No Strings Attached (film)

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No Strings Attached (2011 film)
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No Strings Attached
Theatrical release poster
Directed byIvan Reitman
Screenplay by
Story by
  • Mike Samonek
  • Elizabeth Meriwether
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyRogier Stoffers
Edited byDana E. Glauberman
Music byJohn Debney
Production
companies
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release dates
  • January 11, 2011 (2011-01-11) (Westwood, Los Angeles)
  • January 21, 2011 (2011-01-21) (United States)
Running time
108 minutes[3]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$25 million[4]
Box office$149.2 million[5]

No Strings Attached is a 2011 American romantic comedy film directed and co-produced by Ivan Reitman. Starring Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher, the film is about two friends who decide to make a pact to have a "no strings attached" relationship, without falling in love with each other. The film was released in the United States on January 21, 2011.

Plot

After first meeting at a summer camp together with their parents, Emma Kurtzman and Adam Franklin run into each other a few times as independent people but never keep in touch. Emma is a doctor in Los Angeles, and Adam is a production assistant for a musical television show.

Soon, Adam finds out that his father Alvin, the well-known star of a former hit television comedy series, has begun a romance with his ex-girlfriend, Vanessa. Devastated, a drunken Adam calls all his female contacts to hook up. The next morning, he wakes up on Emma's couch, with her friends and colleagues teasing and telling him that he was crying and passed out naked on the couch. She leads him to her room to find his pants, and they have sex.

They have sex again at Adam's house. Before Emma leaves, they agree to engage in a "no strings attached" relationship, where they just have sex. Soon, Adam finds himself getting jealous of Emma's co-worker Sam, and being an emotional person, he doubles his romantic attempts towards her. She feels awkward and thus ends their arrangement, only to end up missing him. She drunkenly crashes at his place, and they sleep together again.

On Adam's birthday, his father tells him he wishes to have children with Vanessa. Disgusted, Adam walks out, and Emma defends him. He asks her for one single date on Valentine's Day, and it seems perfect till she awkwardly tells him she will not engage in an emotional relationship. He says he can't continue without progressing, so they agree to not see each other.

Six weeks later, at her sister's wedding rehearsal dinner, Emma realizes she wants to be with Adam. She calls, saying that she misses him, but he shuts her down. She drives over to his place, only to see Adam and his colleague Lucy, who she thinks is his girlfriend, going inside together. She drives away, heartbroken and without any clue on what to do.

Later that same night, Adam and Lucy are awkwardly starting to get intimate when Vanessa calls to tell him his father is in the hospital. Adam rushes to the hospital, only to see Emma there as well, as her colleague Shira had informed her.

As Emma confesses her feelings to Adam, he asks her to pursue their relationship again, and she agrees. They have breakfast together and arrive in time for her sister's wedding. Alvin makes a recovery, breaks up with Vanessa and begins a relationship with Lucy. Adam and Emma happily continue their "strings attached" relationship.

Cast

In addition, Ivan Reitman makes a cameo as a musical television show director.

Production

No Strings Attached is directed by Ivan Reitman based on a screenplay by Elizabeth Meriwether titled Friends with Benefits. The title was changed to avoid confusion with a different film with a similar premise that opened on July 22, 2011. The Paramount Pictures film was first announced in March 2010 as an untitled project. Actors Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman were cast in the lead roles, and Paramount anticipated a release date of January 7, 2011.[6] Reitman said of casual sex, "I noticed from my own kids that with this generation in particular, young people find it easier to have a sexual relationship than an emotional one. That is how the sexes deal with each other today."[7] Principal photography began in May 2010.[8] By November 2010, the film was titled No Strings Attached with a new release date of January 21, 2011.[7]

Though the timing was coincidental, Portman welcomed the chance to portray a dissimilar character to her role in Black Swan.[9]

Soundtrack

No Strings Attached: Music from the Motion Picture
Lakeshore Records

No Strings Attached: Music from the Motion Picture is the soundtrack to the film. It was released on February 15, 2011, by

Lakeshore Records
.

