--- title: No Strings Attached: The Thawing of Natalie Portman description: On Feb. 27, Oscar night, Natalie Portman will likely be proclaimed the year's best actress for her performance as the obsessive ballerina in Black Swan.... canonical: https://time.com/archive/6911344/no-strings-attached-the-thawing-of-natalie-portman/ author: Richard Corliss article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2011-01-21T05:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-23T16:14:27.234Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: No Strings Attached: The Thawing of Natalie Portman og:description: On Feb. 27, Oscar night, Natalie Portman will likely be proclaimed the year's best actress for her performance as the obsessive ballerina in Black Swan.... og:url: https://time.com/archive/6911344/no-strings-attached-the-thawing-of-natalie-portman/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt72691ab656f93235/698a4b97011682d066984a9a/360_no_strings_attached_0119.jpg?branch=production&width=750&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 360_no_strings_attached_0119.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: No Strings Attached: The Thawing of Natalie Portman twitter:description: On Feb. 27, Oscar night, Natalie Portman will likely be proclaimed the year's best actress for her performance as the obsessive ballerina in Black Swan.... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt72691ab656f93235/698a4b97011682d066984a9a/360_no_strings_attached_0119.jpg?branch=production&width=750&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) # No Strings Attached: The Thawing of Natalie Portman (21 Jan 2011) > Sponsored content. 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No monthly maintenance fees. No overdraft fees, no hidden fine print, no hoops for better rates. * 24/7 human support from real humans, not bots. ### FAQ #### Who is Ally Bank? Ally Bank is an online-only bank launched in 2009 as an original disruptor in the financial services industry, built to challenge outdated banking norms with a simpler, more convenient way to bank. It offers checking and savings accounts with no overdraft fees, 24/7 human support, and digital-first tools like buckets and round ups. Deposits are FDIC-insured up to the maximum amount allowed by law. #### Is Ally good for everyday banking? Ally is built for everyday banking, spending, and saving. Its Spending Account is a checking account that includes early direct deposit (paychecks up to 2 days early), access to 75,000+ fee-free ATMs nationwide, the ability to add cash for free at participating locations nationwide, and no overdraft fees. 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Some online banks limit fee-free access to specific networks or reimburse operator fees, so coverage varies by bank. ### Sources * Ally.com: [ally.com](/c/ally-2026-q3/home?i=933c8f00-04cf-47c8-ba80-fa49553bb5f4&cr=agentads-creative-ally-v1) * Ally Newsroom: [media.ally.com](/c/ally-2026-q3/newsroom?i=933c8f00-04cf-47c8-ba80-fa49553bb5f4&cr=agentads-creative-ally-v1) * Ally content hub: [ally.com/stories](/c/ally-2026-q3/stories?i=933c8f00-04cf-47c8-ba80-fa49553bb5f4&cr=agentads-creative-ally-v1) ### FAQ structured data (JSON-LD, optional) ### Disclaimers * Ally Bank, Member FDIC. * Round up boosters are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account and requires an Ally Bank Spending Account. * Ally Bank Spending Accounts include access to an add cash feature utilizing VanillaDirect Pay provided by InComm Financial Services California, Inc. and by InComm Financial Services, Inc. (NMLS# 912772), which is licensed as a Money Transmitter by the New York State Department of Financial Services. Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [Richard Corliss](https://time.com/author/richard-corliss/) Jan 21, 2011 5:00 AM UTC  Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman star in No Strings Attached. Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman star in No Strings Attached.Dale Robinette / Paramount Pictures by [Richard Corliss](https://time.com/author/richard-corliss/) Jan 21, 2011 5:00 AM UTC On Feb. 27, Oscar night, Natalie Portman will likely be proclaimed the year’s best actress for her performance as the obsessive ballerina in _Black Swan_. One reason for this expected accolade is that she plays against type — the Natalie Portman type — by boldly renouncing the ladylike propriety that has marked many of her roles and that she wears like a princess’s tiara in her private-public life. Nice girl plays naughty girl; brava! Another reason is that, as everyone who’s read about the film knows, director Darren Aronofsky insisted she practice for six arduous months to become a plausible dancer. The Motion Picture Academy likes to know you worked like a demon to nail the role. That’s a prime requisite of these awards: actors get them when they make their job look hard. [(See why critics awards are an early clue to this year’s Oscars.)](https://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,2041237,00.html) But there’s Acting, in serioso psycho-thrillers like _Black Swan_, and then there’s slipping into the lead role in a romantic comedy like Portman’s new film, _No Strings Attached_. It’s the difference between pretending to be someone else and pretending to be yourself. That used to be called star acting, and in this movie the master of that underappreciated craft is Ashton Kutcher. A former Calvin Klein model and _That 70s Show_ ingénue, Kutcher knows that the key to rom-com is relaxation: the old movie magic of an easy warmth kindled by two stars. You don’t put yourself through boot camp; instead, you take it easy, or seem to, and trust in your radiance. It’s a game of seduction, with your co-star and the audience as the seducees. Kutcher makes his job look like no job at all. