Life has a way of imitating art unexpectedly sometimes. Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis made all That 70s Show fans’ dreams come true when they started dating and got married. However, their relationship didn’t start romantic as the couple was just friends with benefits initially. Of course, they have admitted multiple times to the detached origins of their relationship, and have talked about filming competing movies about friends with benefits – Kunis in Friends with Benefits and Kutcher in No String Attached. Now, after being married for a few years, the Your Place or Mine star spoke about the irony of the married duo being similarly themed movies while experiencing the same situation.
The ironic scenario came up as the Dude, Where’s My Car? star reviewed his career-defining moments with Vanity Fair. As he watched a clip from the 2011 film No Strings Attached, Kutcher mentioned the quirky and interesting film script that drew him to the project. He also couldn’t help but look at the romantic comedy and think about his situation with his wife mirroring the film’s plotline. He said:
The irony of this whole thing? While I was making No Strings Attached, my wife was making a movie called Friends with Benefits, it’s the exact same plot. We were both making virtually the same movie. And the way we ended up together was very much a friends with benefits, no strings attached relationship that became something more than that. So, yeah kind of wild to watch [a clip] from that.
At the time they were working on their respective movies, Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis were just former co-workers from That 70s Show due who never had romantic feelings toward each other partially because of their age difference. Both similar-themed rom-coms were released in 2011 to commercial success and mixed response from critics. Kutcher starred opposite Oscar winner Natalie Portman, while Kunis co-starred with Justin Timberlake.
Then a year after their respective friends with benefits-based movies were released, they reconnected at a house party the actor was throwing. The rest is history, as the couple eventually became more than just friends, and they ended up getting married and now have two kids. Recently, they played a married Jackie and Kelso in the Netflix sequel series That 90s Show, much to Kunis' chagrin, showing how much they've evolved since their first time on screen together.
Kutcher faced the irony of his relationship again in his trip down memory lane. He conveniently watched a clip from the classic Fox sitcom featuring him and his wife as Kelso and Jackie. Looking at the interaction made him worry about how confused their kids will be when they are the right age to watch the teen sitcom. He wondered how the couple will differentiate “what was real and what wasn’t real” from the show. The Butterfly Effect star revealed he was “terrified” about the explanation they must give someday about That '70s Show, however, I'd be more worried about having to explain what friends with benefits are to kids if I were them.
Now, you can revisit both friends-with-benefits romantic comedies by streaming them. No Strings Attached is available through a Paramount+ subscription while Friends with Benefits can be seen with an active HBO Max subscription. Once you finish both films, check out Ashton Kutcher’s rom-com return with Reese Witherspoon in Netflix’s Your Place or Mine.
