In “The Lucky One”, the latest film adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks book (which I have not read), Zac Efron plays a former Marine who, after three tours in Iraq, ends up in Louisiana to find the woman whose picture he thinks was his lucky charm which kept him safe during the war.

While in Iraq, Logan (Efron) picks up a photograph that is on the ground amidst some rubble.  The simple act of reaching for that picture saves his life, as a bomb goes off nearby which doesn’t kill him, because he wasn’t within the bomb’s radius.  Later, while still in Iraq, his vehicle is attacked and he is the only survivor.

Once he arrives home (Colorado I believe) he finds it hard to adjust to civilian life, and he is haunted by his memories of the war.  He becomes obsessed with finding the woman in the picture so he walks, yes walks, to Louisiana with his dog (he recognized where the photo was taken by a landmark in the background, a lighthouse which he compared to lighthouses on the internet to find the one he was looking for) and, after showing the picture and asking around, he finds Beth and her family’s business, a dog kennel.  Beth misunderstands Logan’s arrival and thinks he is applying for a job, which he accepts in order to get to know Beth better.

Beth and her son Ben (Riley Thomas Stewart) live with Beth’s grandmother Ellie (the always delightful Blythe Danner) in a big old house right next to the kennel.  Unfortunately, Beth’s ex-husband also Ben’s father Keith (Jay R. Ferguson) also lives in town.  They married right after high school, when Beth got pregnant (how often does that end up working out??) and they couldn’t make it work so they split up.  Keith is not very nice and he is always threatening to take Ben away from Beth.

While spending time with Beth, Logan finds it hard to keep his secret.  I kept wishing that he would have told her right at the beginning, because  keeping secrets is never a good idea!!  It turns out that the photograph belonged to someone close to Beth who did not make it out of Iraq alive (which is why her picture was in the rubble).

I pretty much always like Zac Efron in any role he plays, and I look forward to seeing more of him because he only gets better with age.  I haven’t seen Taylor Schilling in anything before so she was pretty much an unknown to me, but she was good in the role.  Riley Thomas Stewart and Blythe Danner also gave good performances.

Overall a decent film, women and teenage girls will likely enjoy it more than the men.  It had enough sappy romance to keep us entertained and some steamy love scenes as well!!

Note:  I don’t remember watching the TV series “21 Jump Street”, so this review is based on the movie.

The year is 2007.  Schmidt (Jonah Hill) is a smart, yet unpopular, Eminem wannabe who has no luck with the ladies (his attempt to score a date for the prom fails miserably).  Jenko (Channing Tatum) is the opposite, a dumb popular jock.  Both have typical high school angst (bad grades, no prom dates, etc).

Fast forward to 2012.  Schmidt and Jenko are both in the police academy.  Schmidt knows his stuff but physically he has problems.  On the other hand, Jenko is physically fit but he doesn’t know the Miranda Rights.  While on bike patrol at a local park, the partners see a drug deal happening and they chase the drug dealers, but all does not go according to plan and the dealers get away.

After their miserable attempt at a drug bust in the park, the boys are sent to Aroma of Christ Church, headquarters of the Jump Street Division.  Their assignment:  go undercover at a local high school to discover the distributor and the creator of a new drug that the students are taking.  Their new boss, Captain Dickinson (Ice Cube) orders them to “Teenage the F ‘up”.  Their cover is that they are brothers and they move into Schmidt’s parent’s house and share Schmidt’s old bedroom.  Jenko is enrolled in easy classes, including drama, while Schmidt is enrolled in AP chemistry.  Their covers get switched; however, and Jenko ends up in the advanced chemistry class, while Schmidt is in drama class, where they are auditioning for “Peter Pan.”

While undercover, Schmidt becomes friendly with the popular kids in school, including Eric (James Franco) and Molly (Brie Larson), and Jenko ends up hanging out with the other students in his AP chemistry class.  So basically, it’s the opposite of how it was when our heroes were in high school, which makes for some crazy situations.

