Before Adam and Lucy can have sex, Vanessa calls Adam-his father is in the hospital, having overdosed on Purple Drank
The film has grossed $70.7 million in the United States and Canada and $77.1 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $147.7 million . [ 2 ]
Reception
The film has received mixed reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 49% based on reviews from 161 critics and reports a rating average of 5.3 out of 10. [ 12 ] At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 50% based on 36 reviews. [ 13 ] Rotten Tomatoes reported that critics described No Strings Attached as having “moments of warmth and sweetness that are spoiled by a predictable narrative and a dirty mind.” It said, “The pundits say Portman and Kutcher keep things genial and easygoing, but they’re let down by a middling script that shoehorns in a little too much raunchy material.” [ 14 ]
Critic David Edelstein described No Strings Attached as a film with “a supposedly feminist veneer. (that) never makes the case for Emma’s point of view. It’s almost a feminist backlash movie, and it didn’t have to be. There are plenty of reasons for brilliant young women, especially with the stress of a medical career, to approach time- and emotion-consuming relationships warily.” He expressed disappointment on overuse of stock characters, as well as Reitman’s “heavy-handed” direction and a story that is ultimately “corny and contrived and conservative.” [ 15 ] A. O. Scott called the film “not entirely terrible. high praise indeed, given that this is a film aspiring to match the achievement of 27 Dresses, When in Rome and Leap Year; according to Scott, the film is “Love & Other Drugs without the disease”, a film whose pleasures “are to be found in the brisk, easy humor of some of Ms. Meriwether’s dialogue and in the talented people scattered around Ms. Portman and Mr. Kutcher like fresh herbs strewn on a serving of overcooked fish.” [ 16 ] Scott considered “the film’s great squandered opportunity-and also the source of some of its best comic moments-is that Ms. Gerwig and Mindy Kaling in effect share the role of Emma’s zany sidekick. How can this be? Why are these two entirely original and of-the-moment performers marginal players in this agreeable, lackluster picture and not stars of the year’s greatest girl-bromance. To imagine Ms. Kaling and Ms. Gerwig in a remake of Thelma and Louise or the Wedding Crashers is to experience an equal measure of frustration and hope. Why can’t we have a few movies like that and not quite so many like this?” [ 16 ]
Music
The soundtrack includes songs such as “Bossa Nova Baby” (from 1963), “I Wanna Sex You Up” (from 1991), the 2010 European-charting “Bang Bang Bang”, the 2010 Australian-charting “Love Lost”, and a cover version of “99 Problems”.
Arriving at the hospital, Vanessa confesses that she doesn’t want to be with an older man and that she’s scared of old people. She dumps her dog off on Adam and leaves for a party. Adam talks to his father and chastises him, but tells him he’ll call tomorrow.
Ultimately, No Strings Attached beat The Green Hornet with an opening weekend gross of $20.3 million . The attendance was “overwhelmingly female” with 70% of the audience being women. [ 9 ] According to CinemaScore, audiences under the age of 25 gave the film an “A-” grade while audiences over the age of 25 gave it a “B” grade. Future grosses were expected to be dependent on the younger demographic. [ 10 ]