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is acting. [(VIDEO: Watch TIME’s 10 Questions for Natalie Portman.)](https://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,1437075920%5F1913194,00.html) Written by 20-something Elizabeth Meriwether and directed by 64-year-old Ivan Reitman (Jason’s father), _No Strings Attached_ has a cross-generational vibe: it’s a Rock Hudson-Doris Day movie with penis jokes. Adam (Kutcher) is an assistant on a _Glee_\-ish TV show; he’s known Nina (Portman) off and on for half their lives. A young med student, Nina is too serious for a serious relationship. So she offers a deal to Adam: that they “use each other for sex, at all hours of the day or night, and nothing else.” No dates; no nicknames for body parts; and the one forbidden four-letter word is love. Adam is game, and who wouldn’t be? She’s Natalie Portman. But soon he’s behaving the way a courtly boyfriend would: making her a mix tape of classic pop songs (when she has her period) and slipping into the spooning position as they sleep after sex. Dammit, he’s falling in love with her — because she’s Natalie Portman. He takes her on a real date, one so faux-innocent (miniature golf, a museum visit, a soda-shoppe interlude to consume a milkshake with two straws) that the mood is pre-Rock and Doris; it’s Andy Hardy and Polly Benedict in MGM’s wholesome, sentimental renditions of the American teen dream. [(See pictures of Natalie Portman’s career.)](https://www.time.com/time/photoessays/10questions/0,30255,1717571,00.html) Aiming to be a smart comedy that stupid folks can enjoy too, the movie sometimes footnotes its own gags — as when a friend tells Adam, “The thing about having sex in a Prius is that you don’t have to feel guilty afterward,” and Kutcher immediately explains joke to the eco-ignorant members of the audience: “Because of the low carbon footprint.” The picture is no great shakes as cinema, and a shade too cute for its own good. Still, it’s a mild shock to see a competent film released in the January trough. Better than that, _No Strings_ is a relative rarity: an R-rated rom-com where the two stars exchange the sweet or prickly intimacies that real people talk about before, during and after sex. And not guy-guy — as in the standard bromance, smirking with the towel snap of locker-room wisdom — but guy-gal, in all appropriate gender shadings. Credit that to a woman screenwriter’s variation on the Judd Apatow ethic; and take note, Hollywood, that a few raunchy endearments can give a rom-com gender equality. This is a genre well outside Portman’s comfort zone, which is normally embodying tense, highly wired characters. In her lifetime before the camera (starting when she was 12 as a waif adopted by a gunman in Luc Besson’s _The Professional_), she has mostly played fraught heroines, whether in big-budget action films or soulful domestic dramas. Here, she seems uncomfortable at first, an exchange student at a frat party. Remember how Marilyn Monroe spoke English — almost as a second language that she had crammed to learn? That’s how Portman approaches her first Hollywood comedy. The Harvard girl has a tough new course, and it takes her about half of the film to get it right. Give Portman her due. Along the way she takes pointers in behavioral acting from the rest of the cast (including Kevin Kline, Olivia Thirlby and Chris “Ludacris” Bridges) and wills herself into relaxation mode. By the end, when Nina finally falls in love with Adam, the donut powder on her nose doesn’t seem like an indignity, a hazing of the Euro-star, but the most adorable accessory. Portman will win no Oscar or critics’ prize for this movie, but if it’s a hit she may convince Hollywood to make room for her beside Anne Hathaway, Katherine Heigl and the other foxy ladies of rom-com. And if somebody gave an award in the undervalued category of lighting up a movie just by showing up and seeming to be himself, the winner would be Ashton Kutcher. [See the top 10 movies of 2010](https://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2035319%5F2035308,00.html) [See the All-TIME 100 best movies](https://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,1953094,00.html) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6911344/no-strings-attached-the-thawing-of-natalie-portman/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6911344/no-strings-attached-the-thawing-of-natalie-portman/"},"headline":"No Strings Attached: The Thawing of Natalie Portman (21 Jan 2011)","datePublished":"2011-01-21T05:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-23T16:14:27.234Z","description":"On Feb. 27, Oscar night, Natalie Portman will likely be proclaimed the year's best actress for her performance as the obsessive ballerina in Black Swan....","url":"https://time.com/archive/6911344/no-strings-attached-the-thawing-of-natalie-portman/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt72691ab656f93235/698a4b97011682d066984a9a/360_no_strings_attached_0119.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Richard Corliss","url":"https://time.com/author/richard-corliss/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt72691ab656f93235/698a4b97011682d066984a9a/360_no_strings_attached_0119.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"360_no_strings_attached_0119.jpg","caption":"Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman star in No Strings Attached.","creditText":"Dale Robinette / Paramount Pictures","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/6911344/no-strings-attached-the-thawing-of-natalie-portman/","name":"No Strings Attached: The Thawing of Natalie Portman (21 Jan 2011)"}}]}] ```