SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN

THE DESIGN SCHOOL

FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT

NAME: SABRINA WIORA SAIDI

STUDENT ID NO: 0317776
FILMS SELECTED: FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS & NO STRINGS ATTACHED
WORD COUNT: 1,011
ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605)
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: COMPARE CONTRAST ESSAY
LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA
SUBMISSION DATE: 19TH SEPTEMBER 2014

Now that the Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis romantic

comedy Friends With Benefits had already made a hit at the
theaters, we can legitimately compare its plot with that of the
similarly-themed,
hooking-up-with-an-otherwise-platonicbuddy Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman romantic comedy
No Strings Attached. Turns out, theyre not quite as alike as
you may have thought. SPOILER ALERT!
The meet not-so cute:
Friends With Benefits: Mila is a headhunter in New York, who
meets Justins web designer from California at the airport
while shes chasing the makeshift sign with his name on it on
the luggage conveyor belt to take him to his interview to
become the new art director for GQ. She has to sell him on
New York before midnight, when the job offer expires. She
does. They become friends because hes emotionally
unavailable due to his ambition and fear of getting hurt, and
shes emotionally damaged juggling the lack of commitment
her mother (Patricia Clarkson) practices and preaches and
her own desire for her life to be like the romantic comedies
this film claims to hate.
No Strings Attached: More complicated. They meet at a
summer camp when theyre young, then again when theyre
college-age and Natalie invites Ashton to a nameless event
that turns out to be her fathers funeral. A few years later they
run into each other: She is now a resident at a hospital, he is
a production assistant/wannabe writer on a High School
Musical-type show. (I buy these jobs more.) Still, theyre not
friends.
Their first time:
Friends With Benefits: While drinking and watching a (fake)
clich romantic comedy at her place starring Jason Segel
and Rashida Jones, they start a conversation about how sex
should be like playing tennis with someone. You do it, and
you dont want to spend the weekend with them afterwards.
No expectations, no emotions, no need to polite, so you can
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tell the other person exactly what you like in bed. Which they
do. In an extended scene. Later, they think its a bad idea
but they do it again. And it works for a while.
No Strings Attached: After Ashton finds out his actor father
(Kevin Kline) is sleeping with his ex-girlfriend, he gets drunk
and dials every woman in his cell phone. He wakes up naked
on the couch in Natalies apartment, and, after all her friends
pretend they had sex with him, she escorts him into her
bedroom to put on his pants and hear his story. They end up
having sex, which neither of them expected. She has to leave
for the hospital and tells him he has 45 seconds to pull
himself together. He does. Ultimately, shes the one who asks
him to be her sex buddy. She doesnt believe in love, nor
does her job allow for the time to have breakfast with
someone. Hes game, but he soon falls for her.
The breaking point:
Friends With Benefits: Mila decides shes ready to date
again and starts going out with a seemingly perfect pediatric
oncologist (Bryan Greenberg). After sleeping with her on their
fifth date, the new rule she was trying, he tries to make a run
for it when shes out getting them coffee. Its Fourth of July
weekend, and apparently planes arent crowded, so Justin
uses his miles to get Mila a ticket to come home with him to
Los Angeles. They end up making love, which freaks him out.
His sister (Jenna Elfman) is trying to get him to admit he
cares for Mila when Mila overhears him tell her that shes too
screwed up for him to be really interested in her. She leaves
that night.
No Strings Attached: Theres another doctor who clearly has
his eye on Natalie. Still, Ashton doesnt make his move until
Natalie has his back at a dinner with his father and ex during
which they tell him theyre going to try to have a baby. He
convinces her to go out one date with him, on Valentines
Day. It goes well until he tells her that he loves her. They stop
seeing each other.
The big gesture:
Friends With Benefits: Eventually, Justin organizes a flash
mob in Grand Central Station to their song, Closing Time,
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because thats exactly what would happen at the end of a

movie that started with her taking him to a flash mob in Times
Square. He tells her he wants his best friend back because
hes in love with her and they agree to go on their first date
where they end up making out instead of talking.
No Strings Attached: Natalie realizes while out-of-town for
her sisters wedding that she does want to be with Ashton.
She calls him. Its too late. She drives all the way to his place
but sees him with another woman (Lake Bell), a colleague
whod helped him get a script filmed. She heads back to her
sisters wedding, which is the next morning, and Ashton gets
a call that his dad is in the hospital. After Ashtons ex breaks
up with his father (through Ashton), he calls Natalie from
outside the hospital and says if she wants to fix things with
him she needs to do it in-person not on the phone. Luckily,
shes there at the hospital. A friend had told her his dad had
been admitted and she turned around. She admits she loves
him and invites him to another event. After stopping for
breakfast along the way, they arrive at her sisters wedding
and walk in hand-in-hand.
Although both movies are based on the same concept of
having casual sex without falling in love with each other I
personally enjoyed watching Friends With Benefits the most
because No Strings Attached was rather too clich for me but
also because Friends With Benefits was well received by film
critics and became a commercial success at the box office
grossing over $149.5 million worldwide. It was nominated for
two People's Choice Awards: one for Favorite Comedy
Movie, and one for Mila Kunis as Favorite Comedic Movie
Actress and most importantly I got to see the handsome
Justin Timberlake half naked. Friends With Benefits has so
far been the best Romantic Comedy movie I have seen so
far.
REFERENCES:
1.Mary,J. (2008) Writers Handbook, (2nd ed.)
McGraw Hill
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New York:

2. Langan, J. College (2011) Writing Skills, (8th ed.)New

York: McGraw Hill