Other notable characters in “21 Jump Street” include Mr. Walters (Rob Riggle) the gym teacher, Mr. Gordon (Chris Parnell) the drama teacher, Ms. Griggs (Ellie Kemper) the chemistry teacher, and Deputy Chief Hardy (Nick Offerman).

This is NOT a movie for kids.  There was liberal use of the F word as well as many sexual innuendos.  There is also excessive drug use (surprise).  I wasn’t really expecting much from this reboot but I was pleasantly surprised at how hilarious it was.  I was laughing through pretty much most of the movie.  There were a lot of crazy hijinks going on, and Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum were surprisingly well-matched.

Almost exactly a year ago was the first time I heard about the book series “The Hunger Games” from my dear friend in Jacksonville.  She was explaining the first book to me and all I could think was “that is so barbaric!!” . . . yet I was intrigued.  I saw the first book on sale at Target shortly after and I picked it up.  It sat on my shelf for awhile but finally the odd symbol on the cover could be ignored no more.  Once I started, I was hooked!!   I bought the other two books in the series and I’ve shared the series with several people I work with.  While the books are sometimes depressing, they are also fantastic reads.

I’ve been looking forward to seeing “The Hunger Games” since I heard that the movie was being made.  I had heard that fans of the book were unhappy with the casting, but I think Jennifer Lawrence is perfect to play Katniss.  I thought she was great as Mystique in “X-Men:  First Class”.  I haven’t seen “Winter’s Bone” but she earned an Oscar nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role from her role in the film.

So when I was asked to attend a press event for “The Hunger Games” I was pretty excited.  It was a mall tour, and it was also my first mall event.  I brought Jasmine Rose along with me and we headed to the Broward Mall in Plantation for the ensuing chaos.

We got there at four. Press check-in was at four-thirty, and the event was scheduled to start at six.  We checked in and got our press badges and headed to where the event was taking place, which was near the food court.  At first the mall was nice and quiet, but as we got closer to the food court it got a lot louder.  But that was nothing compared to the volume of the crowd when the stars of the movie came on the stage.  The crowd continued to grow and grow.  There were a lot of fans of the books there!!

Before the interview, there was a DJ playing music.  It was a lot like before a concert, where they play music and people cheer when they see themselves on the TV screens.  In between shots of the crowd, playing on the screens were clips from the upcoming movie.   Shortly before the interviews, the DJ played the new Taylor Swift song, “Safe and Sound” (which I didn’t like at first but I will admit that it’s grown on me).  Then he played the song again.  And then it was time for the stars to come out!!

The cast members that were in attendance were Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss), Alexander Ludwig (Cato), and Amandla Stenberg (Rue).    The host of the event (a local radio DJ, I don’t remember his name though) asked questions that had been submitted by fans.

The cast was onstage for about 40 minutes and answered a bunch of questions.  I left them out because there were spoilers, and the audio wasn’t really great – but check this short clip out to see what you missed.

But, overall, it was an exciting experience for my first mall event.  I am looking forward to the next one!!

AND THERE WAS A COW!
<——— See?

When married couple Paige (Rachel McAdams) and Leo (Channing Tatum) are in a terrible car accident, Leo is fine except for a few bumps and bruises, but Paige ends up in a coma (she had taken her seat belt off and she went flying through the windshield.  That’s why it’s important to always keep your seat belt fastened!!).  When Paige wakes up from her coma, she has brain injuries that cause amnesia, but she’s forgotten only the past few years of her life.  To put it another way, she’s lost all her memories involving her husband, who is now a stranger to her.

Paige is the love of Leo’s life, and in flashbacks, we get to see the little things that Leo does for Paige that make her fall in love with him.  For example, when she was at work with a cold, he left her a box filled with medicine, tissues, etc, and every object in the box had a Post-It on it with something he had written on it, all to make her feel better.  Or when he wanted Paige to move in with him, he didn’t just ask her, he spelled it out for her, in blueberries!!  What a guy!!  While Paige is recovering, we are taken on a journey through Paige and Leo’s relationship, from when they first met to their rather unconventional wedding (it looked like it was in a museum and they definitely weren’t supposed to be there, since the security guards chased them out).

