Nonetheless, “Friends with Benefits” is the superior film this year about two attractive people that decide to give consequence-free coitus a try. The first, “No Strings Attached,” was unwatchable, vulgar trash starring Natalie Portman as the world’s least convincing adult (her Oscar was basically for playing a child) and Ashton Kutcher, the world’s least anything (his finest work remains as the abused casino patron in “Reindeer Games”).

Directed by the once competent Ivan Reitman, the film wholly lacked charm, believable characters, and decency. Gluck, director of “Fired Up!” and “Easy A,” is at times able to surmount his own smugness as a filmmaker and thus come out with a perfectly serviceable romantic comedy, albeit one not deserving of much more praise than that.

“Friends with Benefits” features better and even more attractive talent in the form of Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake, who make the premise work because they actually have chemistry in the friend mode.

Timberlake plays a hotshot blogger (this is almost an oxymoron), Kunis a headhunter. Jamie brings Dylan to New York City, where he signs up with GQ magazine and moves into a luxurious apartment more suited to the real Justin Timberlake than any magazine writer I’ve ever heard of.

Naturally, not long passes before they’ve hammered out a relationship based on friendship and sex, ensuring that some considerable emotional wrangling occurs before they just get to the point and change their relationship statuses on Facebook. Fodder for the comments section: do these arrangements ever work out well in real life?

“Friends with Benefits” wholly earns its R-rating with simulated sex and ample discussion of the act, but the tone is one of enjoyment and growing affection. It’s not uproarious, but there are more laughs per half hour than on any CBS sitcom, which passes the minimum number required for a screen comedy to claim effectiveness. “No Strings Attached” came with an unintentional awkwardness and dearth of romantic chemistry that made the casualness of the sex far dirtier than it had to be, which could have been forgiven had the film actually been funny (it wasn’t).

Kunis wears the role of sexy guy’s girl like a glove, that sort of cinematic woman who just about any man would kill for a date with yet struggles to find Mr. Right at the convenience of the script. Her effervescence is, unlike her “Black Swan” co-star Portman’s, one that can appeal to a more mature mindset instead of only those whose romantic impulses are stirred by childish behavior and fluttering eyes.

Timberlake has shown considerable improvement since his acting career began, conveying convincing sensitivity throughout. While Kutcher couldn’t be less believable as a sensitive, heartbroken professional, Timberlake has an ease to him, a lack of something to prove that goes far here. Most importantly, he conveys convincing sensitivity during dramatic scenes with Kunis and the fine character actor Richard Jenkins, who plays his Movie Alzheimer’s-afflicted father.

Despite the script’s massively irritating pokes at the genre, there is some genuine genre insight in how it skirts some tropes, such as villainous rival suitors, although it indulges too many others, including ones it explicitly ridicules. The film’s gags at the expense of silly romantic comedies, especially in the final scene, serve as awkward reminders of what we just watched.

Author’s Note: Movie Alzheimer’s is an unfortunate disease often afflicting the parents and grandparents of film protagonists. It’s much like regular Alzheimer’s, only its sufferers are able to summon lucidity at important moments in the script, as well as manage to look handsome enough not to seriously sadden the audience. Roger Ebert has oft written about this terrible ailment, but with the help of good screenwriters, this disease may one day be eradicated.

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What’s even more surprising is that the film serves as the comeback vehicle for Jennifer Lopez after a string of cinematic bad luck that includes what is easily regarded as one of the 10 worst films ever made (“Gigli”), a film that went straight to DVD – “Bordertown” – and the poorly received “El Cantante,” in which she co-starred with her husband, Latin singing superstar Marc Anthony. But J. Lo has proven her ability to charm audiences in her fair share of hits (“Maid in Manhattan,” “The Wedding Planner”) as well, and she delivers a wonderfully rounded performance here.

Lopez portrays Zoe, a woman approaching 40 without Mr. Right in tow (I know, this seems impossible with a woman of J. Lo’s beauty, but she makes it work). But she wants a kid, so she enacts her back-up plan: artificial insemination. The film follows Zoe as she visits the sperm bank right before finally meeting Stan, the dude who wins her heart (Aussie actor Tom O’Laughlin, who shows the charm that built him a rabid cult following playing a vampire on the former CBS series “Moonlight.”)

