Is ‘Friends With Benefits’ a ‘Judeo-Christian’ Romantic Comedy?
?Friends With Benefits? writers David Newman and Keith Merryman Image by Getty Images
Romantic comedies have a lot of Jewish history — Woody Allen practically invented the modern version of the genre with ”Annie Hall.” But is there a distinction between Jewish and Christian rom coms, and is there such a thing as a “Judeo-Christian” combination?
There is according to David Newman and Keith Merryman, writers of “Friends With Benefits,” which comes out in theaters July 22. In an interview today with New York Magazine’s Vulture blog, Newman posited that Christian romantic comedies involve external barriers to love, whereas in Jewish rom coms the barriers are internal.
So which is the Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis (who is Jewish) starring flick? According to Merryman, “Friend With Benefits” is, following this reasoning, “Judeo-Christian.”
Newman also said that part of their inspiration was watching what their “single, straight girlfriends” were going through and frustration “that romantic comedies were not kind of reflecting what was going on in modern love.” So does that make “Friends With Benefits” a response to the shidduch crisis? Probably not, but that would be pretty Jewish.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Make a Passover Gift Today!
Dive In
Most Popular
- 1
News Student protesters being deported are not ‘martyrs and heroes,’ says former antisemitism envoy
- 2
News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
- 3
Fast Forward Suspected arsonist intended to beat Gov. Josh Shapiro with a sledgehammer, investigators say
- 4
Opinion What Jewish university presidents say: Trump is exploiting campus antisemitism, not fighting it
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward FSU shooting suspect used neo-Nazi imagery on social media, ADL finds
-
Fast Forward Pope Francis’ final speech called for ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza war
-
Opinion Shackled, imprisoned and subjected to false accusations, Kilmar Abrego Garcia recalls the fate of Captain Alfred Dreyfus
-
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.