kunis) is a head hunter (recruiter) in New York City and Dylan, played by Justin Timberlake, is an art director of an internet company in Los Angeles. It’s a 6-hour flight from New York to Los Angeles or vice versa. So how did they meet? This is your typical story of boy meets girl however, not as lovers but as friends. Jamie’s task was to recruit Dylan as the new art director for GQ magazine in New York. Dylan got the job offer but LA was so much different from NY that Jamie had to convince him to accept it so she could have her commission for recruiting him.

Together, they went to explore New York City and Jamie showed him all the reasons to stay. She was the only person Dylan knew in the whole city so they spent a lot of time doing things together. They became good friends and eventually had ‘casual sex’ (as they call it) which marked the beginning of a seemingly complicated love story.

For one thing, friends don’t make out with each other (unless they’re too drunk to realize it). Both of the lead characters got tangled in their we-can-have-sex-with-no-commitments friendship. And in almost half of the movie, you can see Justin’s butt. I mean it. Anyone can have sex whenever and with whoever they want, but with friends? It can’t be avoided that emotions would get involved. Dylan’s co-worker, Tommy (Woody Harrelson), helped him realize that. One would definitely fall for the other and the risk is that the feeling may not be mutual. It can also be that both would fall for each other but the relationship may not work out as expected and their friendship would go down the drain. Well relationships are complicated, don’t you think?

Am I being negative? (haha) Well, a lot of people (including me) would think negatively about friends being lovers. But this movie would actually make you try it for yourself. It pointed out the positive things in friends-turned-lovers relationships.

1) You feel comfortable with your partner. (You would be able to talk a lot of things without feeling awkward or shy.)

2) You won’t feel insecure about your body when having sex. (I think that’s the same as no. 1)

Let’s just pretend that there are a whole lot of reasons. (hahaha) You can tell me after you’ve watched the movie. =D

Why you should watch it?

The chemistry between Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis would make you think that they would really look good together in real life.

It’s a “feel good” movie. It’ll help you unwind from all the pressures at school, home or work.

The movie isn’t all about sex, although there’s a lot of kissing, groping etc. Looking beyond the foreground story or the central theme, you’ll learn some of life’s lessons that gave the movie a sweet touch.

Anyhow, I won’t spoil the movie for you. I’ll leave to you the rest and try to figure out if good friends can be lovers (for real)? One thing’s for sure; I know who I want to take me home. =D