Los Angeles, U.S.A. — After more than 2.4 million votes were cast internationally, ‘Hunger Games’ humble yet fierce Jennifer Lawrence took the number one position on AskMen’s “Top 99 Most Desirable Women” list. In the poll, which surveyed AskMen readers, Lawrence shot up ahead of her Hollywood peers, including Kristen Stewart (No. 7), Jessica Biel (No. 24), Charlize Theron (No.97) and reality TV star Kim Kardashian, who dropped from No. 8 on last year’s list to No. 98 this year.

The 12th edition of the Top 99 Most Desirable Women poll, calls on AskMen readers to elect women who most closely match their ideals. These men were tasked with voting on more than just sex appeal, taking into account character, intelligence, talent, sense of humor, professional success, achievements in 2012 and potential for 2013.

Lawrence’s victory follows an incredible 2012 for the 22-year-old starlet, whose breakout performances in ‘Hunger Games’ and ‘Silver Lining Playbook’ turned the heads of men worldwide and pinned her as the next big thing. Lawrence is followed by ‘TED’ actress Mila Kunis, who has consistently appeared on AskMen’s Top 99 since 2008 a Sports Illustrated turned Vogue model Kate Upton stayed high up on the list, landing at No. 3, dropping only one spot from the 11th edition of the list.

With more than 40% of the women on the list appearing for the first time, it’s fair to say there is a new breed of strong and independent women taking over. Take Lawrence’s No. 1 ranking after her fearless roles, or Claire Danes, who earned an Emmy this year for her standout performance on Homeland, at No. 20. Anne Hathaway shaved her head for her dramatic role in ‘Les Miserables’ and came in at No. 47. Other powerful women on the list include Marissa Mayer, President and CEO of Yahoo, at No. 59, First Lady Michelle Obama at No. 33 and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova of Russian activist-punk group Pussy Riotat No. 85.

James Bassil , Editor-In-Chief of AskMen, commented, “The top-rated women on AskMen’s 12th edition of the Top 99 Most Desirable Women list speaks to men’s growing comfort with strong and independent partners. While undeniably successful candidates like Marissa Mayer have rocketed up the list, the more ambiguous “career” women — like Kim Kardashian – have plummeted on it.”

The “Top 99 Most Desirable Women of 2013″ features a new generation of leading women:

• “Girls” actresses Jemima Kirke (No. 51) and Allison Williams (No. 42), “Mad Men” actress Jessica Pare at No. 9, Beyonce’s sister, singer Solange Knowles, at No. 50, Australian Youth Olympian Michelle Jenneke at No. 10 and newlywed U.S. soccer team goalie Hope Solo at No. 30.
• Music icons have historically pushed boundaries on what’s considered desirable, and this year is no different, with American Idol judge Nicki Minaj dropping off the list and making way for newbies Azealia Banks (No. 49) and “Call Me Maybe” singer Carly Rae Jepsen at No. 75.

For a third year in a row, TV actresses dominated the list, with 24 TV stars claiming spots. “Modern Family’s” Sofia Vergara topped last year’s list, and she continued to hold strong at No. 12 this year. Has dating bad boy Kanye West hurt Kim Kardashian ’s image? The reality tv star dropped to No. 98 on this year’s list. Perhaps not, as “bad girl” Kristen Stewart ’s public infidelity had no impact on her desirability, which resulted in a climb from No. 27 last year to No. 7 this year. Likewise, Scarlett Johansson fell from No. 7 to No. 45. Will her upcoming sultry performance in ‘A Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ on Broadway restore her sex appeal?

Votes for the 12th annual list also prove that men are loving women over 40, including Vergara (No. 12), Sarah Silverman (No. 23), Lucy Liu; (No. 69) and Rachel Weisz (No 72). First Lady, Michelle Obama , at age 48, is the oldest woman featured on this list, at No. 33.

For exclusive videos, photos and comments from this year’s honorees, visit www.askmen.com. Up-to-date coverage of the Top 99 Most Desirable Women can also be found on AskMen’s Facebook and Twitter.

Here is what some of the Top 99 women had to say
“Thank you Ask Men for choosing me this year! It’s such an honor and I hope I can continue being park of the AskMen family!” – Jessica Gomes, No. 8

“I love AskMen.com. Thank you for including me amongst these incredible women. Honored!” – Candice Swanepoel, No. 11

“I am hugely flattered to have been voted on to the AskMen Top 99 Most Desirable Women list. Please pass on a sincere thank you to all the readers who voted for me.”- Emilia Clarke, No. 15

“Being on the Top 99 list of askmen.com is extremely flattering! Thank you xx” - Chanel Iman, No.26

“Thank you Askmen.com! It is so amazing to be on your Most Desirable list!”- Olivia Culpo, No.36

“I am honored. I will adore this moment because I fear this title will drop next year because it’s hard to look amazing in bobsled with snot running down your nose” – Lolo Jones, No.41

Image Courtesy : Featureflash / Shutterstock.com

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A new trend in romantic comedy movies has cropped up recently. Friends With Benefits, directed by Will Gluck (Easy A, 2010), is set to come into theaters this July 22, adding to a long list of similarly themed projects. In just the last year alone, No Strings Attached, an independent film titled Friends (With Benefits), and a T.V. series set to launch this fall on NBC have all sported an almost identical premise: boy meets girl. Both boy and girl are too busy to find a meaningful relationship, but not too busy to have desires. Boy and girl become friends… with benefits. Complications arise and hilarity ensues.

