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Love
& Other Drugs
is a one-time watch
if I’ve ever seen
one. I didn’t hate
the movie, but I
didn’t exactly like
it either. Anne
Hathaway and Jake
Gyllenhaal have a
certain amount of
on-screen charisma
that’s necessary for
this type of
over-the-top sex
tale, but other than
the two’s
relationship on
screen … there’s not
much to like.
Jamie
Randall is a lost
man. He comes from a
family of doctors
and he’s extremely
intelligent but he’s
also a bit of a
screw-up. He’s held
lots of jobs but
hasn’t been able to
keep them and he
hasn’t had a
meaningful
relationship. He’s a
bit of a lost soul.
Maggie Murdock is a
restless soul. She
refuses to be tied
down by anything or
anyone. She’s also a
bit of damaged
goods. She has stage
one Parkinson’s
disease, something
pretty rare for a 26
year-old woman.
Maggie’s not a fan
of her plight in
life. After Jamie
gets fired from
selling electronics,
he takes a job as a
pharmaceutical rep
for Pfizer. Outside
of a doctor’s office
Jamie and Maggie
meet and they’re
drawn together
physically. That
means they have sex,
lots of times, but
they try and keep
their feelings out
of it. They just
make it about sex,
which never works.
They fall in love
and they go through
their ups and downs.
That’s
Love
& Other Drugs.
This movie’s main
problem is director
Edward Zwick and the
production done
behind him. It’s
just awful. Zwick
made a film that
looks great, don’t
get me wrong. And
there’s nothing
wrong with
performances by
Gyllenhaal and
Hathaway but the
entire movie just
seems lost. The
script is awful.
There are lots of
cool scenes that
give you a look at
what a drug rep
actually does, but
then there are
scenes, especially
towards the end of
the movie, that just
try and force drama
down your throat. It
doesn’t work. Then
the production
choices are just
awful. The year is
supposed to be 1996
when Jamie is
selling electronics…
there’s flat screen
TVs everywhere. That
wasn’t exactly
prevalent in 1996.
Then they use an old
video camera as a
tool to capture the
love between Jamie
and Maggie and the
camera doesn’t
reflect the proper
time period either.
Then there’s the
music direction…
it’s just awful.
There’s no other way
to put it other than
awful. The music
that’s used when
Jamie and Maggie are
having a romantic
moment is nothing
short of
cringe-worthy. There
are some likable
moments to this
movie, most of them
are funny moments,
but there’s not
nearly enough comedy
for the type of
movie this is.
On the Blu-ray
release there’s a
few special features
but nothing worth
watching. There are
two short features
with Hathaway and
Gyllenhaal talking
about their
characters, some
deleted scenes, and
a short piece on
being a
pharmaceutical drug
rep. That’s about
it, the deleted
scenes were worth
keeping in a few
places though; it
would have made the
movie easier to
watch and follow,
but Zwick and co.
kept them out so
that wasn’t the
case.
Love
& Other Drugs
is a one-time watch.
You’ll watch this
once and never again
so it’s definitely a
date night rent.
Zwick was doomed
with bad production
choices and not
paying attention to
detail. It killed
his story. I have a
feeling with a
longer timeline, the
movie made could
have been a lot
better.
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