Dylan (Justin Timberlake), a talented art director for a small, bouquet-y online website in Los Angeles, travels to New York to touch base with GQ Magazine in regards to a high-profile position there. He’s met upon his arrival by an Executive Recruiter named Jamie (Mila Kunis) who hails from a leading job agency, and has been tasked with helping Dylan get to job.

He soon succeeds in nabbing the position and the two go out to celebrate that night and end up becoming fast friends. Having both shared the pain of being recently dumped by their other halves, neither is looking for romance as they causally hang out together. However, one night during beers and bad TV at Jamie’s apartment, they both admit that they’re missing the physical side to having a relationship and hit upon an idea to engage in sexual relations with each other (“fuck buddy” in this modern parlance), keeping it purely at that level, and without any of the emotional baggage which comes with a full-blown relationship.

This no strings attached rule appears to be easy to maintain at first, but complications inevitably arise as their relationship as friends gains momentum. Another figure offering the possibilities of romance enters the picture, and both this (and some deep-rooted family matters), threatens to comprise their seemingly perfect arrangement.

First and foremost, those of you out there who may be concerned that all the funny scenes have been shoehorned into the trailer (normally the first tell-tale sign of an absence of quality) can all relax. In reality, Friend With Benefits is very much the opposite of this, as there’s so much more on offer here than what can be glimpsed at during a two minute-plus taster. It’s a smart and often very amusing romantic comedy, which is breezily told and features extremely likeable performances from its two leads. Timberlake in particular is very endearing, and much more at ease on-screen here that that of his rather smug and lacklustre turn in the recent Bad Teacher. He has fantastic chemistry with Kunis, and their rapid-fire, back and forth banter is a joy to watch, and calls to mind the verbal sparring found (minus the explicit sex talk) in those classic Hollywood comedies from days of yore. It’s also encouraging to see a mainstream picture depict the act of sex in such an open and humorous fashion, without going down the usually coy and infantile route.

It doesn’t hurt to surround the couple with memorable turns by a trio of greatly-admired character actors, either. As Timberlake’s gay colleague, Woody Harrelson is both highly camp and outrageous without ever coming across as a caricature, and Patricia Clarkson as Kunis’ wayward mother – a free-spirited soul in arrested development and completely at odds with her more mature, career-driven daughter, is hilarious whenever she opens her mouth. Richard Jenkins (utterly underused in the abysmal Farrelly brother’s Hall Pass from earlier this year) is fanatic here too, playing Dylan’s father. Suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer’s, he tackles this small role with a quiet dignity, always managing to find the audience’s sympathy without ever succumbing to the Hollywood disease showboating syndrome. When Dylan laments the fact that his father is slowly becoming the shell of the once great man he used to look up to, you can’t help but empathise with him.

Director Will Glick (coming off the critical and commercial success of last year’s Easy A) knows a thing or two about pacing, and he really succeeds in establishing a believable relationship between the two stars in a short space of time on-screen, without it ever feeling contrived or rushed.

The film falters a little when the makers try to add a meta angle and have Timberlake and Kunis debate on how the movies paint an unrealistic portrayal of love and relationships. Kunis’ love interests from Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Jason Segal, even crops up in a fake whimsical romantic film the duo find themselves arguing over. All this is unnecessary however, as the film does a fine job of managing to get its point’s across without this extraneous baggage.

If the end is a little predictable and something which you can see coming from the very beginning, it really doesn’t matter. Glick is unconcerned with rewriting the rules for the genre, and instead is happy to focus on telling an emotionally rewarding and  fun tale of two friends who may ultimately benefit from being more than that, and he does so with much skill and gusto. Friends With Benefits is a smart, character-driven comedy which is a welcome respite from a season stuffed with uninspiring aliens and wall-to-wall caped crusaders.

[Rating:4/5]