No Strings Attached
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: January 21, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
50
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
21
Negative:
2
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJan 20, 2011
Ivan Reitman directed, with great verve and unflagging finesse, from a terrifically funny script by Elizabeth Meriwether. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTom RussoJan 20, 2011
The film is also packed with enough sharply scripted screwiness from Adam's roommate (Jake Johnson), Emma's roomie (Greta Gerwig), and others to keep viewer impatience to a minimum. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie RickeyJan 20, 2011
Kutcher and Portman have terrific screen physics, using their 12-inch height difference to considerable slapstick effect. Read full review
75
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallJan 20, 2011
Doesn't revolutionize the romantic comedy like "(500) Days of Summer," or even match the Farrellys or Judd Apatow for clever smut. But it is cheerful raunch delivered by a solid cast. Read full review
75
Orlando SentinelRoger MooreJan 19, 2011
It's a movie benefiting from another sparkling, sexy and emotionally available performance by Natalie Portman. Read full review
70
MovielineStephanie ZacharekJan 20, 2011
It's all just too cute for words, and more's the pity. Because in the end, No Strings Attached is more meaningful for what it does rather than for what it says along the way. Read full review
70
Village VoiceKarina LongworthJan 18, 2011
At times, No Strings Attached feels almost shockingly attuned to the particular angst of its time and place. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJan 22, 2011
The film isn't helped by Kline's cameo, although his comic timing is impeccable. The problem is that what he's timing – the role of an aging ego-swelled roué – is very tired stuff. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsJan 20, 2011
No Strings Attached isn't a BAD piece of formulaic product. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorJan 21, 2011
Not half bad for a formulaic rom-com. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia PuigJan 20, 2011
The few genuinely comic moments and deviations from cutesy rom-com formula make you wish No Strings Attached had traveled a more distinctively offbeat path. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezJan 20, 2011
It makes the predictable journey surprisingly fun and enjoyable. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJan 19, 2011
There are fitful sparks between him (Kutcher) and Portman, but he is unable to sustain viewer interest in his character. She becomes the dominant figure and that throws off No Strings Attached's balance and impacts the all-important chemistry. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJan 19, 2011
It leads exactly where we think it will on a sometimes funny, ultimately predictable, journey. Read full review
60
VarietyJustin ChangJan 17, 2011
As it is, No Strings Attached is content to be sweet rather than edgy, to make you go "awww" instead of "hmmm." Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumJan 20, 2011
Adam is cute and all, but the real strings worth tying are those that bind this sisterhood of sharp, interesting, sexually active women together. Where's THEIR starring movie? Read full review
50
TimeRichard CorlissJan 24, 2011
The picture is no great shakes as cinema, and a shade too cute for its own good. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderBen SachsJan 22, 2011
The charismatic leads keep this watchable, but it's a waste of their talents. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonJan 21, 2011
A foul-mouthed comedy, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. "Bad Santa" (2003) also had plenty of crude language and lewd behavior. The difference is, "Bad Santa" was extremely funny. Read full review
50
New York PostLou LumenickJan 21, 2011
The movie quickly sinks into a terminal case of the cutes and extreme predictability - amid the usual surfeit of wacky supporting characters. Read full review
50
SalonAndrew O'HehirJan 20, 2011
But when people have sex in a movie -- that wasn't, you know, made in Hungary and meant to convince you that life is meaningless -- isn't it a good idea to make it seem kind of hot? Because on that score, No Strings Attached is a near-total failure. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJan 20, 2011
The movie is just good enough to make us want more and to understand what's missing. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter TraversJan 20, 2011
What's in this cliché grab bag for moviegoers? Well, Portman and Kutcher are a cute mismatch. She's short to his tall, sassy to his sweet, etc. I dried up here. So does the movie. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJan 20, 2011
You've seen worse. The film industry is capable of better. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertJan 19, 2011
The movie is rated R, but it's the most watery R I've seen. It's more of a PG-13 playing dress-up. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyJan 17, 2011
Predictable, cutesy and nowhere near hot-blooded enough. Read full review
40
EmpireSimond BraundFeb 21, 2011
Not a bad premise, but material demanding a light touch is weighed down by a desperate desire to fit in, like a little kid swearing to impress the big boys. Read full review
40
The New YorkerDavid DenbyFeb 5, 2011
May have been written by a young woman, but it feels like a middle-aged man's fantasies about young people. The dialogue is actually - to retrieve an old word - vulgar. [7 Feb. 2011, p. 82]
40
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesJan 26, 2011
Bell steals every scene she's in, and her abrupt dismissal feels all the crueler for so much charisma wasted: She shoulda been a contender. Read full review
40
SlateDana StevensJan 20, 2011
No Strings wants to be raunchy enough to pull in the dude crowd and snuggly enough to draw couples on dates. Instead, it's an inoffensive bore with occasional R-rated sex scenes that strain for cutesy shock value. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyJan 20, 2011
Sadly, an obsession with raunchy one-liners trips everything up, turning a clever conceit into something closer to a sleazy, cheesy affair. Read full review
40
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJan 20, 2011
Not entirely terrible. That is high praise indeed, given that this is a film aspiring to match the achievement of "27 Dresses," "When in Rome" and "Leap Year." Read full review
40
Boxoffice MagazineWade MajorJan 19, 2011
Tedious and forgettable. Read full review
40
Time OutNick SchagerJan 19, 2011
Remember the "Seinfeld" episode in which Jerry and Elaine try to become friends with benefits, and set up unsustainable ground rules for their new arrangement? Imagine it rewritten by the Romantic Comeditron 2000 as a profanity-laced schmaltzfest, and you've got this tone-deaf dud. Read full review
30
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinJan 24, 2011
No Strings Attached is so palpably calculated that you know if the camera had pulled back a foot from the bed in which Portman and Kutcher were pretending to have sex, you'd have seen their agents standing by beaming: proud parents, proud pimps. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanJan 20, 2011
On the bright side, Ivan Reitman's disappointing new comedy isn't just cheap and formulaic, but so forgettable few people will even remember she (Portman) was in it. Read full review
More From This Movie

50 Critic Reviews

5.5 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL