# Friends with Benefits (film)
*Friends with Benefits* is a 2011 American romantic comedy directed by [Will Gluck](https://www.edgepedia.org/will-gluck), starring [Justin Timberlake](https://www.edgepedia.org/justin-timberlake) as Dylan and [Mila Kunis](https://www.edgepedia.org/mila-kunis) as Jamie, two New Yorkers who agree to a sexual relationship without emotional attachment and then fall in love anyway.[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/8a282c5c-f3c6-5a86-998a-67d5b56f835f/friends-with-benefits) • [2](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/friendswithbenefits) Screen Gems released the film in the United States on July 22, 2011.[3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/friends-with-benefits/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and writers | Directed by Will Gluck; written by Keith Merryman, David A. Newman, Will Gluck, and Harley Peyton[3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/friends-with-benefits/) |
| Leads | Justin Timberlake as Dylan, a Los Angeles art director recruited by headhunter Jamie (Mila Kunis)[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/8a282c5c-f3c6-5a86-998a-67d5b56f835f/friends-with-benefits) • [4](https://theindependentcritic.com/friends_with_benefits) |
| Release and rating | July 22, 2011 (US), Screen Gems, rated R, 109 minutes[3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/friends-with-benefits/) • [4](https://theindependentcritic.com/friends_with_benefits) |
| Box office | Approximately $149.5 million worldwide[5](https://usa.newonnetflix.info/info/70167075) |
| Critical reception | Metascore 63 ("Generally Favorable") from 37 critic reviews; user score 6.7 from 352 ratings[3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/friends-with-benefits/) |
| Production companies | Screen Gems, Castle Rock Entertainment, Zucker Productions, Olive Bridge Entertainment[3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/friends-with-benefits/) |
| Nominations | Teen Choice Awards 2011 for both leads; People's Choice Award 2012 for Favorite Comedy Movie; Rembrandt Award 2012[6](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/friends-with-benefits/2000175076/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and premise
Dylan (Justin Timberlake) is done with relationships, and Jamie (Mila Kunis) has decided to stop buying into what she calls the Hollywood cliché of true love. When Jamie, a headhunter, recruits Dylan from Los Angeles for a job as art director at *GQ* in New York, the two become friends and decide to take advantage of their mutual attraction without emotional attachment, on the understanding that they will stop if either develops feelings.[2](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/friendswithbenefits) • [7](https://waarkanikdatkijken.nl/friends-with-benefits) The arrangement holds at first, but the two fall in love and have to work out what they mean to each other.[7](https://waarkanikdatkijken.nl/friends-with-benefits)
The supporting cast includes [Patricia Clarkson](https://www.edgepedia.org/patricia-clarkson) as Jamie's mother Lorna, Richard Jenkins as Dylan's father, a character with Alzheimer's, Woody Harrelson as a sports editor at the magazine, and [Jenna Elfman](https://www.edgepedia.org/jenna-elfman), Bryan Greenberg, Nolan Gould, Andy Samberg, snowboarder [Shaun White](https://www.edgepedia.org/shaun-white), and Emma Stone in supporting roles.[5](https://usa.newonnetflix.info/info/70167075) • [3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/friends-with-benefits/) • [8](https://www.independent.com/2011/07/27/friends-benefits-2/)
## Self-awareness and genre commentary
The film is unusually self-aware as a romantic comedy, containing numerous references to the conventions of the genre. Jamie's opening line complains about "this bullshit Hollywood cliché of true love" as she watches a fictional romantic comedy, and her mother (Patricia Clarkson) suggests a mother-daughter weekend "like a Nora Ephron movie" and tells Jamie her fairy tale needs updating.[9](https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send?accession=osu1531250614267114&disposition=inline) The film also includes a fake movie-within-the-movie that parodies the genre's sentimentality, and a post-credits scene has the couple in bed mocking the outtakes of that fake film.[8](https://www.independent.com/2011/07/27/friends-benefits-2/)
Academic commentary has read the film as an example of the romance genre's persistence: despite the protagonists' declared exhaustion with romantic clichés, the story still follows the standard formula in which friendship between a man and a woman ends in heterosexual romance.[9](https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send?accession=osu1531250614267114&disposition=inline) • [10](https://journals.ub.uni-koeln.de/index.php/genderforum/article/download/3340/3449/12253)
## Reception
Critics rated the film favorably on balance. Its Metacritic score of 63 reflects 25 positive, 10 mixed, and 2 negative reviews among 37 counted.[3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/friends-with-benefits/) Reviewers singled out the chemistry and banter between Timberlake and Kunis; [Roger Moore](https://www.edgepedia.org/roger-moore) of the Orlando Sentinel praised the "snappy, rapid-fire banter," and the New Orleans Times-Picayune called it one of the best comedies of the year to that point.[11](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/friends-with-benefits/critic-reviews/) Critics also noted that the film finds its footing once the physical relationship ends and Patricia Clarkson and [Richard Jenkins](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-jenkins) appear as the loving but imperfect parents who explain why both leads are gun-shy about commitment.[11](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/friends-with-benefits/critic-reviews/) Less favorable responses pointed to the predictable plot; the Santa Barbara Independent wrote that the film's charm flattens as it moves into the expected romantic resolution.[8](https://www.independent.com/2011/07/27/friends-benefits-2/)
