Film Review – Love and Other Drugs

December 8th, 2010 | POSTED BY Chad Eng

I knew this movie was a depressing chick flick, but I was still game to see it. Here’s why – I’m a sucker for Jake Gyllenhaal (and his wack job sister Maggie), and my grandmother has Parkinson’s (which is what the movie is about). (Plus it was my lady’s birthday, so I does what I’m told…) It’s a decent film, with a pretty standard love story plot.

Jamie (Gyllenhaal) comes from a rich family, his little brother (who is a moron – a hilarious moron) sells a company he’s come up with, for a few million and is still incompetent and ends up living on his big brother’s floor. Jamie had dropped out of med school because he was bored. The guy sleeps with anything with a pulse and decides he can use this skill to sell pharmaceuticals. It’s a high paying job and his medical background serves him very well (as does laying pipe all around the Ohio River Valley).

He meets Maggie (played by Anne Hathaway) who has early onset Parkinson’s. Maggie is drowning her problems by sleeping with random guys and not actually being intimate with any of them (I hope to Balzak my grandmother hasn’t done this – I will now bleach my eyes…). They agree to sleep together and not get serious.

This works fine for about a week and then Jamie starts showing up and doing boyfriendy things. She fights it with all she’s got and eventually caves. They become exclusive RIGHT as Viagra is launched on the market and he’s got to sell it. He chooses Maggie over demonstrating first-hand the effects of Viagra. Jamie now gets to see Maggie at her worst, like when her drugs wear off and she’s a wreck.

Maggie goes to an Un-Conference for Parkinson’s and hears a bunch of (what I assume are) Parkinson’s patients cracking wise about their disease and how they keep on living no matter what. This opens Maggie’s eyes immediately after Jamie gets some grim advice from a spouse of a Parkinson’s patient. Jamie tries to fix the problem with Maggie, but Maggie just wants to live her life. They split up.

The movie isn’t uplifting at all, but it does have some funny moments. And for those of you who like to see Anne Hathaway nekid, you see it a LOT in this movie. A LOT. The acting is quite good and doesn’t get slap stick-y or ridiculous for the most part, though there are a couple of really bad “pretty woman”-type scenes. It’s pretty believable, but the scenes are a little disjunct. And just a bit dreary even though you always know what’s coming in this film. That being said, (promiscuous grandmothers aside) it’s a decent film. More for the ladies, but I’ve now got some awesome opening lines if my girlfriend decides to leave me after making comments about Maggie Gyllenhaal – thank you Jake. (Note, the previews don’t really tell what this movie is about. It is more seedy and dark than the happy-go-lucky feel the previews suggest.)

(3 out of 5 fus)