Written by Alex Sukhoy for Film Slate Magazine.

This year’s post-modern romantic comedy “No Strings Attached” asks the question: Can men and women be friends, have sex and expect nothing else? Directed by Ivan Reitman and starring Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman – the movie examines a new generation’s relationships with parents, coworkers, themselves and each other.

The movie opens with a flashback to when Emma (Natalie Portman) and Adam (Ashton Kutcher) first met at summer camp at age fourteen. The scene sets the tone for each character’s emotional state: his vulnerability due to his parents’ divorce and her slightly cool and distant reaction. The next scene shows the two running into each other, ten years later, at a college party, which, at age twenty-four, seems odd. By the time the actual story begins, Adam, wakes up naked in an apartment, not remembering if he’d slept with any of the roommates, only to see Emma. He follows her into her room and – spontaneously –without foreplay, they begin to have sex. The two then make the conscious decision to keep it frequent, yet casual: no strings attached.

The relationship premise, like the movie, works for a while and there’s some level of chemistry between Portman and Kutcher. But it’s hard to imagine someone with their looks would ever struggle getting the attention and physical satisfaction of another glamorous person. Add to the mix the standard attractive group of his and her friends, modern technology, expensive cars and Boomer post-Hippy parental involvement, all set against the background of sunny, picturesque Los Angeles, and the reality of the situation begins to wane.

The storyline would have been far more interesting if the couple showed some level of insecurity or if the setting was in a rural, conservative town, where everyone knows everyone. Either would have served as the necessary contrast needed to make a film like this work. “About Last Night” took place in working class Chicago, where people take the el to get to and from their jobs. “When Harry Met Sally” begins in Chicago and then heads to New York, building to the iconic orgasm-screaming diner scene. The unpredictable urban atmosphere in both provides a nice texture to the classic romantic “build-up, break-up, finally together” formula. In this film, everything feels too polished, too smooth and too predictable.

The talented ensemble cast, however, adds a nice comedic relief throughout “No Strings Attached,” and includes Kevin Kline (“A Fish Called Wanda”), Cary Elwes (“The Princess Bride”), Greta Gerwig (“Northern Comfort”), Lake Bell (“How to Make It in America”), Olivia Thirlby (“Bored to Death”), Ludacris (“Tropic Thunder”), Jake M. Johnson (“Get Him to the Greek”), Mindy Kaling (“The Office”) and Talia Balsam (“Mad Men”).

In 1988, Reitman directed a similarly themed film with Lea Thompson, called “Casual Sex?” In that silly, campy comedy Thompson’s character narrates, “It was the early eighties, and sex was still a good way to meet new people.” Nearly a quarter century later, maybe it still is, maybe it isn’t. But if life imitates art, only the thin, young, beautiful and rich know for sure.

DIRECTOR: Ivan Reitman SCREENWRITER: Elizabeth Meriwether CAST: Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher, Cary Elwes, Kevin Kline, Lake Bell, Olivia Thirlby, Ophelia Lovibond, Greta Gerwig, Phil LaMarr, Adhir Kalyan MPAA RATING: R