Are you a fan of the 2011 romantic comedy Friends with Benefits starring Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis? If you loved the hilarious and sexy dynamic between two friends who decide to add casual sex to their relationship, only to realize they’re falling for each other, then you’ll definitely enjoy these other movies with similar themes and vibes.
Grab some popcorn, get cozy on the couch, and check out my picks for the 20 best movies like Friends with Benefits that combine humor, steaminess and heart:
1. No Strings Attached (2011)
No Strings Attached is basically Friends With Benefits’ twin movie. Released the same year, it also depicts two long-time friends, played by Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher, who make a pact to start sleeping together while keeping things strictly physical. Spoiler alert: feelings eventually get in the way!
If you like Friends With Benefits, you’ll get major déjà vu watching this flick, but Portman and Kutcher’s charming performances make it worth the watch. It delivers the same message about the challenges of maintaining a sex-only relationship.
2. Love & Other Drugs (2010)
Love & Other Drugs pairs Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway as a womanizing pharmaceutical salesman and a free-spirited artist who begin a casual fling that unexpectedly grows into something more.
While the tone is a bit more serious than FWB due to Hathaway’s character battling early-onset Parkinson’s disease, the film still has plenty of funny and sexy moments. Gyllenhaal and Hathaway’s sizzling chemistry carries the movie.
3. Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)
One of Judd Apatow’s funniest films, Forgetting Sarah Marshall stars Jason Segel as a heartbroken musician who takes a Hawaiian vacation after getting dumped, only to run into his famous ex (Kristen Bell) and her new rock star boyfriend.
As he tries to get over the breakup, Segel’s character finds himself in a flirty friendship with a cute hotel employee played by Mila Kunis. Their “friends with benefits” situation is a side plot, but provides some of the movie’s most hilarious and memorable moments. Come for the raunchy humor, stay for the surprisingly sweet love story.
4. Easy A (2010)
This clever teen comedy puts a modern twist on The Scarlet Letter as Emma Stone’s character Olive, a clean-cut high school student, pretends to be promiscuous in order to boost her social standing. Her fake sexcapades turn her into the talk of the school.
While there’s no actual friends with benefits storyline, Easy A provides a smart and funny look at sex, double standards and rumor-spreading. Stone is at her most charming, snarky best. Like FWB, it manages to be both sexy and wholesome.
5. What’s Your Number? (2011)
After reading a magazine article that claims women who have had 20 or more lovers have a harder time finding a husband, Anna Faris’ unlucky-in-love character tracks down her ex-boyfriends to see if she missed her chance at happily ever after with one of them.
Chris Evans co-stars as her womanizing neighbor who helps her with the quest in exchange for a “no strings attached” hookup. Though more of a straight-up rom com, What’s Your Number? has plenty of raunchy humor and will appeal to FWB fans.
6. Two Night Stand (2014)
In this under-the-radar romantic comedy, two strangers connect on a dating site and agree to a casual one-night stand. But after getting snowed in together and being forced to extend the affair, they start to develop real feelings.
Two Night Stand puts a cute, quirky spin on the “sex first, love later” trope. Miles Teller and Analeigh Tipton have an easy, charming rapport that keeps you rooting for them to make it as a real couple.
7. Just Go With It (2011)
Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston star in Just Go With It, a silly but sweet rom com about a plastic surgeon who convinces his assistant to pose as his ex-wife in order to cover up a lie he told his much-younger girlfriend.
Complications and real sparks ensue during a weekend trip to Hawaii. While the plot is pretty contrived, Sandler and Aniston’s chemistry and the gorgeous tropical setting make it a fun, escapist watch in the FWB vein.
8. Playing It Cool (2014)
This quirky indie rom com stars Chris Evans as a jaded screenwriter who doesn’t believe in love – until he meets Michelle Monaghan’s already-attached character and falls for her. Aubrey Plaza and Topher Grace round out the “millennial friends” ensemble.
Playing It Cool doesn’t totally stick the landing with its ambitious (500) Days of Summer-esque flights of fancy, but offers an interesting deconstruction of romantic comedy clichés. Evans shows off his comedy chops.