Stan is a cheese maker and salesman who is secretly trying to finish college late in life, and after they meet-cute, fight and then develop the inevitable mutual attraction, they gradually decide to reinvent the typical relationship playbook and turn her single-motherhood into a shot at a lasting relationship. So far, so cliché, right?

Yet writer Karen Angelo, a veteran of TV sitcoms like “Becker” and “Will & Grace,” makes the film zing with plenty of great one-liners from a multitude of characters and pop with plenty of physical humor as well. Such quality writing no doubt attracted the sterling cast, which features everyone from ancient comic pros Robert Klein, Tom Bosley and Linda Lavin to great new faces like “SNL” breakout actress Michaela Watkins in the role of Zoe’s best friend, who’s always loudly dishing out way too much information about her promiscuous single days and her post-childbirth body.

Meanwhile, veteran character actor Anthony Anderson (now a star on “Law and Order”) provides the same hilarious counterpoint to O’Loughlin in a couple of quick but memorable scenes. Yet some of the best moments come about through an outrageous series of sessons Zoe shares with a single mothers’ group, leading to a tour de force childbirth scene that had the audience rolling with Zoe and Stan’s reactions to the horrific sights and sounds of watching a home-based birth in a plastic swimming pool.

Director Alan Poul (HBO’s “Six Feet Under”) pulls it all together with an impressive sweep, effectively balancing serious emotional scenes (which are still kept to an essential minimum) and the comedic ones. He also does a fine job with an extensive sequence set on Stan’s country farm, providing a nice change of pace and adding a sense of scope to the film’s city scenes . And it’s not often that I comment on a film’s score unless it’s gratingly bad (the recent “Cop Out,” for instance), but Stephen Trask provides music that’s a true pleasure, adding to both the film’s classy tone and sense of perky uplift.

By now, you’ll have probably noticed that the film addresses these issues in a purely secular fashion, without passing judgment on what in real life would be complex or highly questionable moral situations. So, your enjoyment of “The Back-Up Plan” will partly hinge on whether you’re able to separate the film and see it in simple fictional entertainment terms. If so, put it all together and “The Back-Up Plan” is a perfect date night film that should be first on any couple’s list of a great movie night this weekend.

The film had a rather surprisingly strong opening weekend at the U.S. box office, finishing on top of the heap with a take of $34.1 million in North American ticket sales.

It’s the first film starring Sandra Bullock in a decade to reach number one. Men accounted for a healthy 37 percent of the audience, according to Reuters. The film’s trailers and commercials strongly established the film as a by-the-books romantic comedy centered on a distinctly meager and unoriginal comic premise: female executive fakes engagement to her assistant in order to escape deportation (she’s from Canada). When she takes him to meet her family, hilarity ensues.

Obviously that’s recycled from Green Card and numerous recent romcoms such as Meet the Parents, but the routine nature of the film’s concept may actually be a very good sign. In Hollywood’s Golden Age of the 1930s and ’40s, plots were routinely recycled and varied in amazingly minute ways, yet the wit of the writing, the appeal of the performers, and the understated competence of the direction made the resulting films quite appealing and still enjoyable today.

The Proposal is a clear throwback to that approach, though in a more vulgar contemporary cultural context. Unfortunately, the latter works greatly against the film, though first-weekend audiences wouldn’t have known that, as the trailers and commercials for the film presented it as a charmer. But in the actual film, Bullock’s character is decidedly unlikeable, and only Bullock’s inherent sweetness rescues the character from being a horror.

