Love and Other Drugs

Another "Well it was nominated at the Golden Globes..." pick. Did they get it right this time? Well, since they only picked it for best actor and actress in Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway, I'd say they were at least close. Unfortunately, they also put this movie in the comedy or musical category. It is neither. And while I haven't seen all of the performances they nominated in the best actor/actress drama category, I honestly don't think either Gyllenhaal or Hathaway's performance would've necessarily stood out. They were good, Hathaway especially, but not necessarily the top of the pack.

Love and Other Drugs feels like it should be based on a true story. Not because it's so believable it has to be true or something like that, but because it tries to pull in so many different facets of these two people's lives that it often feels like they're summarizing these snapshots of a long relationship and had to pick and choose the most interesting bits. It doesn't really flow together as a coherent story. It's almost like it's trying to be completely separate genres of movies at different times. At first it treats itself like a screwball comedy, then shifts into a moral piece on the evils of the pharmaceutical industry, then into a mature (read "nudity filled") rom-com, then into an almost satire on popularity/quick fame and the rise of Viagra, then finally into a stock sickness related romantic drama until the end. It has a lot of trouble deciding what it wants to be, and as such fails at really being anything coherent.

By far the only saving grace of this movie was that it had two masters at its helm at least trying to steer it in a semblance of a good direction. Gyllenhaal deftly handles the many many changes thrown at his character, going from cocky class clown to suave lover to the unbearably stereotypical (by no fault of his) stock male who loves and supports the woman in her sickness despite some rough patches that substitute as "conflict" in these kinds of movies. Basically, he does the best with what he's given. Hathaway, on the other hand, is at least given a somewhat consistent character despite being completely inconsistent in revealing the effects of her sickness (again, more a fault of the script's). As such, she shines more, and is easily the best part of the movie. It's a brilliant performance unfortunately wasted on such a mediocre film. It may not even be her best performance to date, but it stands out all the more against the backdrop of crap she's given.

And oh yeah, the big deal about this film was its handling of nudity, which was actually kind of refreshing. Most movies these days use it for its shock value once or twice, or to be "edgy" somehow, but Love and Other Drugs gives us enough of it that eventually the surprise and edge wears off and it's just...normal. It fits. They would be naked and not caring about covering up in this situation so that's just how they show it. Though to be fair, who can not appreciate more of those two naked?

There is a good movie somewhere in here. You've got two very good, very attractive leads that have good chemistry together putting out good performances. You've got clashing genres, but pick any of those out and stick with them and you just might have something. Besides the stereotypical sickness related romantic drama. No more of those need to be made. You've got an interesting premise with this pharma rep falling for a Parkinson's patient, but you have to actually invest screen time in that dynamic or do something original with it to make it work.

In short, Love and Other Drugs seems to have all the right puzzle pieces, it just puts them together in the wrong order or tries to mash two pieces together that just plain don't work that way. Hathaway is pretty much the only reason to give this movie a look, as her performance is wonderful but ultimately overshadowed by the confused mediocrity it's surrounded by.

Love and Other Drugs gets a 6.5/10.