Love & Other Drugs

[MacGuffin]

Trailer here.

Release Date: November 24th, 2010 (wide)

Starring: Hank Azaria, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, Josh Gad, Judy Greer

Directed by: Edward Zwick 

Premise: A humorous expose of the highly competitive and cutthroat world of pharmaceuticals. An ambitious college grad schmoozes doctors, nurses, hospitals and begins a relationship with a woman suffering from Parkinson's, all while competing against other salesmen who trying to push their brand of drugs.

[Stefen]

*picture of some suit*(xixax, add your own) -- "The worst parts of Brokeback Mountain? Let's put them in a rom-com."

[squints]

stefen you just reminded me to do a google image search for anne hathaway's awesome rack from brokeback...thank you

[Stefen]

I don't even remember posting that. But you're welcome. It is glorious.

[Alexandro]

This was way better than I expected it to be.
Save from  a couple of really horrible musical cues near the end, it's a smart and actually funny comedy about two emotionally crippled fuck ups in love that was unjustly marketed as any other rom com around.

Anne Hathaway has been pretty great in everything I've seen her and this is no exception; her character is at the same time emotionally unstable, physically sick, perceptive, cynical and vulnerable; this could haven played safe easily and she juggles all those facets and more and makes it work. "Sex" as a subject is dealt with frankness and it shows in the scenes also, which range from truly sexy to uncomfortable.

I've pretty much hated every single Edward Zwick film since Legends of the Fall but I gotta say he really surprised me with this. The mood changes within the film (from raunchy jokes to romance to genuine emotion) were handled with a lot of control and expertise.

[Sleepless]

I could have sworn I'd already written something on this. Evidently not. Like Alexandro, I was really very pleasantly surprised by this. I went into it not really expecting that much, just some seen-it-before rom-com, but it was actually a lot more than that. It was more an adult love story than a generic rom-com, although it certainly had its share of cheesy rom-com moments. I have a love/hate relationship with Hathaway, but it's starting to look like any film where she gets her tits out must be because the film surpasses a certain benchmark? The film also got more into the behind the scenes of the drug peddling industry than I expected to and there was an unexpected element of socio-political commentary on how basic medical needs are exploited for big bucks.

Bottom line: if you've been avoiding this film because of low expectations, it is worth checking out. Don't raise your expectations though. The fact that the two of us who've commented were "pleasantly surprised" probably doesn't bode well if you come to this expecting it to be really good.

[SiliasRuby]

this is an interesting piece. It goes beyond the romantic drama into something truly intriguing and beautiful. romantic dramas like this make my heart soar and sink at that same time.