One day, during Paige’s recovery, Paige’s parents Rita and Bill Thornton (Jessica Lange and Sam Neill) show up.  Leo has never met them, and it turns out that Paige had a falling-out with her family several years ago and hasn’t spoken to them since.  But, her parents see Paige’s memory loss as a way to have their daughter back.  Perfect timing, too, as Paige’s sister Gwen (Jessica McNamee) is about to be married.  Paige ends up moving back in with her family so they can take care of her.  This is not good for Leo and his plan, which is to get Paige to fall in love with him again (since her memory shows no signs of returning).

Unfortunately for Leo, Paige does remember her ex-fiancé Jeremy (Scott Speedman) who’s kind of a jerk (he makes a comment at Gwen’s wedding and Leo punches him in the face for it).  Now, Leo is NOT a violent guy, not at all, but between the stress of his wife’s losing her memories, his trying over and over to win her affection again, and his failing business, who wouldn’t deck a guy who pretty much vowed that he would sleep with your wife??

Will Leo succeed in his mission??  Will Paige regain her memories??  I’m not telling here because that would be spoilers!!   Overall, “The Vow” was definitely a chick flick.  I don’t know of any guys who even want to see this movie, which is fine, because it is totally geared towards women.  I liked it because while it wasn’t totally depressing, it was a little sad but had the right amount of light-heartedness to balance it out.   I wasn’t disappointed with the acting or the story; I thought it flowed well and didn’t drag or have anything unnecessary going on.

Interestingly (to me at least,) “The Vow” was quite similar to the plot of the final episodes of a certain spy-related TV series that just ended last month.  It was similar in that the main female characters had their memories wiped, but only the past few years’ worth, and their husbands had to try to make them fall in love with them all over again.   There have also been comparisons to another Rachel McAdams movie, “The Notebook”, which is a great movie, but “The Vow” is not as sad as that one.

A bit of trivia:  “The Vow” is based on a true story.  At the end of the movie, we get an update on the couple the movie is based on, but I won’t let on if they are a couple . . . or not.  I guess you will just have to find out for yourself.

Originally released in 1991, “Beauty and the Beast” was the 30th Disney animated film.  It may be over 20 years old now but, like most Disney animated films, it’s timeless.  And hey, this one is a tale as old as time, right??

Belle (Paige O’Hara) lives with her father Maurice (Rex Everhart) in a village in France.  Everyone in their village thinks they are both crazy:  Maurice because he is a crackpot inventor (he’s just a little eccentric!) and Belle because she’s a little odd, and she also enjoys to read.  Gaston (Richard White) is the town brute.  Everyone thinks he’s awesome while in reality he’s really boorish and brainless (as Belle tells him).  Gaston is dead set on marrying Belle, but she wants nothing to do with him.  Belle dreams of adventures and getting away from her village.  She soon gets her wish when her father gets lost on his way to an inventors function and his horse Philippe finds his way back home.  Concerned for her father’s safety, Belle hops on Philippe and he leads her to a castle in the woods.

But this is no normal castle, this castle is magical.  Its residents include a Beast (Robby Benson) and his servants who have been transformed into enchanted objects.  When he was a human prince, the Beast was mean and selfish and he made the wrong person mad, because she happened to be an enchantress who cast a spell upon the prince and his servants, turning the prince into a hideous Beast and his servants into objects such as a candelabra, Lumiere (Jerry Orbach), a clock, Cogsworth (David Ogden Stiers), a teapot, Mrs. Potts (Angela Lansbury), and a teacup, Chip (Bradley Pierce), to name a few.  The prince and his crew were doomed to remain in their new appearances forever, unless someone falls in love with the Beast.

