BOTTOM LINE: Woeful and silly would be a great way to describe this farce which does not capitalise on its premise, and quickly nose-dives in to familiar and boring rom-com territory.

THE GOOD: A film titled “No Strings Attached” that follows the exploits of a casual couple who use each other for sex sounds like a good idea for a romantic comedy, even though ‘romantic’ is not the order of the day. Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher make likeable lead characters as Emma and Adam where both make a deal to sleep with each other for convenience and fun. Of course, not all goes according to plan, with Adam slowly pushing to do more with Emma, despite her constant attempts to push him away. The first half of the film is where the only real action takes place, and both Portman and Kutcher do a reasonable job of going through the motions. Kutcher in particular is not performing his usual annoying, immature man-boy character, with his character Adam actually trying to get ahead in the film industry as a serious writer, preferably without the help of his dad (Kevin Kline) who is successful in his own right and wants to help his son, but keeps antagonising Adam with his own immature behaviour. “No Strings Attached” is yet another good idea for a film.

THE BAD: Unfortunately, much of this film is woeful, silly and stupid. Natalie Portman’s character is a doctor, but somehow, the hospital they work in is filled with doctors and nurses who act more like college students out to run amok and get laid than being professionals. The entire scenario is completely unbelievable, making Portman’s character look fake and silly. Of course, the contrivance here is that because she is a doctor, she does not have time for relationships, but surely they could have picked some other profession where she would have had a chance to make you believe in her. Similarly, Kutcher’s take as the nice boy trying to get ahead in the film industry barely works, and you have to feel sorry for Kevin Kline trying to do the best he can with this material. Where the film ultimately falls down, if these factors were not enough, is in the story itself. So much comedy and fun could have been had from this premise, but it does not even get to the half-way point before the proceedings start to turn straight in to the run-of-the-mill rom-com musings. The ‘no strings attached’ arrangement is relegated to a montage of ridiculous scenes designed to leap frog the whole promise of the movie so we can go straight to the couple having ‘issues’ in their relationship. Even then, Portman’s character is not particularly empathetic. Emma loses Adam, but her transition from being emotionally distant to feeling love and loss is completely arbitrarily and poorly executed. The film almost makes the case for Emma’s feminist point of view, but then immediately dumps it in favour of the weeping girl routine that so often frequents a romantic comedy in its dire moments. This film was directed by Ivan Reitman, who has been responsible for some reasonably good films in the past, but he has definitely missed the boat with this film.