9. The Ugly Truth (2009)
Katherine Heigl plays a romantically-challenged TV producer who gets schooled in the art of seduction by Gerard Butler’s crude cable access host in The Ugly Truth. Sparks fly as they clash over their different philosophies on love and relationships.
While the “ugly” gender stereotypes are a bit, well, ugly, Heigl and Butler’s opposites-attract dynamic is fun to watch. It’s like a raunchier, more adult version of FWB.
10. 27 Dresses (2008)
Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. That’s the predicament Katherine Heigl’s character finds herself in as she pines after her boss, who’s marrying her self-absorbed sister in 27 Dresses. To complicate matters, she starts falling for a wedding reporter played by James Marsden.
There’s no “friends with benefits” storyline, but like FWB, it’s a rom com about finding unexpected love where you least expect it. Heigl and Marsden have a sparky, snarky chemistry that keeps things entertaining.
11. Sleeping with Other People (2015)
Sleeping with Other People is like When Harry Met Sally for the Tinder generation. Jason Sudeikis and Alison Brie star as two serial cheaters who lost their virginity to each other in college. When they reconnect years later, they try to maintain a platonic friendship while pursuing other relationships.
Of course, that proves easier said than done. While not as laugh-out-loud funny as FWB, Sleeping with Other People offers a smart, modern, emotionally honest look at love and sex. Sudeikis and Brie are extremely likable leads.
12. One Day (2011)
Based on the bestselling novel, One Day checks in on the relationship between working-class Emma (Anne Hathaway) and privileged Dexter (Jim Sturgess) on the same day each year for 20 years after they have a one-night stand in college.
The movie eschews a typical linear structure to show the ups and downs of their friendship and romantic connection over two decades. Hathaway gives one of her best performances and the unique storytelling approach sets it apart from other rom coms. Keep tissues handy for the tearjerker ending.
13. Going the Distance (2010)
Going the Distance is a sweet, raunchy rom com about the challenges of making a long distance relationship work. Drew Barrymore and Justin Long play a couple trying to keep the spark alive from opposite coasts, with many dirty phone calls and awkward visits.
The movie earns its R-rating with some surprisingly explicit sex talk, but has a grounded, relatable center. Barrymore and Long (who dated in real life) have an easy, natural chemistry.
14. Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011)
One of the better rom com ensembles in recent years, Crazy, Stupid, Love follows Steve Carell’s character as he re-enters the dating scene after his wife (Julianne Moore) cheats on him and asks for a divorce. He gets some questionable advice from a smooth-talking ladies man played by Ryan Gosling.
The movie juggles multiple romantic storylines, but Gosling’s fling with Emma Stone is the most FWB-esque, as they try to keep things casual but of course catch feelings. It’s a funny, heartfelt, sexy film that’s smarter than your average Hollywood rom com.
15. No Reservations (2007)
No Reservations stars Catherine Zeta-Jones as a workaholic master chef whose life is turned upside down when she becomes guardian of her young niece and clashes with a brash new sous-chef played by Aaron Eckhart. Though they initially can’t stand each other, a romance eventually develops.
The movie is a remake of the German film Mostly Martha. While not as overtly sexual as FWB, it has a similar dynamic of two career-driven individuals letting down their guard and learning to balance work and love. The kitchen setting provides some saucy double entendres.
16. Trainwreck (2015)
Comedian Amy Schumer brings her signature raunchy wit to this Judd Apatow rom com about a men’s magazine writer who starts to question her commitment-phobic ways after falling for a charming sports doctor (Bill Hader).
Trainwreck flips the typical gender roles of the genre, with Schumer’s character as the one who has to reform her promiscuous, hard-partying lifestyle and learn to open up emotionally. It’s a funny, filthy, surprisingly touching film that captures the messy realities of modern dating.
17. That Awkward Moment (2014)
That Awkward Moment follows three best bros (Zac Efron, Michael B. Jordan, Miles Teller) who make a pact to stay single after one of them gets dumped. But their plan hits a snag when Efron and Teller start to develop real feelings for their respective hookup buddies.
