No Strings Attached

Rating : 7/10
Release Date : 21st January, 2011
Time : 108 minutes
Director : Ivan Reitman; Writer : Elizabeth Meriwether; Music : John Debney
Starring : Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher, Kevin Kline, Greta Gerwig, Lake Bell, Ludacris, Jake M Johnson, Mindy Kaling, Ophelia Lovibond, Ben Lawson, Olivia Thirlby

“Ten years from now you’re going to be having sex with your wife. And its gonna be in the missionary position. And one of you will be asleep”

This film is not about the storyline, which is quite routine, but about the sparkling screenplay, loveable & easily identifiable characters and excellent acting, none more so than the lead pair.


“Remember that when she’s at the hospital, I’ll be right next to her, using big English words and saving lives”

Natalie Portman doesn’t want any relationships. She has no time (is a doctor), doesn’t want complications and doesn’t want to get hurt. There is a guy (Ashton Kutcher) she keeps bumping into. Nice looking, cool, though he seems to be living off and in his famous dad’s (Kevin Kline) shadow. She enjoys having sex with him, decides to proposition him to become her ‘sex friend’, the condition being that they must not fall in love or behave like a couple. Sub plots include her medical roommates, all a bit kooky. His friends, who alternate in giving unwanted advice and attempting to hook themselves up. And his dad, who’s decided to hook up with his ex-girlfriend…


“Are you the guy who had sex with a woman and gave her a balloon?”

I wouldn’t have thought of Natalie and Ashton as a likely couple but they definitely make a good looking pair, a pair you enjoy watching having sex (many times), a pair that seems comfortable together. While having a crush on Natalie since her Star Wars days, for me she really comes into her own here, a romantic leading lady role (am yet to see Black Swan though, a film she’s likely to win an Oscar for). She was really good here. And after this, I will no longer think of Ashton as Demi’s toyboy husband. He’s managed to carve a niche of his own and is beginning to justify having over 5mn Twitter followers.


“But he’s so tall ! Everytime I stand next to him, it looks like a case of kidnapping !”

There are quite a few genuine laugh out loud moments (the period mix, the dinner with Kevin, Ashton & Natalie, even the end of the movie stills), jokes fly thick and fast, the various characters are all crazy yet real enough, the mood light and easy throughout, the dialogue appropriately fizzy and enough unexpected plot twists (including the time Ashton wakes up naked amidst a group of people and cant remember who he had sex with) to keep us amused.



“I think Monogamy goes against our basic biology”

This was the perfect antidote to the weepy manipulative melodrama I was tortured with yesterday. A perfect Valentine’s Day release. One that I’m going to enjoy watching again as I’m not sure I got all the jokes. And I cant say that about many chick flicks…

Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji

Rating : 3/10
Release Date : 28th January, 2011
Time : 143 minutes
Director : Madhur Bhandarkar; Writer : Madhur Bhandarkar, Anil Pandey, Neeraj Udwani; Music : Pritam
Starring : Ajay Devgan, Emraan Hashmi, Omi Vaidya, Shazahn Padamsee, Tisca Chopra, Shruti Hasan, Shraddha Das

This film corroborates Einsten’s theory of relativity by seeming much longer than its 143 minutes length and by making time drag while watching it.


Ajay, Emraan and Omi are room-mates. Ajay is a banker, just going through a divorce. But he’s a nice guy (loves his child, wants to spend more time with her) and is very shy around women. Omi is even more shy, believes in true love, works for an internet matrimonial company, believes in giving clients ‘true advice’ (to the consternation of his boss) and is a budding poet. Emraan Hashmi plays himself ie the same screen persona that he’s always played. Is a serial womaniser, bedding different women every day of the week and offering advice to his shy roommates



Into each of their lives come three different women. Ajay has a young intern join (Shazahn), who makes him want to feel young again. Omi is all gaga over the radio disc jockey (Shraddha) he meets at a poetry competition, doing extravagant gestures for her even though its clear she is only using him / is not interested in him, cause he believes you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. And Emraan may have finally met his match, caught between two women (Tisca and Shruti) and not sure about which way he should go.


What makes the movie drag is the poor quality of dialogue. Out of the 50 attempted jokes only a couple connect and that too barely. The characters are sketchily painted, the situations contrived, the songs lame and Emraan’s pick up lines make you want to gag. The nail in the coffin is the predictability – every single frame is boringly along expected lines. Whether it’s the young woman / older man scenario or the kept toy boy situation, there is nothing we have not seen before.


Shehnaz is the only bright spark in the film, suiting her character. I expected more from the director and the lead actor. Both seem wasted here and seem to be working at half capacity, the film itself seeming like a hastily conceived and put together project, one of the best things about it being its lovely title, which unfortunately is wasted here.