Two Beloved Rom-Coms Often Confused for One Another Are Hitting Netflix at the Same Time

It's not unusual for movie fans to mix up No Strings Attached and Friends with Benefits, and now it looks like a streamer is capitalizing on the similarity. The two rom-coms are a classic example of "twin films" – similar in subject matter and style and released around the same time — but noticing this fact is still generally considered a meta-textual observation. However, Netflix is putting the comparison front and center by adding both movies to its catalog on the same day – Tuesday, Aug. 1.

No Strings Attached was written by Elizabeth Meriweather and directed by Ivan Reitman, and it starred Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman as longtime friends-turned-lovers. It premiered in January of 2011 – about six months before Friends with Benefits. Friends with Benefits stars Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis as two busy friends who decide to add casual sex to their existing friendship to avoid the burden of dating in their busy lives. It's hard not to compare the two movies, and some fans have even admitted to confusing the two from time to time in their memories.

In truth, the phenomena of "twin films" is not unique to this pairing and it's probably not accidental in most cases. According to a report by Movie Babble, one explanation is that scripts often bounce from studio to studio and are read by many writers, directors, producers and executives in the process. It's not hard to imagine how a script for one movie might inspire a very similar script for another, and perhaps in some cases, the similarity is intentional to capitalize on fans' enthusiasm for the original.

If that's the case here, it is a well-kept secret, which makes sense considering how sticky intellectual property law can be. However, with these two released so close together, it's likely that Friends with Benefits was in production well before its creators had the chance to judge the success of No Strings Attached, so it was still a gamble. On top of that, it's sometimes rumored that the "copycat" in a pair of twin films is actually the one that comes out first, hoping to beat its competitor the punch. There are several accounts of this in the book DisneyWar by James Stewart.

The end results for No Strings Attached and Friends with Benefits seemed to be set in stone by the end of 2012. No Strings Attached was considered a relative commercial success by earning $149.2 million worldwide on a $25 million budget. It got mixed reviews with an average score of 5.3 out of 10 on Rotten Tomatoes, and it was not nominated for any major awards. Meanwhile, Friends with Benefits earned $149.5 million on a $35 million budget but secured a 6.2 out of 10 average rating. It was not nominated for any major awards either.

However, in the age of social media fans and critics have sometimes relitigated the perceived competition between these two movies, and it seems safe to say that conversation is about to start up again. Expect online forums for movie buffs and rom-com aficionados to take a closer look at No Strings Attached and Friends with Benefits after both movies are added to Netflix on Tuesday, Aug. 1.