Expecting a brainless romantic comedy, I was instead blown away by this.* Mr. Kutcher was his usual non-offensive self, and the rest of the cast really knocked it out of the park.** It was also laugh-out-loud funny in parts,*** which came as no surprise once I figured out that Ivan Reitman directed it.
Cost: Free from library. (Also, this was on one of my Letterboxd lists. I’m not sure why. Perhaps I made notes? I did. Movie Date recommended it.)
Where watched: At home while changing the toes from green to red.
I wonder how long I could watch Ashton Kutcher moves during pedicures before I had to repeat? The answer is that there are 17 Ashton Kutcher movies I haven’t watched, so I could keep going for a very long time. I won’t though. I think I would eventually stop being pleasantly surprised that his movies aren’t actually that bad.
*Secret to success with Ashton Kutcher movies: lower those expectations.
**And what a cast! Natalie Portman! Kevin Kline! Greta Gerwig! Mindy Kaling! Jake Johnson! Lake Bell! Ludacris! Olivia Thirlby!
***Many rom-coms are more “smirk” or “quiet chuckle” events. They don’t come with actual laughter.
poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2011/no_strings_attached.html
Interesting, I never watched this because I expected it to be on the lesser end of the rom com scale, i.e. dumb and not fun. I like the cast, though, especially Jake Johnson! I had no idea he was in it.
Dan has this absolutely unreasonable hatred of Natalie Portman. It’s hard not to let that influence my opinion of her. I’ve always liked her (with the exception of the Star Wars movies). Isn’t it funny how your romantic partner can influence your tastes?
Where does this totally unreasonable hatred come from? I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like Natalie Portman. Like no one. Although I guess I haven’t walked around asking people about their Natalie Portman feelings.
I’m trying to think if there’s someone Matt doesn’t like at all, but nothing is coming to mind at this very minute.