Love And Other Drugs
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, Hank Azaria, Oliver Platt
Director: Edward Zwick
Rating: 4/5
Ed Wick has brought us some great action movies in recent years with the like of Defiance and The Last Samurai.
But his new film sees the filmmaker take on a completely different genre, in form of the comedy romantic drama, which is based on the book Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman" by Jamie Reidy
Maggie is an alluring free spirit who won't let anything, including a formidable personal challenge, tie her down.
But she meets her match in Jamie Randall, whose relentless and nearly infallible charm serve him well with the ladies and in the cutthroat world of pharmaceutical sales.
Maggie and Jamie's evolving relationship takes them both by surprise, as they find themselves under the influence of the ultimate drug: love.
The Brokeback Mountain co-stars reunite for this very charming and heart-warming movie and the pair produces some career best performances.
You may notice throughout the movie that there is an awful lot of flesh on show from the leading pair but this is in no way done in a gratuitous manner.
It’s an interesting relationship between Jamie and Maggie as they are both in it for the sex and to lose themselves in each other for a while.
Gyllenhaal is a smooth lead man as he takes on the role of pharmaceutical salesman Jamie, who loves women but is not interested in a serious relationship.
And it is an emotionally charged performance from Hathaway as she takes on the role of Maggie, a twenty six year old who is suffering from early onset Parkinson’s disease.
Maggie doesn’t want to involve anyone in the struggle that she faces, her daily struggle provides some of the most poignant scenes in the movie; Maggie struggling to open her medicine bottles being the one that stands out.
There is a great chemistry between the pair, who are obviously comfortable with each other in the intimate scenes which make them so believable.
Ever so slowly the pair begin to fall in love as their defences melt away and the journey that they both go on, learning how let another person in is really very touching.
Jamie learns a sense of worth while Maggie learns that she doesn’t have to go through the fight alone and they draw strength from each other.
But it’s not all doom and gloom as there are some laugh out loud moments, particularly the competitive world of pharmaceutical sales.
Love and Other Drugs is an incredibly charming movie and it is on the love story where is really delivers.
It’s the best performance from Gyllenhaal since Brokeback Mountain while it’s a top draw turn from Hathaway as she struggles to come to terms with her degenerative disease.
The humour goes hand in hand with this journey of discover for both characters and the laugh out loud moments are a relief from the heart wrenching moments of personal struggle.
It’s great to see two actors work so well together and they are supported by a great cast to make Love and Other Drugs a really tender hearted romantic comedy.
Love and Other Drugs is out now.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw