Though self-consciously set in the bicoastal Hollywood axis of New York-Los Angeles, " Friends With Benefits " more properly takes place amid the movie world of romantic comedies. It aims to ditch schmaltz and replace it with snap, the kind found in the classic rom-coms of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn or Frank Capra's "It Happened One Night," a poster of which hangs above a busy bed in "Friends With Benefits.
The more modern, saccharine conventions are mocked. Justin Timberlake, playing a magazine art director, parodies the manipulative music of tidy romances. Kate Hudson, Drew Barrymore and Matthew McConaughey can breathe sighs of relief; they are spared specific denunciation.
But they know what they've done. The magazine gets heavy promotion in the film, even co-opting the old Rockefeller Center address of The Associated Press, leaving at least one critic to gasp in mock insult. It's not like Conde Nast's actual digs are shabby, I snorted. Jamie sells Dylan on transplanting to New York, and the two quickly work up a friendship and great, rapid-fire banter.
Each having soured on relationships, they opt for a purely sexual affair. As every audience member knows, their journey from cynicism to genuine romance follows.
It's, of course, an old plot and one tried out in movies and sitcoms including one referenced here, "Seinfeld" , but Gluck expends a great deal of energy in imbuing the comedy with smarts and emotional realism. Much of the film unfolds more organically than the wide majority of romantic comedies.