The film earned approximately $149.5 million at the box office from its July 21, 2011 initial release.[5](https://usa.newonnetflix.info/info/70167075)
## Relation to No Strings Attached
*Friends with Benefits* was one of two 2011 Hollywood romantic comedies built on the same premise, the other being *[No Strings Attached](https://www.edgepedia.org/no-strings-attached-film)*, released in January 2011, in which [Natalie Portman](https://www.edgepedia.org/natalie-portman) and [Ashton Kutcher](https://www.edgepedia.org/ashton-kutcher) play lifelong friends who agree to a sex-only relationship.[12](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/no_strings_attached_2011) • [13](https://www.slashfilm.com/556088/friends-with-benefits-vs-no-strings-attached/) The two films opened about six months apart, both starred an actor from *Black Swan* and both grossed similar worldwide amounts; *No Strings Attached* took $70,662,220 domestically and $78,565,858 internationally.[13](https://www.slashfilm.com/556088/friends-with-benefits-vs-no-strings-attached/) • [14](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/No-Strings-Attached) Critics generally rated *Friends with Benefits* higher: *No Strings Attached* opened with reviews under 50 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and one review in the Ransom Fellowship's *Critique* called *Friends With Benefits* "far better than the earlier release, No Strings Attached, which has a similar plot and theme."[15](https://www.thewrap.com/box-office-no-strings-takes-solid-204m-24143/) • [16](https://ransomfellowship.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Critique52011.pdf)
## Production background
Will Gluck came to the film as the writer-director of *Easy A* (2010), his breakout hit, and had spent more than a decade in television working with Mitch Hurwitz (*Arrested Development*) and Darren Star (*Sex and the City*) before running his own productions, including the Fox comedies *The Loop* and *Luis*. Neither *Easy A* nor the original drafts of *Friends With Benefits* were written by Gluck.[17](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-xpm-2011-jul-19-la-et-will-gluck-20110719-story.html) The film was produced by Martin Shafer, Liz Glotzer, Jerry Zucker, Janet Zucker, and Will Gluck.[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/8a282c5c-f3c6-5a86-998a-67d5b56f835f/friends-with-benefits)
## Home media and streaming
The film is available on Digital, Blu-ray, and DVD, with DVD extras including a commentary with Will Gluck, Justin Timberlake, and Mila Kunis, deleted scenes, and outtakes.[2](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/friendswithbenefits) • [4](https://theindependentcritic.com/friends_with_benefits) It has cycled on and off American Netflix several times, most recently added on October 1, 2025 and scheduled for removal on April 1, 2026.[5](https://usa.newonnetflix.info/info/70167075)
## References
1. [Friends with Benefits (2011), British Film Institute](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/8a282c5c-f3c6-5a86-998a-67d5b56f835f/friends-with-benefits)
2. [Friends with Benefits, Sony Pictures Entertainment](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/friendswithbenefits)
3. [Friends with Benefits, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/friends-with-benefits/)
4. [The Independent Critic: Friends With Benefits review](https://theindependentcritic.com/friends_with_benefits)
5. [Is 'Friends with Benefits' on Netflix?, New On Netflix USA](https://usa.newonnetflix.info/info/70167075)
6. [Friends with Benefits, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/friends-with-benefits/2000175076/)
7. [Friends with Benefits (2011) kijken, WaarKanIkDatKijken](https://waarkanikdatkijken.nl/friends-with-benefits)
8. [Friends with Benefits, The Santa Barbara Independent](https://www.independent.com/2011/07/27/friends-benefits-2/)
9. [Ohio State University thesis on romantic comedy conventions](https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send?accession=osu1531250614267114&disposition=inline)
10. [Genderforum: friendship and romance in recent Hollywood comedy](https://journals.ub.uni-koeln.de/index.php/genderforum/article/download/3340/3449/12253)
11. [Friends with Benefits critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/friends-with-benefits/critic-reviews/)
12. [No Strings Attached (2011), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/no_strings_attached_2011)
13. [Seeing Double: 'Friends With Benefits' Vs 'No Strings Attached', SlashFilm](https://www.slashfilm.com/556088/friends-with-benefits-vs-no-strings-attached/)
14. [No Strings Attached (2011) box office, The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/No-Strings-Attached)
15. [Box Office: 'No Strings' Takes in Solid $20.3M, TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/box-office-no-strings-takes-solid-204m-24143/)
16. [Critique 2011:5, Ransom Fellowship](https://ransomfellowship.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Critique52011.pdf)
17. [Will Gluck experiences the benefits of success, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-xpm-2011-jul-19-la-et-will-gluck-20110719-story.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 2011 to 2012 › Released in 2011*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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