A fairly standard romance. Jake Gyllenhaal plays a representative (i.e., salesman) for Pfizer who meets up with Anne Hathaway in a doctor's office and falls for her. At first he just assumes she's a prescription medicine junky (which he obviously doesn't look down on, since he's pretty much just a pusher). It turns out, though, that she really does have Parkinson's disease and is refusing to let him get closer to her because she doesn't want to hurt him (or be hurt by him if he runs away when things get too rough). The film does work, though, mostly because Hathaway is excellent. Gyllenhaal's pretty good, too. You also get some good supporting performances from people like Hank Azaria, Oliver Platt and Judy Greer. One big negative aspect: Gyllenhaal's fat, obnoxious younger brother played by Josh Gad. I think they wanted to cast Jonah Hill, but he was too big a star for such a role. Gad is a lookalike with about half as much talent. But, really, the flaw is mostly in the writing. The guy's a pretty poor excuse for comic relief. He does completely unbelievable things (like masturbating to a sex tape starring his brother and his brother's girlfriend, then, when getting caught, asking his brother how his penis got so big?!?!), and his joke lines are completely unfunny.
Review of Love & Other Drugs
