‘No Strings Attached’ – Rom-com w/ benefits … and chemistry

Has it really been five years since Natalie Portman made our jaws drop with that obscenity-laden “Saturday Night Live” short?

Portman may have a date with Oscar next month thanks to her blistering turn in “Black Swan,” but “No Strings Attached” reminds us she can still bring the funny.

She’s also the best rom-com actress we’ve seen in some time. Who else could make the lumbering Ashton Kutcher so light on his feet?

Portman plays Emma, a medical student with an untreatable case of commitment-phobia. Her job doesn’t give her time for a real relationship, or so she tells her inner circle of pals. So when she hooks up with a handsome TV assistant named Adam (Kutcher) she gives him an indecent proposal. They can keep having casual sex so long as their emotions don’t get in the way.

Adam agrees. Few red-blooded males would turn Emma down. But the more Adam and Emma explore each other’s erogenous zones, the more difficult it becomes to stop from falling in love.

Ivan Reitman, who hasn’t directed a quality film since the dawn of the Clinton Administration, handles an occasionally awkward script with aplomb. But with the dazzling Portman and a cast full of scene stealers – Lake Bell, Jake M. Johnson and Kevin Kline to name but three - all Reitman has to do is get out of their way.

The story doesn’t always make that easy. The first 20 minutes are crammed with artificial wackiness, the kind that all but begs the audience to laugh. Adam’s father (Kline) is dating his ex-girlfriend. Emma’s roommates are like outcasts from “Sex and the City.” And an extra on the set of the show Adam works on – think “Glee” – can’t stop snapping cell phone pictures of his out of control cast mates.

But the moment Emma meets Adam we see bona fide sparks arc across the screen. Kutcher may be a full foot taller than Portman, but they’re comfortable in and out of the bedroom. Better yet, they convey the kind of sexually ravenous desire the story requires.

Kutcher can’t come close to matching his co-star’s range, but he doesn’t need to here. He’s like a Great Dane, all oversized limbs and deep dark eyes that scream, “Love me … please.” That leaves Portman to convey the inner conflict of someone unable to commit without seeming distant or cruel.

“No Strings Attached” embraces its R rating, and even though it plays out in a less organic fashion than any given Judd Apatow comedy. It’s harder to forgive how easily it slips into the rom-com template as the final minutes tick away.

None of that matters when Emma and Adam lock eyes – and lips. They’re in love, darn it, and even a rom-com cynic can’t deny it.

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