No Strings Attached 2011

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Letting the tension evolve naturally from the insecurities of relatable, well-developed figures would have been preferable, but once Kutcher's character goes all soft and gooey, the movie does too. Read more

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: The shaggy fringes of the flick get most of the laughs -- for one, it's absurdly obsessed with '90s hip-hop Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: No matter how sweet and good-looking and likeable they may be, the bottom line remains: You know what's going to happen from the very beginning. Read more

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: ...as Natalie Portman Talks Dirty movies go, the winner and still champion is 2004's Closer. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: It is hard to escape the feeling that Mr. Reitman shot six or seven movies and then went into the editing room blindfolded to splice them all together. Read more

Nick Schager, Time Out: That these amorous proceedings adhere to genre conventions isn't nearly as problematic as the film's strained outrageousness and all-around sloppiness. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: No Strings Attached is so palpably calculated that you know if the camera had pulled back a foot from the bed in which Portman and Kutcher were pretending to have sex, you'd have seen their agents standing by beaming: proud parents, proud pimps. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: It's a smart, sexy romcom that turns the neat trick of staying sweetly human. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Much of Elizabeth Meriweather's dialogue is snappy, and "No Strings Attached" - though overlong - is mostly painless. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: No Strings Attached isn't a bad piece of formulaic product. Until its endless final act, Elizabeth Meriwether's script and Ivan Reitman's old-hand direction keep the scenes moving briskly... Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Portman proves game for just about anything here, the raunchier the funnier. Read more

Tom Russo, Boston Globe: It doesn't hurt that Portman and Kutcher really are sexy together. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: The charismatic leads keep this watchable, but it's a waste of their talents. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: A more interesting actor could make do with those, but Kutcher just doesn't seem to fill up a leading role, especially when acting opposite the nuanced likes of Portman. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: At least Portman is playing someone who is recognizably human, unlike her dancer in Black Swan. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: You can see where No Strings Attached is heading before it gets there, but it's still a pleasant enough and surprisingly romantic ride. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: It's not that the leads aren't affable. They are. It's not that they aren't nice to look at. They are. (Although the cinematography makes them look sort of blotchy.) It's just hard to care if they hook up after they, well, hook up. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: A hedging, conservative romantic comedy directed with generational bafflement by Ghostbusters' Ivan Reitman. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: Predictable, cutesy and nowhere near hot-blooded enough for a story about two friends with benefits who can't keep their hands off one another. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: Sadly, an obsession with raunchy one-liners trips everything up, turning a clever conceit into something closer to a sleazy, cheesy affair. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Even though No Strings Attached is the sort of movie in which you know exactly how things will turn out five minutes into the story, it makes the predictable journey surprisingly fun and enjoyable. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: "No Strings Attached" is the first fun date movie of the year. The first fun movie, actually. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Portman will get past this speed bump with well-earned swiftness. The affable Kutcher, however, seems stuck in a cycle of depressingly empty comedies. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: The movie quickly sinks into a terminal case of the cutes and extreme predictability - amid the usual surfeit of wacky supporting characters. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Portman is herself partly to blame. Nobody with an upwardly mobile career who is suddenly being taken seriously should co-star in a movie with Ashton Kutcher. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: Kutcher and Portman have terrific screen physics, using their 12-inch height difference to considerable slapstick effect. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: For the romantic comedy audience - those who attend movies of this genre out of a genuine love for this sort of thing - No Strings Attached delivers what it promises. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: One of the better romantic comedies in the last couple of years. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Here is a titillating sex romp in 2011, when the very words titillating and romp have outlasted their shelf lives. The movie is rated R, but it's the most watery R I've seen. It's more of a PG-13 playing dress-up. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: After the heavy dramatic lifting of Black Swan, you can't fault Oscar favorite Natalie Portman for signing up for some romcom R&R. It's too bad she couldn't have landed a less generic vehicle than No Strings Attached. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Meriwether packs the movie with enjoyably odd supporting characters and amusing gags, and Reitman knows what to do with those. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: It takes a gimmicky premise, about two people who try to have a purely sexual relationship, and then fulfills it without distorting or bending the characters around a formula. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: Rom-com writers of America, you're going to have to step up your game. Read more

Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: About the best thing that can be said for the film is that Portman and Kutcher have just enough chemistry to make its premise work. Read more

Kate Taylor, Globe and Mail: A lot of sharp lines from screenwriter Elizabeth Meriwether and a strong supporting cast are often enough to make that premise pleasant if not exactly shocking. Read more

Bruce Demara, Toronto Star: What elevates No Strings Attached above the average (usually awful) romantic comedy is a decent script, the sure hand of veteran director Ivan Reitman and the likeable performances of stars Portman and Kutcher. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: The picture is no great shakes as cinema, and a shade too cute for its own good. Still, it's a mild shock to see a competent film released in the January trough. Read more

Cath Clarke, Time Out: Portman can look smug in light-touch comedy, but her chemistry with Kutcher is believable (though to be fair, Kutcher is the golden retriever of male leads: blandly irresistable). Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: There are humorous moments, and it's a bit less bland than its contemporaries. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: This genial if overlong romantic comedy bounces along on a steady stream of amusing moments, even as it presents the most polished and predictable version of a scenario that cries out for greater verbal and visual candor. Read more

Karina Longworth, Village Voice: At times, No Strings Attached feels almost shockingly attuned to the particular angst of its time and place. Read more