Teringer
An Exercise In Nonsense
Guillelmina
The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
Rexanne
It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny
firangipaani
The chemistry between the lead couple is spot on. They look and act terrifically, that's something of a novel concept for a romantic comedy recently. The theme is all age-old, tried and tested one - a reckless playboy meets a kind-hearted girl with a non curable disease and then they go away and come back with a happy ending. But, the execution is what this film sets apart and makes it a one time watch on a lazy afternoon. The situational comedy suits well in parts but, the overall tone is more romantic and dramatic. Anne is pretty believable as a Parkinson's patient and handles the situation too well. See it or not, you won't miss much either way.
Prismark10
To get Pfizer onside, director Edward Zwick probably toned down criticisms of big pharma.Set in the mid 1990s, Love & Other Drugs stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Jamie Randall. Charismatic, confident and clever. A babe magnet who can sell anything. When he gets a job as a pharmaceutical salesman to sell Zoloft which is a rival drug to Prozac he needs to use his considerable charm and cunning. The goal is to meet his quotas and get the lucrative Chicago beat. Once he gets to sell the new drug Viagra, the money comes rolling in as doctors cannot wait to prescribe it. Jamie is the star salesman making an healthy commission.The film takes an initial cynical approach to pharmaceutical companies. There is a boot camp scene where budding salesman are told to massage facts and manipulate medical staff to prescribe their products. It is a job for the amoral salesman. The film then changes tact as Jamie meets Maggie (Anne Hathaway) who is in the early stages of Parkinson's disease where it becomes a sort of love story.The film is all over the place with its tonal shifts, it gets worse when Jamie's brother crashes at his place when his wife has thrown him.Zwick is too good a filmmaker to make just a bog standard, by the numbers movie. He does add some nice touches in this film such as Maggie going to a meeting of Parkinson sufferers which is tender and funny. At the same meeting Jamie meets a husband who has been caring for his ill wife for decades. He tells Jamie to run away and describes the future that awaits Jamie as the disease advances.Zwick also places comic moments such as Jamie placing his samples of Zoloft at a doctor's cabinet and taking away samples of Prozac which he dumps in the bin. A tramp then takes it from the dump. This scene is repeated several times, when we last meet the tramp his life is transformed by Prozac. He has spruced himself up and is going for a job interview.This is a movie for grown ups, but unlike Blood Diamond, I feel Zwick has pulled his punches.
Python Hyena
Love and Other Drugs (2010): Dir: Edward Zwick / Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, Oliver Platt, Hank Azaria, Josh Gad: What drugs could possibly assist someone in getting through a screening of this junk? The drug in question is feelings and it stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a womanizer who recently lost his job then he is roomed with his slob brother and selling drug samples at doctors offices. He meets his match in Anne Hathaway, a victim of Parkinsons disease whom he will suddenly give a sh*t about. This is all very phony and even the disease subject seems like an ill contrived plot device. Director Edward Zwick previously made much different films in Blood Diamond and Courage Under Fire but here he can merely watch his actors become undone by dipstick circumstances. It is easily one of the worst films Zwick has ever attached his name to, and a total opposite to the greatness of Blood Diamond. Gyllenhaal is a fine actor but here he lacks the sincerity required. Hathaway is a stunning presence whose first scene has her exposing a breast. Eventually she shows up at Gyllenhaal's apartment dropping her robe displaying all of her goods. The view is spectacular but it comes off as desperate. In flat supporting roles are Oliver Platt as a job associate of Gyllenhaal's who eats a lot. Hank Azaria plays a doctor whom seeks Viagra from Gyllenhaal. This movie is everywhere. At one point it wants to be charming and funny, then it gets emotional presenting serious talk about Parkinsons. What it doesn't do is suggest the right drugs one should take to erase this drivel from memory. Score: 2 / 10
Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"Love & Other Drugs" is another example of how Anne Hathaway is one of the most talented actresses from her generation. She managed to score a Golden Globe nomination just like her co-star Jake Gyllenhaal. I have to say I am not his greatest fan, so I was neither too impressed with his performance here nor did I manage to find him likable near the end which was probably the intention. He was just too unlikeable early on. The movie is directed by Edward Zwick, an Oscar-winning producer for "Shakespeare in Love".First of all, I want to say that the happy ending felt a bit forced in my opinion that they just had to close it with the two reuniting and it was a bit random. And didn't she say before she had somebody else already? Where did he go? Why did Gyllenhaal's character leave her anyway if he loved her? The whole split-up scene came totally out of nowhere only minutes after they confessed each other that they are in love. Anyway, Hathaway's enthusiastic behavior after the Parkinson convention was great to watch and she really nailed that scene. The whole convention and monologues were written nicely. What I did nit like about the film has'd mostly to do with Gyllenhaal's character. His brother was brought in for some comic relief, but added really nothing else. The final boner scenes were downright bad and brought some terrible "American Pie" humor to a film that did not fit it at all. Also, the whole medicine background story in the first half of the film was just not developed at all. That one scene when they talked about the impact of the medical industry at that point and included a reference to a Presidential candidate was downright bad. All of a sudden the movie seemed politically ambitious and it did not work out at all. The movie worked best as a somewhat different, more serious romantic comedy between the two protagonists.The film succeeds occasionally on an emotional level, for example when the older man tells Gyllenhaal's character to leave her and not go through all the struggles due to the illness. Another one would be when Gyllenhaal's character watches the video of his ex-girlfriend near the end. Gave me goosebumps. As a whole, the movie has some great scenes, some pretty weak scenes, but as a whole I'd recommend it, especially if you like one of the two main actors. Lots of graphic nudity too, so stay away if you're a bit on the prudish side.
