Review of Love & Other Drugs (2010) by Joshua C — 16 Dec 2011

It tried so damn hard to be good. It had a lot of sweet natured sex and quaint humor. It had the royals of chemistry with no substance, Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway. Both have been naked together in the critically lauded Brokeback Mountain.

Unlike that at least memorable film this one feels defeated by its want to please everyone. Not only is it determined to gain legions of fans with sex scenes and broad romantic comedy statements, but it tries to be deep, haunting, and brave, but it doesn't accomplish any of this.

The first half is fun, which at least comes off sincere and good hearted. The second part, when we veer from understood camp and fun, is where it gets aimless. Hathaway is given the attribute of having Parkinsonâ(TM)s and the whole film simply revolves around their decision whether to be together or not.

I don't fully believe their relationship when I watch. They seem so scared around each other, and each compensates with either nudity or a snippy line. The plot of the film works pretty well, not leaving anything out or plays into gross out humor or gender semantics, but the couple times it sucks, it sucks HARD.

There are these moments between them which are silent except for this droning humming and a single tear. The speech at the end (which we all knew was coming) is blasà (C) at best, stigmatizing at worst.

It's this misplaced folly among the rest of everything. I only wish they hadn't chosen something so atrociously depressing. Oh, and it's set in 1996, which isn't used as the setting because it furthers the plot or is important to the romance.

This film is placed in that decade so it can be around the time Viagra comes out on the market. Most of this is ugly product placement for Pfizer, and though they also try to emphasize the struggles of being a doctor nothing bad happens to anyone who is a doctor, leading to an anticlimactic end.

My God, that ending was horrific. They tie it up in a neat little bow and smile at you like they're not getting some sick thrill. In short, it's good to watch with a girlfriend, but otherwise run, run far and fast my friend.