After all, it could be nice to have a lasting, loving relationship
Director
- Ivan Reitman
Movie Review
Adam is a guy who’s sown plenty of wild oats. Deep down, though, he’s kind of a romantic. And someday, well, he just might want to find his Ms. Right. Not that he really knows what that is.
His father is a narcissistic former TV star who regularly tosses aside relationships like so many watermelon rinds. He cares about little other than his own pleasures. And it just so happens he’s currently bedding Adam’s ex-girlfriend. Of course, after Adam discovers that very uncomfortable fact, romance and long-term relationships are the furthest things from his mind. All he wants now is to drown out unwanted mental images with lots of alcohol-and some mindless sex.
After quizzing a few of the women who seem to be living there, he realizes he’s naked on the couch of an old friend: Emma. She and Adam have known each other for years. And though he’s shown interest, she’s kept him at arm’s length. Until now.
And after a quick, heated romp, the friends realize that their situation has possibilities. Emma’s a busy medical student with no time for the nonsense of relationships. And Adam is certainly not in the market for anymore heartache. On the other hand, they both love sex. So why not solve both their problems and just use each other whenever the mood strikes?
The newfound arrangement requires no candlelight dinners. And certainly no long conversations. The only strings attached are the texts required to set up the locations.
Positive Elements
When Emma sees how badly Adam’s father, Alvin, has hurt his son, she stands up to publicly defend her friend. And the film does point out that Alvin has made a number of poor choices in his life that were hurtful to others.
When his twentysomething girlfriend bails on him, the older man yearns to see his wife whom he long ago divorced. He also sincerely tells his son, �The worst thing you can do in life is to say no to love.� He says, �Adam, you’ve got a good heart. Try to keep it.�
[Spoiler Warning] Ultimately, Adam and Emma are able to overcome their doubts about long-term relationships and voice their love and commitment to one another.
Spiritual Elements
Adam goes to a Jewish funeral. His friends present him with a cake decorated with Michelangelo’s painting The Creation of Adam.
Sexual Content
Months before it arrived in theaters, Ashton Kutcher reported that the production title for No Strings Attached was the much more direct F??? Buddies. Indeed, Adam and Emma are seen in the throes of intercourse in several scenes and a variety of locales, incorporating very realistic movements and sounds. One scene ends in a clench-mouthed orgasm. In fact, their vocal expressiveness is even joked about as Adam’s roommate calls out, �I can’t concentrate on my porn with all this real sex going on!�
The pair of lovers talk openly about body parts and lovemaking choices. Numerous scenes use conversations about sexual organs, naked dances, masturbation and other sexual activities as �humorous� fodder.
We see both Adam and Emma in various states of undress as they get naked together somewhere in the neighborhood of a dozen different times. Though the camera avoids full-frontal shots of the actors, it does deliver two rear views of Adam and several other angles of a nude Emma as she dons and removes her skimpy underwear. When Adam wakes up on Emma’s couch, only a hand towel covers his groin. Other characters-from Adam’s Speedo-clad dad to partying girls dressed in sometimes nearly transparent underwear-also hop on the exhibition bandwagon.