Bullock’s appeal has always been far from glamor or sensuality; instead she has typically projected in her performances a sense of kindness, intelligence, and fundamental decency. In addition, costar Ryan Reynolds fits well in this film as a clean-cut romantic lead for the likable Bullock. Reynolds’ evident personal charisma keeps his character from appearing to be an awful wimp in the early sequences.
Thus it seems evident that the producers realized that mean-spiritedness would not be a good selling point for the movie, and they took steps to mitigate it in the casting and public relations. Hence it’s interesting that The Proposal and the brilliant, positive Pixar film Up finished first and third while the very successful raunchy comedy The Hangover and the newly released raunchy comedy Year One finished second and fourth.

If the initial success of The Proposal holds up for a solid theatrical run–it won’t be number one this weekend with the release of the second Transformers film, but can still do well if Bullock and Reynolds have sufficiently overcome the meanness and cliches of the screenplay and thus audience word of mouth is positive–perhaps it can help establish a trend toward greater charm, wit, and decency in romantic comedies.

More of that in Hollywood’s output would be quite welcome.

A shiny new Enterprise is luring in a new generation of STAR TREK fans

J.J. Abrams is officially the Lazarus of movie directors as his all-new Star Trek has gone “Boldly Gone Where No Star Trek Movie has Gone Before.” With a cast of relative unknowns, the 42-year-old has resurrected a franchise that had been killed by insular “nerdyness” and timid imagination. The Gene Rodenberry creation didn’t so much bomb as it died slowly over a period of years. First, the 2002 movie Star Trek: Nemesis starring the Next Generation cast disappointed with a meager $43.3M domestic. Then, the final TV series Enterprise, which starred Scott Bakula, was not embraced by core fans or broader audiences and was canceled after four seasons, ending May 13, 2005.

Director J.J. Abrams will definitely "Live long and prosper"

Now riding a staggering 96% Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes – that’s 96% of America’s movie critics issuing positive reviews – The Enterprise is riding high again thanks to the creator of TV hits Alias and Lost. Try getting 96% of any group to agree on anything. It’s no small feat. Compare Star Trek’s RT score against the ratings for the last 5 Best Picture winners.

STAR TREK has better reviews than Oscars darling SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORES FOR THE LAST 5 OSCAR WINNERS
2004 – Million Dollar Baby – 91% Fresh
2005 – Crash – 75% Fresh
2006 – The Departed – 92% Fresh
2007 – No Country For Old Men – 94% Fresh
2008 – Slumdog Millionaire – 94% Fresh

The original STAR TREK cast (above) with the next generation of franchise stars

With the ringing endorsement of tough-to-please critics, Star Trek hit warp speed at the box office last night with lightly-promoted preview screenings starting at 7pm. The impeccably-reviewed feature film seized an estimated $7M or so in Thursday night ticket sales. The idea may have been to get some of the hardcore Trekkies and Trekkers out of the way, clearing multiplexes for mainstream movie audiences today, and they have showed up in massive numbers.

William Shatner (left) with Captain Kirk 2.0 Chris Pine

With Chris Pine (Bottle Shock) in the legendary role of Captain Kirk and Zachary Quinto (NBC’s Heroes) wearing the pointy ears made famous by Leonard Nimoy, Star Trek has soared to a history-making $26M on its official opening day according to multiple studio execs, double the previous-best opening day for any movie in the franchise. That means in the first 29 hours of general release, the re-imagined sci-fi blockbuster has delivered an estimated $33M.

STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT had the previous-best opening day in franchise history

ALL-TIME TOP 5 OPENING DAYS FOR STAR TREK MOVIES
1. Star Trek (2009) – $26M [$33M in its first 29 hours]
2. Star Trek: First Contact (1996) – $13M
3. Star Trek: Generations (1994) – $9.7M
4. Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) – $9.5M
5. Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) – $7.7M

How will the weekend play out? The Thursday night preview screenings will probably make Star Trek a bit less front-loaded. In fact, I’m guessing that, based on word-of-mouth and its family-friendly PG-13 rating, my sources believe that the movie could get a 5% boost on Saturday to a possible $27.3M, followed by an aggressive Mother’s Day drop of 40% on Sunday. That would mean a 4-day gross of almost $77M or so.

