Love and Other Drugs

After 500 Days of Summer proved that affected hipsters can somehow be attracted to mainstream cinema, as long as the soundtrack is slightly obscure, it paved the way for other edgier romantic dramedies like Love and Other Drugs to also be treasured like some underappreciated rare gem by many. Very loosely based upon Jamie Riedy's memoir, Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman, and miles away from director Edward Zwick's previous efforts, which include Blood Diamond and The Last Samurai, Love and Other Drugs takes place in 1996, where the viewers are introduced to Jamie Randall (Jake Gyllenhaal), a bed-hopping man-whore who becomes a pharmaceutical rep for Pfizer right when Zoloft and Viagra are beginning to take off. It's during this time he meets his match in Maggie (Anne Hathaway), a pot-smoking, loft-living artist who exhibits the same fears of being in a committed relationship. During their incessant and seemingly meaningless romps in the sack, Maggie and Jamie fall in love despite the fact that Maggie is ill with Parkinson's disease and is quickly starting to suffer greatly from it. Love and Other Drugs boldly features many carnal, nude love scenes between Hathaway and Gyllenhaal (despite obviously choreographed movements to hide their privates), conveying a realistic depiction of what it is to be truly in love with someone without any cheesy montages showcasing their ephemeral love story. However, like mixing Zoloft and Viagra, Love and Other Drugs has some off-putting side-effects mainly due to the goofy, comedic subplots dealing with Jamie's younger brother and mentor (Oliver Platt), added to please the many male viewers not immediately entertained by Hathaway's breasts. Like Sanaa Hamri's Something New, Zwick underestimates the audience's attention span, injecting needless comedy into a well-developed love story that doesn't need it. Love and Other Drugs may feature some fairly raunchy and forgettable material, but what it has to say about relationships will have a lasting effect on most viewers. The DVD features three deleted scene involving cunnlingus, a hotel fight and Oliver Platt having a heart attack, which definitely should be seen. The DVD also showcases featurettes on how the chemistry works between the two leads and trailers for other Fox films.