Everyone's a whore, aka friends with benefits

A big part of what I do with this blog is take different trends that I notice and point them out to you, dear reader. The latest trend that can be found in your neighborhood cineplex is young actors starring in romantic comedies centered around sex. While sex has always played a role in romantic comedies, these recent movies are all centered around it. The first in the recent trend was Love and Other Drugs.

We've come a long way from Pillow Talk.

A pharmaceutical rep and the future Catwoman actress start off their relationship casually, and soon realize how much they mean to each other. It was advertised as a modern look at dating and sex, starring two well-established young actors of our generation. While this story is nothing new to audiences, the prospect of seeing Anne Hathaway's boobs was enough for it to make $84 million in box office.

Next comes No Strings Attached, a look at casual sex starring Ashton Kutcher (who can do this role in his sleep by now) and, curiously enough, Natalie Portman. This is surprising because, unlike Kutcher, Portman always seemed to have artistic integrity. Either way somehow she found herself in an Ashton Kutcher romantic comedy. Like Love and Other Drugs, No Strings Attached has been awarded with mediocre reviews. That's forgiven though, because thanks to No Strings Attached we now have a poster of a post-sex Portman wearing only a dress shirt.

There is nothing better than a girl wearing only a dress shirt (or a Dolphins jersey).

Strangely enough, No Strings Attached use to be called Friends with Benefits until the studio realized a similar movie was being made with that title. The movie that was finally awarded the name has the same basic plot and stars Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis. Coincidences continue between the two projects. No Strings Attached was also the name of a album by Timberlake's band 'N Sync. On top of this, Kunis just got done starring with Portman in Black Swan and use to star in That 70s Show with Kutcher. Do these coincidences mean anything? No, but I just find them interesting.

Thankfully, we have a modern sex/relationship story that can be called a film. Blue Valentine, starring the talented Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams was released nation wide just last month. Gosling, who teenage girls everywhere love for The Notebook, now has a much more serious doomed love story to stick in his resume. A non-linear look at a couple's lives (think like 500 Days of Summer only not for laughs), Blue Valentine has already been condemned for its sexual scenes, almost forcing an edit in order to avoid an NC-17 rating. Ratings have been extremely favorable however, and it just goes to show that you can still make a film exploring relationships as well as sex.

I do wanna see this film.

Overall, I think these movies are a turning point in a generation's identity. Aside from sex these movies all have one thing in common, the young actors in it. Each generation has its Big Chill or When Harry Met Sally..., movies that encapsulates their view of sex and relationships. With the current young adult generation becoming full-fledged adults, the movies are going to start and represent that shift using its actors. Portman herself began acting as a preteen in Leon: The Professional. As we follow her career we can see the shift in that generation of actors towards more pedestrian romantic comedies. Just how Meg Ryan became the romcom staple of her generation, soon our generation will find it's own. It's all a part of growing up. Only this time the sex is much more casual.

If only it was as easy as the movies make it out to be.

Hollywood has discovered this idea of casual sex and are running with it. By combining the tension of relationships and the excitement of sex, producers feel that they have found the answer to the Ross and Rachel relationship model. Now, they can have their cake and eat it too in the most unoriginal way possible. No further proof is needed then the fact that two movies were made at the same time titled Friends with Benefits and to top it all off, an unrelated television show by the same name is being released on NBC (the creators of the Ross and Rachel dynamic). Producers know more than anyone that sex sells. And, just like Snorg T-shirts, they know that sticking boobs under a crappy product is enough to generate interest.

You're lying if you say the shirt was the first thing you looked at.