The great news for Paramount and Abrams and Pine and Quinto and the rest of the cast is that Star Trek will almost certainly have the best legs of any of this summer’s major tent-pole movies. Rank-and-file moviegoers are likely to discover Star Trek for the first time in coming weeks or, now that Trek is cool again, it may rekindle interest with core fans who rejected the most recent incarnations.

STAR TREK could have "legs" like BATMAN BEGINS

It will not be a surprise to see Star Trek sail past $200M. After all, 2005’s Batman Begins performed that way. The Christopher Nolan Batman reboot opened on a Wednesday with $15M and had banked $72.9M in 5 days. Based on that movie’s Friday-thru-Sunday of $48.7M, the first Batman movie in 8 years reached its $205M domestic total at a 4.2 multiple (4.2 X $48.7 got Nolan’s original to $205M). Anticipating a 4.2 multiple for Star Trek is probably overreaching, but a 3.4-3.5 multiple is possible. That would propel Abrams and company to well past $200M.

Competing studio execs  tell me that X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Fox) took a big tumble as expected. The Hugh Jackman X-Men spin-off only mustered $9.15M or so on its second Friday, but it will still likely top $27.95M for the weekend, down about 67%. Meanwhile, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (Warner Bros) coaxed about $3M to start the frame, and it will likely be helped by Mother’s Day, grabbing a possible $10M, down a mere 35% from last weekend.

Beyonce continues to sell tickets in OBSESSED

Obsessed, the low budget sizzler from Sony Screen Gems, continues to outperform its low expectations with $2M on Friday, which pushes the Beyonce catfight flick past $50M. The thriller should finish the 3-day with about $6.25M and a spectacular $55.89M by Monday.

The urban-geared comedy Next Day Air (Summit) got off to a disappointing start with just $1.25M (likely #5 for the day), and it will drift down the top ten to #6 for the weekend with a meager $4.1M or so from its thousand or so playdates.

The Zac Efron comedy 17 Again (Warner Bros) will likely spend another weekend in the top five with about $1.15M on Friday and about $4.5M for 3 days. That will give the Efron vehicle a new domestic cume of about $54.26M.

EXCLUSIVE STEVE MASON EARLY FRIDAY ESTIMATES
1. NEW – Star Trek (Paramount) – $26M, $6,755 PTA, $33M
2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Fox) – $9.15M, $2,231 PTA, $111.77M cume
3. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (Warner Bros) – $3.05M, $961 PTA, $22.84M
4. Obsessed (Sony) – $2M, $769 PTA, $51.64M cume
5. NEW – Next Day Air (Summit) – $1.25M, $1,098 PTA, $1.25M  cume
6. 17 Again (Warner Bros) – $1.15M, $396 PTA, $50.91M cume
7. The Soloist (Dreamworks/Paramount) – $1M, $478 PTA, $20.89M cume
8. Monsters vs. Aliens (Dreamworks/Paramount) – $847,000, $388 PTA, $184.36M cume
9. Earth (Disney) – $697,000, $389 PTA, $24.29M cume
10. Hannah Montana: The Movie (Disney) – $690,000, $300 PTA, $72.35M cume

EXCLUSIVE STEVE MASON EARLY 3-DAY ESTIMATES
1. NEW – Star Trek (Paramount) – $69.68M, $18,103 PTA, $76.68M
2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Fox) – $27.95M, $6,814 PTA, $130.57M cume
3. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (Warner Bros) – $10.06M, $3,170 PTA, $29.86M
4. Obsessed (Sony) – $6.25M, $2,402 PTA, $55.89M cume
5. 17 Again (Warner Bros) – $4.5M, $1,550 PTA, $54.26M cume
6. NEW – Next Day Air (Summit) – $4.1M, $3,603 PTA, $4.1M  cume
7. The Soloist (Dreamworks/Paramount) – $3.6M, $1,722 PTA, $23.49M cume
8. Monsters vs. Aliens (Dreamworks/Paramount) – $3.55M, $1,625 PTA, $187.06M cume
9. Hannah Montana: The Movie (Disney) – $2.62M, $1,140 PTA, $74.29M cume
10. Earth (Disney) – $2.44M, $1,361 PTA, $26.03M cume

Steve Mason is on Facebook and now also on Twitter@LAMase.

