Love and Other Drugs (2010)

Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway deliver inspiring, charismatic and dimensional performances in Edward Zwick's latest directorial venture. The film, like the performances, arcs from shallow objectives and arguably questionable behaviors to capturing the essence of love. It's the classic tale of boy meets girl except as Maggie (Hathaway) puts it, "...this isn't about connection for you, this isn't even about sex for you. This is about finding and hour or two of relief from the pain of being you, and that's fine with me because all I want's the exact same thing." Maggie's quote is perhaps the single most foreshadowing moment that will cause their parallel paths to intersect, putting forth a moving story of human compassion and love. Jamie (Gyllenhaal) is intent on becoming the most successful sales rep for the pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer. His aspirations are simple; sex, the Viagra account, and getting to Chicago. Maggie's objectives are a bit different. While she too is intent on the escapism she finds in sex, it's subtly presented that her goal is to be an artist - a goal that may be no longer achievable. What transpires is a character arc for each person and the realization that meaningless sex may have led to the ultimate human goals of companionship and love.

'Love and Other Drugs' is a nicely told story that keeps you laughing and hoping but will ultimately leave a tear in your eye. It exudes, to perfection, human emotion and leaves you feeling the reality of the situation and of each character, while doing its best to present a diagnosis with antidepressants and Viagra. It's cinematically beautiful and nicely paced to deliver a stand-out film containing all the chemistry Gyllenhaal and Hathaway had in years prior while filming 'Brokeback Mountain'. Acting is where the film garners much of its success through beautiful nuances, flawless delivery and strong eye contact. It leaves you hoping for the future, of both Maggie and Jamie and of a reuniting of Gyllenhaal and Hathaway.

Grade: A+

Fmovies: The first part introduces us to Jamie Randall (Jake Gyllenhaal), a good looking schmuck who gets his way around women always, possessing an irrepressible charm that make them all feel weak in their knees. Being kicked out of his job at an electronic store for his amorous ways, he soon finds himself applying his innate ways with women into his selling routine, now working as a sales rep in the medical industry for Pfizer, which when he joined hasn't created the magical blue pill called Viagra yet.

I'd always wonder whether Pfizer was totally OK with the use of their branding, just like how Up in the Air featured Hilton. After all this section of the film relentlessly pummels you with their sales strategy, arguments and counter-arguments where some aren't really flattering, or even ethical to begin with. It's like a statement of how numbers and quotas are being chased no matter the cost, and their sales training made for some comedic fodder. And to make matters worst, it puts up front how the use of freebies can open up doors which are closed, and to Jamie it also means manipulating women to get at what he wants, especially an account with Dr Stan Knight (Hank Azaria) who in one scene opened up and blabbers about how corrupt the entire industry could be in demolishing one's medical ideals.

So I suppose it's fair game for Pfizer since the story, or at least this part of it, is based on the book "Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman" by author Jamie Reidy, himself a former Pfizer sales rep, because at least it gets itself everywhere in the film by virtue of Jamie's job. Besides the lessons learnt and applicability in the corporate world, I totally agree with how being good looking puts one at a certain advantage because people like aesthetically pleasing things and beings, or try as hard to deny that such things exist. Things work, appeals work, and just about everything one touches turn into gold, or you get a leg up in your mission in life. This entire part on the bubbling new career of Jamie's I enjoyed and had a huge chuckle from for its bold portrayal of things that cut close to real life.

Then there's the romantic portion of the film that kicked in once Anne Hathaway's Maggie Murdock comes into the picture, piquing Jamie's interest when she revealed a boob and caught him ogling. The love between the two is anything but simple (and I touch on this in a while) since she wants to keep her emotional walls up to prevent from getting hurt again. They reach an agreeable compromise in establishing a relation that's built on purely physical terms, and try as hard as they can to avoid falling into the usual relationship trap. Through their interactions we learn a lot more about their characters, and in these moments come the expansion to prevent them from lapsing into caricature mode.

