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Disc #1 -- Friends with Benefits
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Languages
Audio: English
Audio: English Descriptive Service
Audio: French
Audio: Spanish
Audio: Thai
Subtitles: English
Subtitles: English SDH
Subtitles: Chinese Traditional
Subtitles: French
Subtitles: Korean
Subtitles: Spanish
Subtitles: Thai
Subtitles: Off
Scene Selections
Special Features
Commentary With Writer/Director Will Gluck, Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis - On
Commentary With Writer/Director Will Gluck, Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis - Off
Deleted Scenes
Outtakes
- Chapters
Disc #1 -- Friends with Benefits
1. Chapter 1 [5:23]
2. Chapter 2 [7:10]
3. Chapter 3 [5:08]
4. Chapter 4 [6:37]
5. Chapter 5 [8:35]
6. Chapter 6 [8:31]
7. Chapter 7 [4:16]
8. Chapter 8 [8:59]
9. Chapter 9 [4:13]
10. Chapter 10 [4:57]
11. Chapter 11 [5:21]
12. Chapter 12 [4:25]
13. Chapter 13 [7:14]
14. Chapter 14 [6:09]
15. Chapter 15 [4:59]
16. Chapter 16 [6:20]
- Features
Deleted scenes
Outtakes
Commentary with Will Gluck, Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis
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Directors
Will Gluck
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Producers
Liz Glotzer
Martin Shafer
Jerry Zucker
Janet Zucker
Will Gluck
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Co-Producers
Nicolas Stern
Alicia Emmrich
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Editors
Tia Nolan
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Screen Writers
Will Gluck
Keith Merryman
David A. Newman
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Set Designers
Jim Tocci
Others
Art Department Coordinator - Paris Pickard
Art Director - Bo Johnson
Assistant Art Director - Johnny Jos
Assistant Art Director - Albert M. Lewis IV
Assistant Editor - Kristine Mcpherson
Casting - Lisa Miller Katz
Chief Lighting Technician - Michael Karasick
Cinematographer - Michael Grady
Costume Designer - Renee Ehrlich Kalfus
Costumes Supervisor - Hope Slepak
Department Head Hair - Adruitha Lee
Department Head Makeup - Michelle Vittone
Executive Producer - Glenn S. Gainor
First Assistant Director - Todd Michael Amateau
First Assistant Editor - Stacey Clipp
Hair Styles - Jason "Orion" Green
Key Costumer - Linda S. Cormany
Key Costumer - Roberta I. Bile
Key Hairstylist - Lynda K. Walker
Key Make-up - Tracy Manzo
Leadman - Steve Seine
Location Manager - Douglas Dresser
Makeup - David Waterman
Makeup - Tracey Levy
Music Editor - Sherry Whitfield
Musical Direction/Supervision - Wende Crowley
Production Coordinator - Sue Smith
Production Designer - Marcia Hinds
Production Supervisor - Meredith G. Meade
Properties Master - Tommy Tomlinson
Re-Recording Mixer - Greg Orloff
Re-Recording Mixer - Tateum Kohut
Screen Story - Harley Peyton
Screen Story - Keith Merryman
Screen Story - David A. Newman
Script Supervisor - Jody Blose
Second Assistant Director - Anthony J. Nahar
Set Decorator - Cindy Coburn
Sound Effects Editor - Matt Temple
Special Effects Coordinator - Jeff Wischnack
Special Effects Supervisor - Tom Frazier
Stunts Coordinator - Lance A. Gilbert
Supervising Sound Editor - Jon Wakeham
Unit Production Manager - Glenn S. Gainor
Visual Effects - Zoic Studios
Visual Effects - Gradient Effects
Visual Effects Editor - Bernardo Rodriguez
Visual Effects Producer - Olcun Tan
Visual Effects Producer - Raoul Bolognini
Visual Effects Supervisor - Rocco Passionino
Visual Effects Supervisor - Thomas Tannenberger
Voice Casting - Ranjani Brow
Voice Casting - Wendy Hoffman
Friends with Benefits is what
No Strings Attached should have been -- snappy, clever, and refreshingly contemporary. Co-writer/director
Will Gluck uses the same biting wit found in his film
Easy A and easily breathes new life into a soggy genre that benefits greatly from the natural charm and smooth chemistry of its likeable leads,
Mila Kunis and
Justin Timberlake. The pair inject the film with a winning vitality, which should help audiences brush aside the initial sensation of déjà vu.
Kunis and
Timberlake are perfectly at ease with anything the script requires, from naughty-funny sex scenes to lightweight dramatic conflicts. Not only do they handle the tart banter with an assured, playful back-and-forth, but there's also chemistry between them that is quite palpable.
Kunis plays Jamie, a corporate recruiter who's "emotionally damaged," and
Timberlake plays Dylan, the new GQ art director, who's "emotionally unavailable." Being young, good-looking, married to their jobs, and frequently burned by other relationships, naturally they tempt fate by trying the sex-without-complications thing ("two people should be able to have sex the way they play tennis"), but the whole thing starts to feel a bit "college-y," and despite Jamie and Dylan's mutual declaration that they'll maintain a strictly physical relationship, emotions start to creep into their best-laid plans.
Working from the sharply observed script by himself,
Keith Merryman, and
David Newman,
Gluck mines healthy laughs by making fun of the current state of studio romantic comedies; however, much like the title implies, the film wants to have it both ways -- it decries the "lies" of
Katherine Heigl movies yet follows a similar script; it shuns the cheesy rock stylings of
John Mayer yet fills the soundtrack with acoustic versions of sappy pop love songs -- and, eventually, this postmodern vehicle proves guilty of adhering too closely to the tired conventions that it satirically pokes fun at.
Hypocritical elements aside,
Gluck not only draws terrific performances from
Kunis and
Timberlake, but also from the veteran supporting cast. Scene stealer
Woody Harrelson plays an over-the-top gay sports editor and
Patricia Clarkson shines as Jamie's aging '70s free-spirited mom. There's also an amusing, if not misplaced, cameo by pro-snowboarder
Shaun White.
While it's true that we all know the formula, when it works and the chemistry is just right we love seeing exactly what we expect and hope for, and
Friends with Benefits delivers just that. ~ Alaina O'Connor, Rovi