William Shatner (left) with Captain Kirk 2.0 Chris Pine

Keep in mind that Paramount never changed its Star Trek marketing to promote the 7pm Thursday start, so the opening night audience was likely heavy on Trekkers or Trekkies (not sure which term is “politically correct” anymore). So this was a “soft” opening and what amounts to a night of word-of-mouth screenings. Keep in mind that Transformers premiered during the summer when kids are more available while Star Trek has made its premiere during the school year.

The reviews are through-the-roof at 96% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, and, as a topic, Star Trek is trending at #1 on Twitter. The reviews in the Twitterverse are just as positive.

just got back from seeing Star Trek. I am not typically a fan of sci-fi, but I really liked this movie.

Star Trek was surprisingly good, and even Star Trek newbies like myself could enjoy it.

I saw the new Star Trek last night with my son, who just turned 7. It was great; we both loved it. Next gen of Trekies/SciFi buffs is born.

I’m still pumped up from having seen Star Trek. Looking forward to seeing it tomorrow and Sunday [diff. grps].

still thinkin’ of how f*****’ awesome Star Trek was. now wanting a phaser to set from “stun” to “kill”

Go see star trek immediately. Incredible!

The new Star Trek movie was great when I went in with low expectations. It is what Nemesis was trying to accomplish and succeeded much …

for those of you who were curious. Star Trek rocked my FACE OFF. It was Shamazing! <3 Spok…*droooool*

Star Trek is fresh, funny, exciting and – biggest surprise of all – emotionally engaging.

Now the question is, “How high will The Enterprise fly on its opening day?” Seems like $20M is a lock, but it could be bigger. If the movie does $20M today, the 4-day should be $63M-$65M. $22M or better should send this spectacularly-reviewed blockbuster past $70M. If the day is $25M or better, the number for the opening 4 days could start with an 8.

I’ll be online with my Exclusive Early Friday & 3-Day Estimates as early as humanly possible tonight (Friday).

Steve Mason is on Facebook and now also on Twitter@LAMase.

As of Wednesday night, Star Trek is cruising with 94% Fresh (positive) reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, and critics are slinging some seriously glowing hyperbole.

“Paced at warp speed with spectacular action sequences rendered brilliantly and with a cast so expert that all the familiar characters are instantly identifiable, the film gives Paramount Pictures a new lease of life on its franchise.”
– Ray Bennett, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

“It’s an exciting, stellar-yet-earthy blast that successfully blends the hip and the classic.”
– Joe Neumaier, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

“Trading on affections sustained over 40 years of popular culture, STAR TREK does what a franchise reboot rarely does. It reminds us why we loved these characters in the first place.”
– Ty Burr, BOSTON GLOBE

“Blasting onto the screen at warp speed and remaining there for two hours, the new and improved STAR TREK will transport fans to sci-fi nirvana.”
– Todd McCarthy, VARIETY

LOST and ALIAS creator J.J. Abrams has successfully rebooted STAR TREK

Let’s be honest. Prior to what, by all accounts, is Abrams’ full-on Lazarus-style resurrection of Kirk, Spock and The Enterprise, Star Trek was dead. Worse than dead, it has been considered “uncool.” That’s what Paramount is fighting in the marketplace, and realistically, even in its peak as a movie franchise, it wasn’t a powerhouse.

The biggest opening weekend for a Star Trek movie was 1996’s Star Trek: First Contact with $30.7M and the top grossing title ever was Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (with that ridiculous humpback whale storyline), which surpassed $109M. Consider this. Here are the top five opening days for movies in the Star Trek franchise.