Both Gyllenhaal and Hathaway score in their respective roles, so much so that it earned them a Golden Globe nomination each. Gyllenhaal's Jamie develops from schmuck to an all round nice guy, something which love does of course since it forces you to care about somebody else, while Hathaway has to mimic an early stage of Parkinson's for her Maggie role, and brings to light some basic understanding of sufferers for the disease in which there's still no cure. After all, modern medicine seems to be interested in developing products that have mass market demand (like Viagra) appealing to the primal desires of men (and women too) which automatically tra

I must say that "Love and Other Drugs" is clearly one of the better films I've saw in awhile. For a variety of reasons for one the chemistry between Gyllenhaal and Hathaway is in perfect form as the two worked together before(as a couple in "Brokeback Mountain"). Second it's an emotional story that involves sickness and finding unexpected love. And finally what can I say the film has plenty of passion, lust and hot steamy love scenes so plenty plenty of sex! So aside from those reasons this picture can best be summed up as a kind of old fashioned romance falling in love story that touches your emotions as you feel the couples(Jamie and Maggie)growing pains of trust, sickness and feel good pleasure. Still the sex overshadows those ingredients leaving a happy and feel good side effect for a viewer like me and it helps because I'm a big Anne Hathaway fan and with this picture you get to see plenty of her skin.

Set in the mid 1990's when the economy was booming you have Jamie(Jake Gyllenhaal)who's a young playboy from a well to do family and his biggest love in life is going to bed with hot young females. Then Jamie decides to get a little bit more power hungry when he becomes a pharmaceutical sales rep. he's taken under the arms of an ego driven boss Bruce(Oliver Platt)and the catch and sale of the game is for Jamie to use his charm and good looks to help sell medicine like Zoloft and Viagra(remember the wonder pills of the 90's!). Plus his connection with a cocky Dr. Knight(Hank Azaria)helps his climb and profile in the drug selling world too! Now that Jamie has became a hotshot pharmaceutical rep. he now meets his match in one of Knight's patients that being the sassy and witty sharp tongued free spirited sexy Maggie Murdock(Anne Hathaway in her best and most sexy role of her career)as you can see a lot of adjectives to describe her. Only blemish with the beautiful Maggie is that she has stage one Parkinson's disease. Never mind these hot young attractive singles hit it off perfect as this quickly becomes a relationship of no strings attached lust bedroom making very hot passionate sex(I must say the bed and love scenes were very hot for an R rated film). And this is what both enjoy lots and lots of sex.

Yet as the charms of Jamie continues to go both for Maggie and his business he unexpectedly starts to have feelings for Maggie has he finally meet his match can he charm the stubborn sex magnet Maggie? The film is blended well with both comedy and drama as Jamie's slob geek overweight brother Josh(Josh Gad) provides laughs trying to score and it's fun seeing he's addicted to watching internet porn and sex tapes. Plus the scene of Jamie's boner from taking the Viagra pill was down right funny. Still Maggie is a serious go getter by traveling even to Canada to Parkinson support groups in the search for new cures and ways of living with the disease.

This film thru it all is wonderful as the sex and hot lustful passion make it a tasty treat to watch and enjoy as the strong chemistry of Jake and Anne is great as Hathaway is sexy as ever. Those factors alone make it one of the better films I've seen. And adding the sickness theme of Parkinson's makes it depressing to some still it proves that anyone can be loved and that it's unexpected and everyone needs someone. Most of all it proves that sex and hot passion can easy lead to strong emotions of feeling and yes you guessed it as this film proves love. Love & Other Drugs is a fee

