My Movie Review: Love and Other Drugs

My Movie Review: Love and Other Drugs
2.5/5


Opening Statement: Jamie (Jake Gyllenhaal) is beginning to get into being a pharmaceutical rep, but he is slightly having a problem turning doctors onto Zoloft over Prozac. Soon he meets a woman with Parkinson's Disease played by Anne Hathaway they start with casual sex which soon moves to something bigger along with his career upon the release of Viagra. 


What's Good: Gyllenhaal plays a sociable, yet still flawed man pretty well. However,  the real star here is Hathaway who plays a highly damaged character in the denial stage of her grieving her own disease. Hathaway and Gyllenhaal offer up some great chemistry, if only the screenplay gave their performances justice. Hathaway is nude for a lot of the first and second acts of the film, but it is not gratutious, she embodies the characters ideals of sexuality which is quite impressive. I also enjoyed some of the dramatic conflict between these characters.


What's Bad: The big problem with Love and Other Drugs is that it is a romantic tragedy that tries to hard to be a romantic comedy. Some of the comedy is worth chuckles, but the subject matter calls for a more serious tone. With strong chemistry and great acting the potential was sky high, could've been the next Jerry Maguire or Love Story. However the genre blend is to out of the loop. The comic timing is embarrassingly not intact. If Zwick was to sacrifice the comedy I actually think this movie would've hit harder to us. There is also a mild blend on the medical world, and the world of modern medicine, not sure if Zwick was trying to highlight this or not.


Oscar Predictions: If anything Hathaway has a shot, but still has some strict competition. 


Consensus: I usually enjoy the genre blending, but Love and Other Drugs sacrifices some of it's key dramatic build-up  for some out-of-place only mildly funny comedy.