Will Mila and Justin's Fauxmance Pay Off for 'Friends With Benefits'?

By Jo Piazza Posted Jun 8th 2011 11:00PM

Justin Timberlake, Mila Kunis and the publicity machine behind Sony's 'Friends With Benefits' desperately want you to believe the co-stars might be a couple with their none-too-subtle and staged game of grope-a-dope at the MTV Awards.

That doesn't make me optimistic for this flick.

Hollywood marketing machines believe they can generate buzz by having co stars pretend to couple up prior to a film's release. It generates buzz (case in point, we are talking about Mila and Justin and the movie 6 weeks before its July 22 release) and often translates into big bucks at the box office. It also often signals a last ditch attempt at free marketing for a film that isn't very good.

When a a faux couple is trotted out to gin up press it typically means a bad movie is on the horizon.

Let's take a look at the record.

1. Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler in 'The Bounty Hunter' -- Aniston and Butler's absolutely unbelievable fauxmance leading up to the release of this rom-com snooze-fest proved to be a boon at the box office, making the film #3 on it's opening weekend and grossing $136 million at the worldwide box office. But critics agreed it was a helluva stinker.

'Friends With Benefits' Trailer

2. Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn in 'The Break-Up' -- Both Aniston and Vaughn invested a lot of effort into making this fake relationship seem real, even posing for photogs while chastely smooching a few times which sent the the box office for this flick soaring to more than $200 million internationally.

3. Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth in 'The Last Song' -- Tweens love nothing more than a fauxmance which allowed Miley's big girl debut to gross $89 million worldwide on a budget of just under $20 million.

4. Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart in 'Love Happens' -- Admittedly Aniston didn't trot this fauxmance out as aggressive as she did those with Butler and Vaughn for this tear-jerking and again critically panned romance, which could be why it only grossed $36 million at the worldwide box office.

5. Penelope Cruz and Matthew McConaughey in 'Sahara' -- Rumors of the Cruz McConaughey coupling actually brought "Sahara" to number one at the box office for its opening weekend despite bad reviews including "a mediocrity wrapped inside a banality, toasted in a nice, fresh cliche."

6. Sandra Bullock and Ryan Gosling in 'Murder by Numbers' -- Who doesn't love a May-December romance, particularly one involving America's sweetheart Sandy Bullock? Audience apparently. This flick barely made a profit at the worldwide box office with a gross of $56 million and made only $31 million domestically.

Buyer beware, the fauxmance bump is not always a sure thing.

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Tags: Friends With Benefits, Justin Timberlake, Mila Kunis

Comments

(18)

Wednesday 08 June

By tony

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justins got his hands full in this picture,nice.

By William

I don't think his hands were full at all, she's flat as a board.

By themeeker

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Atta boy. Show everyone how you objectify the ladies. F'n creep.

By Bonbon

I don't agree with the article, I think Jen had a real relationship with Vince Vaughn.

By UhHuh

@Bonbon: So, you walked up and asked them if they had a real relationship or not? Please, do tell how you know this.

By phoenix

these generation xer dirtbags need christ.

By Deana

A woman who would allow a man to grab her like that in full public viewing is just sick and disgusting. I am done with these shows and the people in Hollywood who have no morals. They are disgusting, sick and filthy minded.

Thursday 09 June

By Sekinu2

Yup we all need christ so we can be judged, have people who are not god claiming to have gods word, maybe have another war based on religion and then be able to think ourselves better then the next man..Yup good great religion..what a crock the most evil ideaology on earth is religion. the day the looneys of the world leave religion behind is the day we have peace and get along.

By Jules

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Dear lord, this is a stupid article. Who does the hiring at Popeater? Half of these aren't fauxmances at all. What a dolt.

WE are not talking about the...YOU are.

WE couldn't care less. This buzz is wasted.

By the yapper

For all we know Mila may still really be of Culkin...Hope not...I think she can do much better... For someone as beautiful...It's strange that she's not dating anyone???

By Skibunny

That is hilarious!!

By ai

I agree I couldn't believe this...GROSS AND OFFENSIVE..I NEVER BEING TIMBERLAKE FAN IN FACT I FIND HIM UGLY AND DONT UNDERSTAND WHY SO SUCCESFUL WITH PRETTY WOMEN ESPECIALLY BIEL (SO BEAUTIFUL) BUT NOW WITH THIS I DESPISE HIM

By Chris Kirpatrick

I think you're off on this one. These two have got "something" going on. You can first see it at the oscars, then on Ellen, and i think at the Globes but might be wrong about that one. A tasteless person might refer to it as "eye-f**king" but you can tell if you watch them, the way they are together and the glimmer in her eye suggests they're more than friends. They genuinely like each other at the very least.

By Tim

Justin is lucky. First Janet now Mila.

Sunday 19 June

I couldn't believe Mila would do something so ghetto. She keeps telling us she's a nice girl and she certainly never looks or acts trashy publicly....if they have to promote this pic that badly..it's probably really bad. I'll go see it just cuz I'm a mila fan...but I really hope she rethinks the kind of roles she's been playing in movies..after sex, black swan and now friends with benefits...they're all sex roles. She needs to believe she can act and require her agents to get her good roles probably in independents. movies marketed to teen and young adults are pure crap. She should remember many of her audience is older from that 70s show and a mixed bag from Family Guy...anyone who likes family guy likes satire so I'm really looking forward to seeing Ted. I'm hoping MacFarlane will give her a good funny role and I'm looking forward to OZ just because of the actors in it...most beautiful in the world including mila,
rachel weisz, michelle williams and james franco..won't matter if its great just to look at them will be enough. they'll be great eye candy. I'm not a fan of timberlakes so I'll see friends for mila. Who ever adviced these two that kind of public groping was funny or OK is nuts. mila that's just as bad as being in a reality show....your parents must have been mortified.

By Eric

The "fauxmance" between Jen and Vince SEEMED quite real (what with the trips together, and overnight hotel stays (more elaborate than most if it really was a FAUXmance)).

Friday 10 June

By AMD

To judge the movie before it hits audiences isn't fair. Both actors deserve a fair chance to prove it's worth, I plan on seeing it!

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