If you have already seen any of these other films, it is easy to compare them with Friends With Benefits. A number of sites have published detailed comparisons between No Strings Attached and Friends with Benefits, judging everything from who is the better director, to which actor or actress has been in the most successful films. While there is some value to this type of comparison, there have been many movies with similar or even identical plots that turn out very differently from each other. Friends With Benefits may have a similar plot-line, but it is not the exact same film.

Gluck was very aware of the common plot when he began directing this film, but he felt that this well-known plot could actually add to the film instead of taking away from it. He told cinemablend.com that he wanted to do a “big time Hepburn and Tracy movie […] But [the actors are] conscious they’re going through the same thing. We now have seen so many movies and gone through so much stuff we know the story.” Gluck knows his audience is familiar with the basic plotline, and he is ok with that. He even takes things one step further and gives the characters in his films that awareness. He then combines this dual awareness to create a smart and funny film.

Friends With Benefits stars Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis, with a number of cameos by actors such as Shaun White, Jason Segel, and Rashida Jones. While the thought of Timberlake becoming an actor as well as a singer seemed unthinkable several years ago, he has begun to establish himself as more than just a singer who was in one or two films. His role in Social Network has added a lot to his credibility, and it seems that Friends With Benefits just might boost his image even more.

Gluck has managed to take an almost tired concept and imbued new life into it in his film. Instead of ignoring the host of other films with this theme, he looked back at the classic Tracy and Hepburn romantic comedies for inspiration to create a hilarious new romantic comedy. He is known for his off-the-wall humor, and his work with Friends With Benefits is no different.  It is this humor that adds something new to the film and makes it more than just another copycat.

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Hear that creak? That’s the old trend wheel cycling around, slow, steady, and predictable? Much like the oddly similar collections from opposing designers in fashion week, we often see parallel trends in film.

In 2005, we saw the Wedding trend: Wedding Crashers and The Wedding Date premier within weeks of each other. Wedding Crashers follows the adventures of two young bachelors (Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn) as the crash weddings to meet women.  In The Wedding Date, Kat Ellis (Debra Messing) takes a male escort (Delmot Mulroney) to her sister’s wedding to pretend she is not single. Both revolve around weddings and treachery, and, with the ringing of church bells so loud, it would be of little surprise if the number of engagement rings sold that year skyrocketed.

This year, we see a similar, yet opposing trend as two new films explore the concept of ‘friends with benefits’. In the soon-to-be-released like-named film, Friends with Benefits, Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis’ relationship quickly goes from friendly to complicated when they add sex to the mix. Similarly, in No Strings Attached, two childhood friends, Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman, decide to take things to the next level but promise to keep emotions out of it. However, they soon find themselves falling in love, and their arrangement unravels.

What does this mean for 2011? It looks like popular culture is finally catching up with the downward marriage trend of the last few decades, embracing the disassociation with marriage that may be related to the high divorce rates of our parents’ generation. According to the Pew Research Center’s Decennial Census and American Community Survey, 72% of Americas aged 18 and over were married in 1960, compared with just 52% in 2008. On the contrary, the upward trend of those who never married increased from 15% in 1960 to 27% in 2008.

Thankfully this can be seen to mean a loosing in a cultural ideology bound in centuries of tradition where young people do not need to follow the straight in narrow, but in fact have many choices in life. After all, the French translation of the title No Strings Attached is Sex Friends, which, althoug that culture is known to be more open sexually, is a case point. Alas, vive la vie, and have fun kids! There is so much more to life than the American dream.

Please find more information about this subject below:

http://pewsocialtrends.org/2010/11/18/five-decades-of-marriage-trends/

Wedding Crashers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeUSo8voIXM

The Wedding Date: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97EPy5Ky448

Friends with Benefits: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34xfcoRceeU

No Strings Attached: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubfcfs98MBw

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Scarlett Johansson, 26, and Sean Penn, 50, recently suffered a tough break-up, a mere 2 months after moving in together in Malibu, Caifornia. Last weekend, at the Spike Guy’s Choice Awards, they ran into each other backstage, and, surprisingly, acted like mature adults. Scarlett Johansson was present to honor the military with Avengers costar Chris Evans, and Penn was around to for the induction of Fast Times at Ridgemont High into the Guy Movie Hall of Fame. When asked to be photographed together, the quietly obliged, as if nothing had ever happened. How un-Hollywood.

That’s not to say the award show went by without any publicity stunts. Justin Timberlake was slated to present his Friend’s With Benefits costar Mila Kunis the Holy Grail of Hotness award, and took it as a cue to publicize their upcoming film, set to debut next month. After a skit that ended with a crotch grab by Kunis and a breast feel by Timberlake, the award was finally presented, and the audience allowed to return to the real show.

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