Easier said than done, as the Beast has a bit of a temper problem.  He pretty much kidnapped Maurice and said he would keep him forever (because he trespassed in his castle, but only to escape a pack of wolves and rain), until Belle offers to take his place as the Beast’s prisoner.   The enchanted objects are hopeful that Belle may be the one to break the spell, but to get Belle to fall in love with the Beast is a near impossible task.

The soundtrack to “Beauty and the Beast” features the fantastic songs “Belle”, “Gaston”, “Be Our Guest”, “Something There”, “Beauty and the Beast”, and “The Mob Song”.  Each number is exciting and fun and definitely makes you want to sing along!!

While I’m not a huge fan of 3D in movie theaters (I feel that it belongs in theme parks), I have to mention that the 3D version of “Beauty and the Beast” looked amazing.  It added depth and richness to the scenes in the forest.  It made an already fantastic movie even better.  Also of note, this version of the movie does not include the song “Human Again” which was featured on the Platinum Edition DVD release that came out in 2002.

Trivia:  I did some research and although it’s never mentioned in the movie, according to imdb, it was revealed on a Disney CD-Rom game that the price’s human name is Adam.  So now you know!!

One thing that always puzzled me:  In the prologue, it states that the enchantress cast the spell and gave him a rose that would bloom until his 21st year.  However in the song “Be Our Guest”, the enchanted objects state that they’ve been in their current non-human state for ten years.  So was the prince 11 when the enchantress cast the spell on him?  If so, he looked awful grown for 11 years old!!  And, where were his parents??  Is this an error or am I missing something??

Before the movie, there is a short called “Tangled Ever After”, which continues the story of Rapunzel and Flynn Rider (Mandy Moore and the totally awesome Zachary Levi).   I won’t spoil the plot but I will say that Maximus the horse and Pascal the chameleon totally steal the show!!  It was a nice continuation of the “Tangled” story.  Unfortunately, I did not notice if Rapunzel was wearing shoes this time.

It’s a two for one special you just can’t miss!!

Warning:  If you haven’t read the books, these reviews may contain spoilers!  Also, the vampires sparkle in the sunlight, so . . . yea, there’s that.

Sawyer (Nathan Gamble) is an unhappy, lonely boy.  He has a hard time in school and as a result, he has to spend his summer vacation stuck in summer school.  His only friend is his cousin Kyle (Austin Stowell) who is about to leave to join the Army.  However, everything changes the day that Sawyer meets Winter.

While on his way to school, Sawyer stops off at the beach.  There is a man fishing and he notices something beached on the shore.  Sawyer goes to investigate and there he finds a badly hurt dolphin.  He helps the dolphin as much as he can, until the Clearwater Marine Hospital cavalry shows up, led by Dr. Clay Haskett (Harry Connick Jr) and his daughter Hazel (Cozi Zuehlsdorff).  They take the injured dolphin to the Marine Hospital, and Sawyer heads off to school.  But, Sawyer can’t concentrate and can’t stop thinking about the dolphin he helped.  So he visits the Marine Hospital after school and officially meets Hazel.  Hazel is pretty much the anti-Sawyer.  She’s bubbly and inquisitive and she and Sawyer become friends.  Dr. Clay doesn’t really like outsiders interacting with the injured animals, but Winter (as Hazel named her) bonded with Sawyer when he was helping her on the beach, so Dr. Clay makes an exception.

Now Sawyer finally has something he’s interested in!!  He researches dolphins and visits the Marine Hospital every day, eventually not even attending summer school anymore.  When his mother Lorraine (Ashley Judd) finds out, she is not happy – until she goes to the Marine School and sees how Winter is helping Sawyer grow.  She agrees to let him help at the Marine Hospital and makes a plea to his summer school teacher to allow him to earn his grade by doing practical work.  The teacher refuses, but it all works out by the end . . . of course.

Unfortunately, Winter’s tail was so infected that it had to be amputated.  This is bad because dolphins use their tails to swim by moving them in an up and down motion.  Since Winter has no tail, she moves what is left of it in a side to side motion to swim, which is damaging her spine.  The Clearwater Marine Hospital doctors are at a loss as to how to help Winter, and fear that the more damage is caused, the worse her condition will get.