ALL-TIME TOP 5 OPENING DAYS FOR STAR TREK MOVIES
1. Star Trek: First Contact (1996) – $13M
2. Star Trek: Generations (1994) – $9.7M
3. Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) – $9.5M
4. Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) – $7.7M
5. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) – $7M

Erik Estrada as Ponch & Larry Wilcox as Jon Baker with Chris Pine's dad Robert, who played Sgt. Joe Getraer

When journeyman actor Robert Pine, best known for playing Sgt. Joe Getraer on the late 70’s TV hit ChiPs, appeared as an Akritirian Ambassador named Liria on the series Star Trek Voyager (the TV series with Kate Mulgrew as Captain), he could have never imagined that his son Chris would someday play Captain Kirk, but the 28-year-old is now in the Trek’s most pivotal role. He was excellent in a little movie called Bottle Shock last year, but aside from that, and roles in The Princess Diaries 2 and Smokin’ Aces, he is basically an unknown.

Original Gene Rodenberry STAR TREK television cast above and Abrams' 2009 casting choices below

In fact, the new Star Trek is filled with actors who are more-or-less unknown. Simon Pegg, the brilliant UK star of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz and cast as the colorful Scotty here, is probably the biggest name in the cast along with John Cho from the Harold & Kumar movies, playing Sulu. But these are all talented actors who will wear well as the franchise turns into a steady hit machine for Paramount. Fans of NBC’s Heroes already know Zachary Quinto who gets to don Spock’s pointy ears and Chekov is being portrayed by one of my favorite young actors, 20-year-old Anton Yelchin, who was heartbreaking in the gritty Alpha Dog and showed a lighter touch in Charlie Bartlett. Trekkers are also likely to take to the sexy Zoe Saldana (Drumline, Guess Who?) who steps into Nichelle Nichols’ shoes as Uhura and will appear in James Cameron’s long-awaited Avatar at the end of the year.

The appropriate movie to look to for box office guidance is 2005’s Batman Begins. Great filmmaker (Christopher Nolan), spectacular reviews, but the franchise was dead and uncool after 1997’s ridiculous Batman & Robin. The reboot 8 years later opened on a Wednesday with $15M and had banked $72.9M in 5 days (the Friday-thru-Sunday was $48.7M). That lays the groundwork for an accurate prediction for Star Trek.

My bet is on a possible $65M for 4 days. With Thursday preview screenings starting at 7pm, Star Trek could snag as much as $8M on Thursday night (the Trekkers will be out in full force). Then Friday could be something in the $20.5M range with a slight uptick of 5% on Saturday to a possible $21.6M followed by a standard 30% Sunday drop to about $15M.

Once audiences realize that Star Trek is light year better than previous movies in the franchise (and last weekend’s Wolverine), the picture will play and play and play. I think that, of all of the major studio releases this summer, Star Trek may have the “longest legs.” If the movie opens within 5% of my number or bigger, the multiple (the number by which you multiply the opening weekend in order to arrive at the final domestic gross) could be 3.4-3.5, which would push J.J. Abrams reinvented Rodenberry opus to something in the $220M-$230M range.

I am anticipating a steep drop of 65%-70% for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and producer/star Hugh Jackman will be forced to settle for a second weekend of $27M-$30M. That would still be a nifty 10-day gross of $130M or so.

Finally, Next Day Air (Summit), a low budget, R-rated urban comedy starring Donald Faison (Scrubs), Mike Epps (Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins), Wood Harris (The Wire) and Mos Def (Cadillac Records), will open in the shadow of the retooled U.S.S. Enterprise and is unlikely to wrap up the weekend with any more than $6M.

FINAL PREDICTIONS FOR THE WEEKEND OF MAY 8-10
1. NEW – Star Trek (Paramount) – $65M (includes Thursday previews)
2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Fox) – $30.6M
3. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (Warner Bros) – $8.8M
4. Obsessed (Sony) – $6.7M
5. NEW – Next Day Air (Summit) – $6M
6. 17 Again (Warner Bros) – $3.8M
7. Monsters vs. Aliens (Dreamworks/Paramount) – $3.7M
8. The Soloist (Dreamworks/Paramount) – $3.3M
9. Hannah Montana The Movie (Disney) – $2.6M
10. Earth (Disney) – $2.4M

Steve Mason is on Facebook and now also on Twitter@LAMase.