It took me awhile to see this Jake Gyllenhaal/Anne Hathaway film. As you will see, it wasn’t the best idea I had had. It may have left many theaters so you might want to put it on your NetFlix or rental list.
Love and Other Drugs (Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, Oliver Platt, Hank Azaria, Josh Gad) – The opening half of this movie is really “Sex and Zoloft,” which segues into “Love and Viagra” before ultimately ending up as “Why Parkinson’s is an Awful Disease.” That sums up the entire movie. So if you’d like to see Anne naked (or Jake for that matter), the first part of the film is for you. If you want to see the bashing of the health care industry – the drug companies, the insurance companies and doctors on the take – the second part of the movie is for you. If you are interested in the poignant message of how insidious Parkinson’s can be (Michael J. Fox is a consultant to the film), then watch the third part.
Needless to say, the last installment features the best acting in the movie, which reunites the couple from Brokeback Mountain in what appears to be a mainstream RomCom (that’s romantic comedy for amateurs). But no, the film wants to be more and it spends two hours trying to accomplish that. Unfortunately, it fails. Despite boasting two fine dramatic actors, Love and Other Drugs doesn’t work because neither of the stars really is designed for comedy. Instead of the evolution of a film from frivolous and empty to meaningful and deep, the last part looks more like a lecture delivered in order to give the plot a place to go.
For me, Love and Other Drugs was a major disappointment even if I got more than a mere glimpse of Anne without her clothes on.