Meanwhile, Sawyer’s cousin Kyle was involved in an explosion.  He gets to come home, but he doesn’t want to be around his family.  Kyle used to be a swim star, he set several records before graduating from high school, and since the explosion he is unable to move his legs without therapy.  It’s while visiting Kyle at the VA Hospital that Sawyer gets a brilliant idea – if people can have prosthetic limbs, why can’t Winter have a prosthetic tail??  Enter Dr. Cameron McCarthy (Morgan Freeman), who crafts prosthetic limbs for veterans who have lost their own while on duty.  Sawyer convinces Dr. McCarthy to work on fashioning a fake tail for Winter.

Unfortunately, Winter doesn’t like having fake parts on her body.  It takes a couple of tries but Sawyer and company never give up!!

I really enjoyed “Dolphin Tale”.  Morgan Freeman was great as usual, (when is he not fantastic in a role??) and I really enjoyed the antics of Rufus, a rather enthusiastic pelican that lives at the Marine Hospital.  Although it had a running time of nearly two hours, the film didn’t drag and kept my interest the whole time.

Inspired by the true story of Winter, the dolphin who lost her tail, “Dolphin Tale” is a light-hearted drama (I use the term drama loosely) that is an inspiration for the whole family.  Of course, the film is in 3D, but in this case it’s kind of nice.  When there was a 3D effect of a dolphin jumping, it looked like it was smiling at me and was going to jump out of the screen at me.

It seems that the concert movie is the latest craze.  I’ve seen Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” and also The Black Eyed Peas at the movie theater in concert movie form.  Last year there was Justin Beiber’s concert film, and previous entries into this category included Miley Cyrus (or was it Hannah Montana??) and The Jonas Brothers.  Well “Glee:  The 3D Concert Movie” is the latest and greatest concert movie.  And, even better, it’s in 3D.  (That was sarcasm.  The 3D was not necessary)

“Glee” is like a non-Disneyfied version of “High School Musical”.  Non-Disneyfied because the students in the Glee Club at William McKinley High aren’t concerned with basketball games or which college to apply to or the Spring Musical (don’t get me wrong, I love the “HSM” movies.  They are positive and fun).  Instead, they deal with issues including:  teenage pregnancy, being gay, bullying, love triangles, drinking, and sex, none of which would ever come up in any “High School Musical” movie.

“Glee:  The 3D Concert Movie” was the best part of “Glee” – the performances, with none of the drama, just singing and dancing.   In between the musical numbers, we see behind-the-scenes footage of the cast preparing for the show.  And, since this is “Glee” in concert, not the stars of “Glee” in concert, the actors are always in character, which was clever and made for some fun moments.  For example, Rachel Berry is told that Barbara Streisand (her idol) will be in the audience for that show (she wasn’t really), and in true Rachel Berry style, she proceeds to freak out.

The performance that was filmed for the movie was a show in East Rutherford, New Jersey.  In addition to the behind-the-scenes footage we meet three individuals from the area who share stories about how “Glee” inspired their lives.  We also meet fans who scream and shout and cheer for their favorite characters, including an adorable little Asian boy who idolizes Blaine from the Warblers (the all-male a capella group from another school, Dalton Academy).  He even dresses as a mini Warbler and sings and dances to Warbler tunes.  Too cute!

Included in the performances are “Don’t Stop Believin’”, the unofficial “Glee” anthem, “I’m a Slave 4 U” (a somewhat raunchy performance which would make the real Britney proud), “Fat Bottomed Girls” (a very fun rock version of the song, complete with Puck playing guitar), “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” (Artie sang in his wheelchair while Mike did the dancing, complete with copious crotch-grabbing), “Valerie” (a very fun performance by Santana with Brittany and Mike dancing), “Firework” (the wonderful Katy Perry song performed energetically by Rachel), “Forget You”  (does Gwyneth Paltrow just show up anywhere someone hands her a microphone??), “I Want to Hold Your Hand” (a great performance by Kurt, not as sad as the version in the TV episode), and “Born This Way”, where just like in the episode, everyone wears their identifying T-shirts.  [Click here for the complete song list and cast]