It’s a bit bro-heavy and the female characters are thinly developed, but the movie has some funny, truthful moments that will resonate with anyone who’s tried to navigate the “So…what are we?” conversation. Efron proves he’s more than just a pretty face with a surprisingly vulnerable performance.
18. Drinking Buddies (2013)
Drinking Buddies is a low-key, largely improvised indie rom com about the complicated relationship between two co-workers at a craft brewery played by Olivia Wilde and Jake Johnson. They have an obvious flirty rapport, but are both dating other people (Ron Livingston and Anna Kendrick).
During a weekend getaway, the simmering sexual tension between them comes to a head. But the movie resists typical rom com conventions for a more nuanced, open-ended look at opposite-sex friendships and blurry boundaries. Wilde and Johnson have a very natural, lived-in chemistry.
19. Think Like a Man (2012)
Inspired by Steve Harvey’s bestselling dating advice book, Think Like a Man follows four guy friends whose love lives are thrown into chaos when their girlfriends start using Harvey’s strategies on them. The guys conspire to turn the tables and take back control of their relationships.
It’s a battle of the sexes comedy with a stacked ensemble cast including Michael Ealy, Jerry Ferrara, Meagan Good, Regina Hall and Kevin Hart. While not all the pairings have FWB-level steaminess, Ealy and Good’s “friends with benefits” storyline comes pretty close. It’s a fun, fresh take on modern dating.
20. Obvious Child (2014)
Obvious Child stars Jenny Slate as a struggling stand-up comedian who has a drunken one-night stand after getting dumped and fired on the same day, then finds out she’s pregnant. She decides to get an abortion, but still pursues a tentative relationship with the sweet, puppyish father-to-be (Jake Lacy).
It’s a rom com that realistically and humorously tackles an often taboo subject. Slate and Lacy have a quirky, adorable chemistry. While the movie is more explicitly political than FWB, it shares that film’s frank, funny approach to messy millennial relationships and sex.
So there you have it – 20 great movies to watch if you’re a fan of Friends With Benefits. Whether you’re in the mood for big laughs, sexy encounters, or heartfelt romance, these films deliver.
|Movie|Year|Leads|Rotten Tomatoes Score|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|No Strings Attached|2011|Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher|49%|
|Love & Other Drugs|2010|Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway|49%|
|Forgetting Sarah Marshall|2008|Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis|83%|
|Easy A|2010|Emma Stone, Penn Badgley|85%|
|What’s Your Number?|2011|Anna Faris, Chris Evans|24%|
|Two Night Stand|2014|Miles Teller, Analeigh Tipton|36%|
|Just Go With It|2011|Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston|18%|
|Playing It Cool|2014|Chris Evans, Michelle Monaghan|14%|
|The Ugly Truth|2009|Katherine Heigl, Gerard Butler|14%|
|27 Dresses|2008|Katherine Heigl, James Marsden|40%|
|Sleeping with Other People|2015|Jason Sudeikis, Alison Brie|63%|
|One Day|2011|Anne Hathaway, Jim Sturgess|36%|
|Going the Distance|2010|Drew Barrymore, Justin Long|53%|
|Crazy, Stupid, Love|2011|Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone|79%|
|No Reservations|2007|Catherine Zeta-Jones, Aaron Eckhart|42%|
|Trainwreck|2015|Amy Schumer, Bill Hader|85%|
|That Awkward Moment|2014|Zac Efron, Michael B. Jordan, Miles Teller|23%|
|Drinking Buddies|2013|Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson|83%|
|Think Like a Man|2012|Michael Ealy, Jerry Ferrara, Meagan Good, Regina Hall|53%|
|Obvious Child|2014|Jenny Slate, Jake Lacy|90%|
If you’re looking for a good date night movie or just want a fun, sexy rom com to watch on your own, you can’t go wrong with any of these Friends With Benefits-esque films. Whether you prefer big studio comedies or quirky indies, there’s something for everyone on this list.
Happy viewing! And remember, friends with benefits are all well and good – but sometimes the best love stories start with friendship. 😉
