Love and Other Drugs - C+

In theaters. Rated R(!), 113 minutes. Trailer.

A beautiful young woman with Parkinsons and a handsome and shallow prescription drug salesman fall in love and overcome the odds. This story is neither interesting or new, so I assumed that since the trailer reveals all of this then the actual film would have more to it. Ah, but I was wrong. The lure of Director Ed Zwick and stars Anne Hathaway (as Maggie Murdock) and Jake Gyllenhaal (as Jamie Randall) got me to put this high on my list, but I was sorely disappointed. The film is set in 1996 and Jamie is a charming salesman that scores when his company sets him loose selling Viagra. After a chance encounter with the jaded Maggie, they start a sexual relationship and slowly evolve into a couple in spite of Maggie's attempts at keeping it unemotional. Click below for more on LAOD:


Jake's backstory is that he is the least successful member of his family, which features 3 doctors and a dotcom millionaire. We don't get much of Maggie's backstory except that she is a cynic about medicine and thinks no one will really love her and want to be with her in the long term because of her disease. All of their courtship is boring (except for the extensive nudity) and the first half of the film is painfully ordinary. There are a few solid minutes in the middle as the couple examines Parkinsons at a conference and then travels the country to try and 'cure' Maggie. But then we're back to boring again.

The film has a few marginal characters (e.g. Hank Azaria as a doctor) that almost add to the film but ultimately just distract. The Trey Hannigan character is a total waste, taking screen time with no purpose. Ditto for several scenes and other pieces. The two leads are fine, with Hathaway giving her character a lot of life but there wasn't enough material to warrant Oscar consideration.

If you go see this, please stare at that picture of Jake above before you go, because that lovable smirk gets about 20 minutes of screen time.

Boooooooooooring.

One of the most disappointing aspects of the film was the music. For me, 1996 is where my musical brain is hardwired, so I was ready for some good stuff. Zwick fumbles the ball, though, reaching for the Spin Doctors, Liz Phair and a weak Beck song for the pivotal chase scene.