The only negatives about “Glee:  The 3D Concert Movie” were that for most of the songs, they didn’t perform the entire song.  I know on the TV show they sometimes don’t perform the whole song, but on the soundtracks they always do.  So I wasn’t sure why they cut parts of the songs out for the concert.  Also, the two best characters from “Glee” were not included in the concert at all:  the ultra-dreamy, totally awesome Spanish teacher/Glee Club director, Mr. Schuester, and everyone’s favorite cheerleading coach that we love to hate, Sue Sylvester.  (Supposedly, Sue will be included in the DVD version of the concert movie).  I also could have done with less of the fans throughout the show.  I think it’s fine before the concert starts, to interview the fans, but during the show, it kind of took away from the performances.

If you go see “Glee:  The 3D Concert Movie”, see it with a fellow fan (as I did).  You’ll have fun together and you will have a hard time staying in your seat (I did my fair share of bopping around in my seat during the performance!!)

Smurfs in the City – It’s Smurf-tastic!

In the latest TV to big screen adaptation, the Smurfs invade New York and turn a family’s life upside down.

A bit of history: the Smurfs are blue creatures who are three apples tall. They live in mushroom houses in a hidden forest. There are 100 Smurfs in the village, 99 male Smurfs and one lone female Smurf, Smurfette. The Smurfs are all named after their character traits: Clumsy is accident-prone, Baker bakes, Brainy is smart, Vanity is vain, and so on.

The leader of the Smurfs is Papa Smurf, who is old and wise. The Smurfs are constantly being attacked by an evil wizard named Gargamel, who I thought wanted to eat the Smurfs, but in the movie he wanted to steal their essence and use it for evil deeds.

While the Smurfs are rehearsing for the Blue Moon Festival, Gargamel discovers the secret location of the Smurf village. The Smurfs escape, but six of them wind up sliding through a portal and end up in New York City. Azrael chases Clumsy (Anton Yelchin) as he takes cover in a big white box. That box belongs to Patrick Winslow (Neil Patrick Harris), who was just promoted to vice president of marketing for Anjelou, a cosmetics company run by the very bossy Odile (SofĂ­a Vergara).

Odile tasks Patrick with designing a major advertising campaign for a new line of cosmetics, and the assignment is due in two days. Unfortunately, this conflicts with Grace Winslow’s (Jayma Mays) sonogram appointment, as she and Patrick are expecting their first child.

The Smurfs end up in the Winslow’s apartment and take them by surprise. Once everyone becomes acquainted, Patrick begrudgingly allows the blue creatures to stay at their apartment until they are able to get back home. Side note: the five other Smurfs that landed in NYC are: Smurfette (Katy Perry), Brainy (Fred Armisen), Gutsy (Alan Cumming), Grouchy (George Lopez), and Papa Smurf (Jonathan Winters).

Papa Smurf devises a plan to get the Smurfs back to their village, but first he needs to find a stargazer. . . makes sense. Most of the Smurfs (all except Clumsy) end up accosting Patrick at his office the next day, because they think he may have a stargazer there. They helpfully try to assist Patrick with his assignment, which really annoys Patrick and provides the audience with a few laughs.

Hank Azaria evilly played Gargamel as a nasty yet funny wizard who enjoyed emerging from the steam (that came out of the grates in the city streets) because “it was fun”. Also, he was not very nice to his cat Azrael. He would make Azrael venture into the unknown to see if it was safe, and then he would ask “Are you dead??”. It was pretty funny.

The animation was well done. As far as the 3D effects go, I don’t think they were necessary, although the Smurfs were so cute!! I want some. This is definitely a kids movie, as there were a TON of kids at the screening I attended. Fans of the 80′s cartoon will enjoy the movie, and especially the credits which are peppered with images of the Smurfs from the original cartoons. And, be warned, you WILL walk out of the theater singing, or at least humming, the “Smurfs” theme song!!

