Review of Love & Other Drugs (2010) by Shuo L — 05 Dec 2011

It's a beautiful love story. It touches your heart in all the right places without ever becoming sappy. If it has one flaw it's that it falters a bit in making us really care and become invested in the two principal characters.

We don't root for them to get together quite as much as you should in a romantic love story. You're happy when it happens, but you're not overjoyed quite as much as is usual in this sort of star crossed lovers epic.

Anne Hathaway is solid in her performance. Personally I think this movie illustrates that Jake Gyllenhaal is one of the most underrated actors of his generation. He gets accolades but not nearly as many as he deserves for the skill he possesses.

He carries this movie in such a gentle, subtle way that we don't even recognize it. The director made a real misstep when it was decided to downplay the charm that was so apparent in the first few minutes of the film and turn his character into a bit more morose and subdued person that was harder to identify with and thus made him a bit more difficult to root for.

When an actor has the charm one such as Mr. Gyllenhaal does it should be dressed up, trotted out to centre stage and presented for us to revel in. True joy of spirit is rare, the director never should have reined that in.

In spite of that, Mr. Gyllenhaal shines and elevates this movie to something beautiful. I am glad I got to watch. It was a beautiful experience.