Love and Other Drugs

(2010)

Directed by

Edward Zwick

Review by Todd Plucknett

Posted - 12/12/10

Love and Other Drugs is an interesting film that many people are underestimating. Critics seemed to just brush it off as another lame romantic comedy to add to the scrapbook. Audiences have perhaps not looked deep enough into what the film is really about. Edward Zwick, most known for his battle pictures, had not gone the comedy route in some 20 years. This script is eclectic and very intelligent. I understand why this is the script that caused him to give comedy another try. It is one of the most honest comedies of the year, and one that may sweep the audience off their feet if they give it a chance.

Set in the late 1990s, the film is about Jamie Randall (Jake Gyllenhaal), a salesman in every sense of the word. All he does is closes. He gets people to buy second-hand and/or overpriced electronics equipment, goes door-to-door selling pharmaceutical products (Viagara, being the most famous of those) to doctors, and he gets any woman he wants in bed. That is until someone sees through him. That girl is Maggie Murdock (Anne Hathaway), a free-spirit who has Parkinson’s, and as a way of ensuring that she will not get her heart broken again by someone who cannot deal with it, she attempts to make as little connection as possible. All she wants is an escape, which is what defines Jamie’s entire life. The two meet randomly at a hospital when Jamie sat in on one of her appointments pretending to be an intern, and from that moment on, the two subconsciously could not function without each other. The story takes dramatic turns, and while it lets itself get a bit too melodramatic, at its core, it is still a comedy, and a very funny one at that.

This film certainly is not without its flaws. Not all of the stories work. The sex stuff is really fresh and funny. It is nice to see an adult romance that is not afraid to show a little raunch and take a few risks. The pharmaceutical jargon and sales elements are really terrific, which form the base for the first third of the movie or so. The part that does not work is the sick girlfriend routine. We have become very familiar (and somewhat immune) to this storyline with the filming of every Nicholas Sparks novel in existence and other films such as Terms of Endearment. This is why the film struggles a bit with its tone. It goes from a film almost mirroring the brilliant Up in the Air, to being a charming romance, to being a laugh-out-loud comedy, finally to being a self-serious tear-jerker. Normally, this would not be much of a problem if the material was handled correctly. Zwick is really talented, and there is nothing really wrong with any one individual scene, but the rhythm and tone of the movie is interrupted to throw these scenes in there. This is what holds the film back from attaining true greatness.

The actors are what make the film click. The renewal of the Brokeback Mountain “couple” provides some of the best on-screen chemistry I have seen in the past few years. Hathaway and Gyllenhaal are two actors that are on the same page at all times. Gyllenhaal’s carefree, quick-witted character is combated by Hathaway’s sincere, yet very cynical take on everything. When they are in a scene together, you can understand why their characters are such a believable couple. They play off each other beautifully, each bringing out the best in the other. Gyllenhaal is doing some of his best work in the past few years, most notably Brothers and Zodiac. This performance is right up there with those. Hathaway’s work is really strong as well, making up for her four consecutive missteps since her Oscar nomination for Rachel Getting Married. I would like to see this team take on another film at some point in the future. They are the perfect match. The supporting cast is also strong, with Josh Gad (the Jonah Hill of the movie) walking away with a handful of scenes playing Jamie’s younger, incredibly rich and insecure brother. Oliver Platt does his thing. Gabriel Macht and Hank Azaria are always great to see. It really is an actor’s film, which has become somewhat of a staple of Zwick’s filmography. He lets his actors shine, and he brings as much out of them as anyone.

The reason why this film got mediocre reception and kind of flopped at the box office is that it was really marketed wrong. Its trailer made the film out to be about 20% of what it was. It looked as if it was going to be a smart chick flick. Most guys wanted nothing to do with it, which is not a problem, because clearly that was not the target market. If they had focused on the manipulative terminal illness part during the trailer, then it would have been an all-girl event at the theater in the vein of Sex and the City or A Walk to Remember. If it would have focused on its witty pharmaceutical business and Jamie’s womanizing, then the film would have had a more wide appeal. The weird thing is that it does have that appeal. No one is seeing it because they do not know what the film is really about and trying to say. It is almost in the same neighborhood as another raunchy rom-com 40 Days and 40 Nights (underrated, by the way). The parallels are there, and the female leads are actually given a voice and opinions of their own. This is no more of a chick flick than, say, Knocked Up or a James L. Brooks film. People just do not know that, and quite honestly, I didn’t really know that going in. I was there because of Edward Zwick, not the material. Now I can say with a clear conscience that I actually really dug it. Even when the movie delves into its manipulative, corny ending, it never wears on the audience’s patience. I bought every moment of it, even though I knew exactly what was going to happen. The film is full of heart and intelligence. It deserves more credit and more success at the box office.

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