When the first Friends With Benefits trailer was released, the casual-sex rom-com was still in danger of being eclipsed by identical-seeming casual-sex rom-com No Strings Attached. And while the latter has done reasonably well at the box office, it didn’t quite become an all-encompassing cultural force, quoted in airport bathroom lines and Quiznos staff break rooms worldwide. That means Friends still has a shot to be the one casual-sex rom-com everyone remembers: the Armageddon to Strings’ Deep Impact, the Prefontaine to its Without Limits, the Dante’s Peak to its Volcano. Things working in Friends’ favor: cameos from Andy Samberg and Emma Stone; Patricia Clarkson, fondling Justin Timberlake (aforementioned S&M Clarkson, not as much); JT in braids, possibly from leftover ‘N Sync promo shots; Mila Kunis, in character, getting worked up about Katherine Heigl. Things not: Jenna Elfman, 39, playing the woman who gave Justin Timberlake, 30, birth. Not a bad tally!
