First Hit: A well done light hearted film about two people, with great chemistry, coming together.
Ashton Kutcher may be limited in his acting range, but he is really good within his range.
As Adam, a fun loving guy trying to be a television program writer with a famous father Alvin (played by Kevin Kline), he is living an easy sort of life. He’s handsome, women find him attractive, and he’s got friends.
Years earlier he met a young lady at camp named Emma (played by Natalie Portman) who is highly intelligent and proclaims, at this early age, she’s not good at affection. Years after that meeting they run into each other and she invites him to a thing.
The thing happens to be her father’s funeral. Later they meet up again and they begin a “friend with benefits” relationship. It is clear from the beginning he likes her more, in a romantic way, than she does him. She is focused in her medical practice and only wants sex with Adam at any time of the day or night.
The audience knows she is falling for him because there are too many hints that she is, despite her words to the contrary. Yes the ending is known because this is a Hollywood movie, but how it takes the audience to the ending is well done and the actors were great at telling this story.
Kutcher may be limited in the roles he's offered or in the choice he’s made. However in this film he’s easy to watch, he’s relaxed in this role and he brings the right amount of range to his character. Portman on the heels of her Oscar nomination deserving performance in “Black Swan” shows some real range by playing someone funny, complex, interesting and most of all believable. As Emma she is wonderful and sexy. Kline as Kutcher’s father is good as an obsessed man who knows he’s been obsessed with his past life as an young actor and he still leaves gatherings of people with a famous line from his early career “Great Scott”! It was nice to see Kline again in a role. Elizabeth Meriwether and Michael Samonek wrote an effective screenplay and story respectively. Ivan Reitman did a wonderful job of taking a predictable story with some good actors and making an enjoyable film.
Overall: Worth the money to go see if you want to sit back, relax and enjoy a romantic comedy.