Movie Critic Princess

Love and Other Drugs — Kept Me High | December 6, 2010

Love and Other Drugs is a serious film. About what, you ask? All the subject matter. It’s serious about Viagra. It’s serious about sex. It’s serious about nudity. Believe it or not, it’s actually pretty serious about what happens in a relationship when one person is terminally sick.

This guy named Jamie Randall (Jake Gyllenhaal) is Mr. I Can Get Any Woman Into Bed. He lives to make money and simultaneously screw as many women as possible.  He’s also Mr. Suave. On a side note, actors are called actors for a reason, I really hope Gyllenhaal is not method acting in any way, shape or form. Anyway, Jamie, a drug rep, is trying to get Dr. Knight (Hank Azaria) to write Zoloft instead of Prozac, which is pimped by this competing douchebag, Trey  Hannigan.

While impersonating as an intern to Dr. Knight (because the doctor tells him to do) in this effort to schmooze him, he walks into a room with 26-year-old, stage-one Parkinson’s patient, Maddie Murdock (Anne Hathaway). Not only does she list every single medicated and dosage she takes, she is wondering about a spot on her breast; so, not thinking anything about it, she pulls out her breast (nipple and all) and asks the doctor about the spot, which turns out to be a spider bite. The next scene shows her hitting Jamie over the head with her purse and yells at him about the prior incident. He then starts his normal, charming bs, and she calls him on it. He is intrigued by her lack of becoming-weak-in-the-knees at his every quip, so he calls the nurse, Cindy (whom he’s bedded) and begs her to give him Maddie’s phone number. She does, which if you know anything about HIPPA law, you could wind up spending at least a few months in jail if the patient decides to take legal action. Anyway, he asks Maddie out, and, after several attempts, she agrees and tells him to meet her at the coffee shop where she works.

After a 5 minute conversation where she basically tells in that all he’s want from her is sex. Then they go back to her apartment. After several months of being eff buddies, they begin an exclusive relationship, and he makes finding a cure for her Parkinson’s his new life goal. Mix that with the normal dram-com stuff, but with excellent acting, wittier dialogue and well-written dramatic moments. Then they break up. Will they get back together for a happy ending or does she die almost alone in her apartment with him discovering her as she’s almost gone? You’ll have to go see it to find out!

I don’t love this film as much as I loved it yesterday, when I saw it, but I actually do love it. If you go into the theatre thinking that its your normal dram-com, don’t go see it. I was shocked by the amount of nudity; although, Jake Gyllenhaal’s booty isn’t too bad of a moment (again and again and again…). I was also shocked by the amount of sex. This is one of those movies that goes all out with those scenes. Don’t take your teenagers to see this because they loved The Princess Diaries or think Jake Gyllenhaal is hot. It’s too mature, nor appropriate.

Overall, this is a well-done film. Gyllenhaal and Hathaway are actors that have the ability to actually act without me thinking about the actors themselves, but they are actually those characters. Although not aforementioned, Josh Gad plays Josh Randall, Jamie’s millionaire brother who sleeps on his couch while he’s separated from his wife. He made me laugh in every scene that he appeared. He steals the spotlight from both Gyllenhaal and Hathaway. Hank Azaria is also amazing, yet dryly hilarious. All through the film, I was thinking, “I know this actor. What is his name? He’s excellent in every film I’ve seen him.” This morning it finally hit me. He is this doctor to a tee.

In case you haven’t heard, this film is also getting major Oscar buzz, along with every other less-acclaimed award show buzz.

Although my predictions haven’t always been accurate (remember when I said Sandra Bullock wouldn’t get an Oscar nomination, much less win, for her role in The Blind Side? I do.) I would say a nomination for Hathaway and the film. If Gyllenhaal gets lucky, him as well.

Go see it. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.