Love and Other Drugs fmovies. Love stories are essentially the same -- it's a matter of how you dress them up. Many will see through "Love and Other Drugs" and count the romance clichés and formulaic characters, others will find the 1996 setting and the pharmaceutical angle refreshing. Both forces are hard at work in this film, but the tipping point goes in favor thanks to the leads, Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway. There's a reason most romantic films are judged based on the chemistry of their lead actors. When it comes to romance, it's not about how cleverly written the two characters are and how unique and special they feel to us. What counts is whether they can convince you of their attraction/love and get you to -- without blunt coercion -- invest in what happens to them. Gyllenhaal and Hathaway have what it takes to do just that in spite of a script that sometimes tries to lean too hard on conventional tactics of boys meets girl. Gyllenhaal plays Jamie, an expert salesman who lands a gig as a pharmaceutical sales rep for Pfizer, right before Viagra hit the market. He's also adept at landing any woman he desires. He epitomizes a Don Juan and he's plays the type well, but when you can predict that he'll end up in bed with the next attractive woman that shows up on screen, the writing has taken it a bit far. As good of a filmmaker as Edward Zwick is, his best credits include "Glory," "The Last Samurai" and "The Blood Diamond" -- not exactly romance. He co-wrote the script (based on Jamie Reidy's memoir) with longtime collaborator Marshall Herskovitz and thriller writer Charles Randolph ("The Interpreter"), so no real romantic comedy prowess exists among them, hence the tendency to stick with genre conventions. One such convention is Jamie's brother (Josh Gad), who plays the little brother crashing on Jamie's couch who has a porn addiction and makes clueless statements, usually to the tune of no laughs, but he does help break the tension. Enter girl. Jamie meets Maggie, a bit of a free-spirited cynic who (in a unique twist) has way early onset Parkinson's. Many will be quick to jump on the "diseased girl" archetype, but don't judge Hathaway's prowess that quickly. As completely pathetic as Maggie's self-esteem might be and how strictly anti-commitment she is, when her character caves in to the romance as they all do, Hathaway gives Maggie a believable fragility rather than a melodramatic tone. Jamie's motives for wanting to spend more time with Maggie and not simply continuing his streak of banging all who possess lady parts are reduced to the reason of "she's playing hard to get," which is not the best of reasons. The same can be said about Maggie constantly accusing Jamie of having pity sex with the diseased girl. However, watching these two charm each other and overcome the cliché has a definite appeal. The two spend a lot of naked time together, making "Love and Other Drugs" the best date movie this holiday season. But on a serious note, the drug angle and the "recent past" setting give us something else to chew on, which is nice. Zwick never truly marries that story line with the romance except "Jamie sells drugs and Maggie has a disease that lacks an effective one." The thematic ties are not quite there despite the plot coincidences and the fitting title. "Love and Other Drugs" is hardly the cure for the common romantic comedy, but

This is one of those movies that have a weird marketing campaign, the studio wants to sell it like a romantic comedy when its more like a drama with complex and real characters. Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyleenhaal have good chemistry on screen and secondary characters help to bring equilibrium to a movie that other way could turn to be a little depressing. I also think that this movie doesn't deserve the R rating just because it deals with sex ( I live in Mexico and here we have something like PG-15)hopefully people don't feel to uncomfortable with the sex scene because it gives more credibility to the story.In the end the film works better than others of its genre and its worth a look ( probably not for a first date) but if you are already on a relationship it will give you something to think and talk about.

The movie starts out as a generic and even pedestrian romantic comedy and appears to be headed in the typical cliché driven direction but, fortunately, evolves in to something more. Jake Gyllenhaal's character and his alleged "funny" fat side kick are established almost purposefully as illustrations of what's wrong with most romantic comedies. It's Anne Hathaway's character that is the catalyst for the transformation from two dimensional rom-com to something deeper and more enjoyable. As she is fleshed out (pun intended because the more Anne Hathaway nudity the better) her character forces both Gyllenhaal's character and the film itself to grow (almost Viagra like). What follows is a deep, sometimes moving and genuinely interesting film. Commentary about battling illness, life and enjoying the moment are all relevant and poignant. Even supporting characters are given moments to shine. Oliver Pratt's drug rep has a wonderful scene delivered over dinner and there's even a smart drunken ramble explaining what is wrong with being a doctor and a commentary on the state of the Hippocratic Oath. From an emotionless and even tedious start, this film surprised me and is worth the price of a ticket.