Review: Love and Other Drugs

Based on a book called “Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman”, Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a slick and ambitious drug company salesman and ladies’ man (does that make him cocksure?) who starts selling Viagra (in its infancy) and an anti-depressant called Zoloft. One day he’s trying to schmooze a doctor into prescribing his patients one of his drugs instead of schmuck rival Gabriel Macht, and he meets a young Parkinson’s sufferer, played by Anne Hathaway. At first, Hathaway detests him (Azaria has Gyllenhaal act as his assistant whilst examining Hathaway’s breasts!), but before long they’re having sex. Lots of sex. Without any other complications, which at first is beneficial to both. He’s shallow, she doesn’t want to be anyone’s crutch or charity case. But then feelings, as they inevitably do, emerge and this scares Hathaway in particular. George Segal and the late Jill Clayburgh play Gyllenhaal’s parents, Josh Gad is his sleazy, no-hoper brother, Oliver Platt plays a veteran salesman, and Judy Greer plays Azaria’s horny secretary.

I saw this 2010 blend of drug company exposé and romantic drama after the somewhat similar “No Strings Attached”, which was actually released after this. Comparisons, are inevitable, and for me, this Edward Zwick (“Glory”, “The Last Samurai”) film, whilst flawed, comes out way on top. The Pfizer stuff actually didn’t work all that well for me, but the romantic aspect of the film was definitely a winner, and not just because Anne Hathaway gets her tits out for most of it. That helped, though. It helped a lot. The two stars are excellent, charismatic, and likeable, something that “No Strings Attached” failed on. Never underestimate the benefit of good casting and screen chemistry. In a film like this in particular, it’s essential. This is a really smart romantic film that unlike “No Strings Attached”, makes the notion of a relationship based predominantly on sex somewhat palatable within the structure of a romance film. The key is that there is more genuine warmth in these characters, and they fall in love far more easily and convincingly than did the characters in the aforementioned film (Well, aside from their ‘Meet Cute’, which is the worst and most unlikely ‘Meet Cute’ of all-time. No doctor would ever behave like Azaria, though the actor is pitch-perfect in a stupid role). Natalie Portman was far too aloof and mean, whereas Anne Hathaway, is practically America’s Sweetheart, and whilst she has a similar attitude to the Portman character of “No Strings Attached”, there is better reason for it. She has an illness and doesn’t want to get too close to someone because she doesn’t want to be dependent on anyone.

I really like Gyllenhaal in this, the guy’s so underrated (“Donnie Darko”, anyone?). His character’s plan to score with a woman by continually getting her name wrong is twisted genius and very funny. I also liked that his character is a bit of a ladies’ man to start, and not nearly as naive as Ashton Kutcher in “No Strings Attached”. His eventual ascent into maturity is interesting to watch, even a little moving. I didn’t like Josh Gad as his no-hoper brother, however. He’s a pest and a Jack Black clone who eats up way too much time. He does something in one scene that is just disgusting and not as funny as everyone involved probably thought. It’s just creepy beyond belief and I have no idea what Zwick was thinking with this out-of-place character.

Hathaway has genuine star quality on evidence throughout this film, and her body...wow. Just wow. Every now and then, I really do fall in love at the movies, and if you don’t fall in love with Hathaway here there is something terribly wrong with you. Yes, even if you’re a girl. That’s star quality, folks. And unlike “Havoc”, here’s a movie with frequent Anne Hathaway nudity that you don’t need to feel ashamed for watching. I suppose it’s a bit weird that Parkinson’s was the chosen illness given how rare it likely is in young people, but it’s not a big deal. Plausible or not, it’s very sad for someone with such youth and vitality to have such an indignity that you’ll likely be forced to live with for a very long time.

I really like that for the most part the conflict in this film is much more interesting than a mere third party being involved. Yes, a third party is kinda there (a fourth even), but not in a Bill Pullman way where it’s an obstacle to true love. Like I said, the Pfizer stuff was a bit of a bust, though Oliver Platt is perfectly cast. I just found those drug co. conferences to be so overblown as to not be plausible. I could be totally wrong on that, but I found it heavy-handed. In fact, there’s too much going on in the film- romantic comedy, drug company stuff, harrowing Parkinson’s drama, etc, which is somewhat unsurprising given there are three screenwriters at work here; Charles Randolph, Marshall Herskovitz (who co-wrote “The Last Samurai”), and Zwick.

Overall, though, the film is sexy, well-acted, and sometimes funny. It’s not great, but it’s certainly more substantial and ambitious than just about any other romantic flick you won’t to name of the last decade or two. Certainly it’s more romantic than “No Strings Attached”, and it shows that great stars with chemistry can sell anything. It seems like the characters in this film are a little more mature and eventually realise all the things they’re missing whilst pursuing a purely sexual relationship.

Rating: B-