The first question most casual moviegoers will have about Mila Kunis' fuck-buddy comedy is how it compares to Natalie Portman's fuck-buddy comedy No Strings Attached. (It's a little better, just as Kunis' performance in Black Swan was a little better, though both movies are pleasant surprises.) But Friends With Benefits sets higher standards for itself, and should be judged against them. Director Will Gluck, who proved with Easy A that he has the touch for brittle, innuendo-laced patter, sets up this movie as a subversion of every Hollywood romantic shortcut. But as sexual frankness goes, this is less Last Tango in Paris than a smutty but ultimately conventional pre-Code gadget. The most intriguing aspect is Justin Timberlake's lead performance, which includes him crooning Kris Kross and Semisonic, but also cleverly plants notes of boy-toy submissiveness (he'll let you whip him if he misbehaves). Kunis uses her trademark sultry-panda eyes as a fine match, and the movie rises to the occasion more often than not, erecting something very close to a perceptive study of distant, self-protecting urbanites. It's possible to completely forget how conventional it is, especially when Richard Jenkins in onscreen as Timberlake's Alzheimer's-stricken father. Like the movie, the role is manipulative, but fiercely played.