No.TitleArtistLength
1."I Wanna Sex You Up"Color Me Badd4:07
2."What Good Is a Boy"Lanchen1:48
3."Click, Click, Click, Click"Bishop Allen3:07
4."Bang Bang Bang"Mark Ronson & The Business Intl.4:06
5."99 Problems"Hugo2:17
6."Bossa Nova Baby (Viva Elvis)"Elvis Presley3:06
7."Bleeding Love"Leona Lewis4:24
8."Untitled (How Does It Feel)"D'Angelo7:08
9."I Will Let You Go"Daniel Ahearn4:24
10."It Was You"Robbie Nevil3:29
11."Rock It"Little Red3:29
12."Love Lost"The Temper Trap3:35
13."Rhythm of Love"Plain White T's3:20

Release

No Strings Attached had its world premiere on January 11, 2011, at the

Motion Picture Association of America. With No Strings Attached as the only wide opener in the United States and Canada, it was uncertain if it would rank first at the box office above The Green Hornet, which opened the previous weekend in first place with $33.5 million.[4]

Box office

Ultimately, No Strings Attached beat The Green Hornet with an opening weekend gross of $20.3 million. 70% of the audience were women.[12] According to CinemaScore, audiences under the age of 25 gave the film an "A−" grade while audiences over the age of 25 gave it a "B" grade. Future grosses were expected to be dependent on the younger demographic.[13]

The film grossed $70.7 million in the United States and Canada and $78.5 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $149.2 million.[5]

Critical reception

No Strings Attached received mixed reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 47%, based on 173 reviews, with an average rating of 5.30/10. The site's consensus reads: "It benefits from the presence of Natalie Portman and director Ivan Reitman's steady hand, but No Strings Attached doesn't have the courage or conviction to follow through on its ribald premise."[14] On Metacritic, the film received a score of 50 out of 100, based on 36 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[15]

Critic

Thelma and Louise or the Wedding Crashers is to experience an equal measure of frustration and hope. Why can’t we have a few movies like that and not quite so many like this?"[17]

British newspaper The Telegraph named No Strings Attached one of the ten worst films of 2011, saying "No Strings Attached is nominally a raunchy romantic comedy, but Natalie Portman betrays so little indication of enjoying herself you’d be forgiven for thinking we were watching deleted scenes from Black Swan."[18]

Home media

No Strings Attached was released on DVD and Blu-ray on May 10, 2011.[19]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Executive Suite: Tom Pollock and Ivan Reitman". The Hollywood Reporter. October 3, 2011. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
  2. ^ a b "No Strings Attached (2011)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
  3. ^ "NO STRINGS ATTACHED (15)". British Board of Film Classification. January 12, 2011. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  4. ^ a b McClintock, Pamela (January 20, 2011). "Natalie Portman's 'No Strings Attached' Goes Up Against 'Green Hornet' at the Box Office". The Hollywood Reporter.
  5. ^
    Amazon.com
    . Retrieved April 11, 2011.
  6. ^ McClintock, Pamela (March 17, 2010). "Reitman to direct Kutcher, Portman". Variety.
  7. ^ a b Wloszczyna, Susan (November 4, 2010). "First look: Kutcher, Portman star in 'No Strings Attached'". USA Today.
  8. ^ Rooney, David (May 5, 2010). "Making a Success of Her Messiness on Two Coasts". The New York Times.
  9. ^ "Natalie Portman 'Really Proud' Of 'No Strings Attached'". Huffington Post. January 19, 2011.
  10. ^ McNary, Dave (January 12, 2011). "'Strings' preem pulls in celebs". Variety.
  11. ^ Abrams, Rachel (January 21, 2011). "Will Par's 'Strings' resonate?". Variety.
  12. ^ Stewart, Andrew (January 23, 2011). "'No Strings' tops weekend B.O." Variety.
  13. ^ Fritz, Ben (January 24, 2011). "Company Town: Women help make 'No Strings Attached' a winner". Los Angeles Times.
  14. Fandango
    . Retrieved August 27, 2023.
  15. ^ "No Strings Attached". Metacritic. CBS. Retrieved February 8, 2011.
  16. ^ Edelstein, David (January 21, 2011). "'No Strings Attached': Corny, Contrived, Conservative". NPR.
  17. ^ a b Scott, A.O. (January 20, 2011). "A Firm Commitment to Casual". The New York Times. Retrieved August 24, 2011.
  18. ^ "Ten worst films of 2011". The Telegraph. London. December 15, 2011. Retrieved December 17, 2011.
  19. ^ "No Strings Attached (2011)" Archived November 5, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. VideoETA.com. Retrieved 2011-08-02.
  1. ^ Uncredited, produced under DW Studios, LLC.

External links