Friends With Benefits

[yoco]

Release Date: July 22, 2011
Studio: Screen Gems (Sony)
Director: Will Gluck
Screenwriter: Harley Peyton, Keith Merryman, David A. Newman, Will Gluck
Starring: Justin Timberlake, Mila Kunis, Patricia Clarkson, Jenna Elfman, Bryan Greenberg, Richard Jenkins, Woody Harrelson
Genre: Comedy, Romance
MPAA Rating: Not Available

A young female headhunter (Mila Kunis) in New York convinces a potential recruit (Justin Timberlake) to accept a job in the Big Apple. Despite an attraction to each other, both realize they're everything they've been running from in a relationship and decide to see what happens if they leave emotion out of it and keep it strictly physical.

[slikrapid]

i guess the trailer producers didn't bother much to hide how ridiculously meaningless this movie is, they must have thought timberlake & kunis fans would rush out in huge numbers to devour this latest 'creation', indulging in expected & encouraged idolatry over virtual reality characters and/or their scarcely talented actors whose imaginary stardom was built upon the energy & money delivered by the aforementioned fans through systematic official support of the 'culture' of uncritical emptiness and invented 'values'

A young female headhunter in New York convinces a potential recruit - obviously thats not how serious head-hunting is done (unless the term is supposed to symbolize a different 'head' than what one would initially expect), though there are numerous statements how (at least) in the entertainment industry certain positions are being achieved using the exploitative bed/sex routine - some even claim that the sexual agenda is deeply/essentially/intentionally embedded within this industry, ranging from seemingly innocent disney products to the more obvious pr0n related ones

decide to see what happens if they leave emotion out of it and keep it strictly physical - which is naturally deceiving because no relationship, no matter how strictly physical can exclude emotions, for aren't lust/pleasure/satisfaction/... emotions as well?

[yoco]

[SealLion]

A film like this can, from a different perspective, recapitulate and sustain the 'sex only' relationships that one can find just about anywhere on many of those shallow internet dating sites. That's not to say that all dating sites are shallow, just some of the more common ones that we see just about everywhere. In my mind, films and shows like this basically, can pervade the idea that sexual relations with partners that are for sex only are fun, harmless, and exotic in some way. That false notion couldn't be further from the truth. How about emotional instability such as not having dealt with unresolved issues from the past.
Or how about cheating, jealousy, and other trust issues. How about the real issues that sustain a person, who's involved in such a 'sex only' relationship, in loneliness patterns.
Sure, others might sustain the idea that monogamous relationships present getting mired in a foul-smelling bog of commitment and monogamy.
But how about the fact that modern culture emphasises the individual person, and not the group or family. It's always "me, me, me. I want to satisfy myself'.

Sure. Selfishness is an admirable trait because your looking after yourself from a health perspective. But selfishness from the wrong perspective, such as self-gratification, doesn't pull it. Here's another tip: Modern culture, in TV, films and books, tells us that the only meaningful relationship is a sexual or romantic one.
Tha'ts not true.
If we don't have such relationships, we're a failure. That's the idea pervaded.
Trying to find meaning in these 'sex only' relationships only leads to one end: Failure.
You can't deal with your problems b/c your sustaining your current problems in a shell and believe that the only way you can win is through winning in sex.

[yoco]