The BETTER “No Strings Attached”

Dylan (Justin Timberlake) writes an internet blog.  Jamie (Mila Kunis, who wears amazing yet very high heels throughout this movie…walking around New York City!!!  How does she do that??) is a headhunter who lives and works in New York City.  She meets Dylan when she is working for GQ to hire a new manager, and Dylan is perfect for the job.  When he takes the position and agrees to move to NYC, Dylan and Jamie become close friends.  They watch movies together, go out to lunch together, and have fun together, just like friends do.

Since Dylan and Jamie are both single now, while watching a movie one night (I can’t remember the name, but it was a typical annoying Hollywood romance, starring Jason Segel and Rashida Jones.  It was funny because it was set in NYC but filmed in Los Angeles and that was painfully obvious) and enjoying a few beers, they both decide that they miss sex.  So they decide to do it.  They swear on an iPad bible app that it won’t ruin their friendship, and that it will be just this one time.

When they make it to the bedroom, the dialogue is very untypical yet hilarious!!  Dylan admits that he is grossed out by feet, so he wears socks.  ALL THE TIME (yes, even in bed).   He also has a tattoo of a lightning bolt, because when he was younger he wanted to be a superhero, and he is also a fan of the Harry Potter books!!  Of course, just this one time turns into many more times, until Jamie decides she wants to start dating again for real.  So they go back to being friends.

Jamie meets Parker (Bryan Greenberg), a child oncologist who seems perfect, but of course he turns out to be a jerk.  And Dylan has one date with a woman who is just way too into sniffing his armpits (weird!!).  When Jamie gets dumped by both Parker and her mother on Fourth of July weekend, Dylan invites her to come with him to Los Angeles to visit his family.

While, there, Jamie learns about Dylan’s obsession with Kris Kross’s song “Jump” when he was younger which leads to a fun scene.  They also have an incident at the Hollywood sign which ends in someone being lifted away by a helicopter. Also while there, things take a turn for the worse as Jamie overhears Dylan saying some not-so-nice things about her to his sister.  She decides to head back to NYC early, and from there things get rocky between the friends, because Jamie has feelings for Dylan.

I won’t say what happens next, although it’s not too hard to figure out.

There is a lot of talk about the similarity of “Friends with Benefits” to “No Strings Attached”.  Yes, they both had similar plots; however “Friends with Benefits” was WAY better.  I’m not just saying that because I’m a borderline obsessive Justin Timberlake fan.  The acting was better, there was actual chemistry between the lead actors, the story flowed much better, and overall it was just a lot funnier.  One of the scenes near the beginning was very clever, and the fun didn’t stop there!!  Also, the supporting characters were more fun in “Friends with Benefits”.  Tommy (Woody Harrelson) was hilarious as the gay sports writer for GQ, who kept trying to get Dylan to go out trolling for men with him.

Dylan’s sister Annie (Jenna Elfman), her son Sam (Nolan Gould), an aspiring magician whose tricks never really went right, and Dylan’s father (Richard Jenkins) gave great performances.  It was sad to see Dylan’s father suffering from Alzheimer’s.  Annie and Dylan had to keep explaining to their father why their mother was no longer there (divorce) or why he couldn’t go out on his boat (they sold it), yet it was funny when he decided he didn’t like pants anymore so he took them off (at the airport).  Jamie’s mother, Lorna (Patricia Clarkson, who also starred with Justin Timberlake in the SNL Digital Short “Motherlover”) was flaky yet funny.  Although mother and daughter didn’t have the greatest relationship, they still got along ok overall.

Overall, “Friends with Benefits” is a raunchy, hilarious comedy that will make your stomach hurt from laughing so hard.  This was another excellent movie from Will Gluck, who also directed one of my favorite movies from last year, “Easy A”.  (Fun Fact:  Emma Stone, who played the lead in “Easy A” has a small part in this movie as Dylan’s ex-girlfriend).   Please leave the kids at home for this one!!