24 May 2012

Better than thought...

I watched this after finally giving into the back-in-forth of whether or not I should. It was better than I thought. I think Gyllenhaal & Hathaway work really well together. I even teared up a few times.I had to giggle though through the entire beginning scene, where Jamie is working in an electronics store in 1996 selling his little heart out to potential customers. It totally reminded me of my college days working at Circuit City. In 96' I was a CSA( customer service) but most of my co-workers were friends who were sales associates trying to make money off commissions so they all had their hardsell speeches. It took me back and anyone that has ever worked in an electronics store will understand. ~

amirborgheie

23 May 2012

other kind of love story

i think this film is unique in romantic comedy movies. a sudden eroticlove with really comic nudity scenes. this film is full of surprise.you can't find movie with these kind of unexpected scenes, easily. ican not forget that scene that MAGGIE is in hospital and JAMIE ispresent in that room and you see the peeping tom of MR. JACKIE , andMAGGIE make nude her breast and after that suitcase head -knockingscene, really amazing scene.the movie is pathetic and you can sympathywith JACKIE. a loser man that become successful after entering lovedrug in his life. i think MAGGIE has a really beautiful act and notthat raw actress of her previous films. but ending of the film iscliché.

flapdoodle64

23 May 2012

Soulless Corporate Film-making

This is a good movie for people who want to see Anne Hathaway naked, asyou will see quite a lot of naked Anne Hathaway body parts in thismovie. Also, the sex scenes seem to be of longer duration than isaverage for our times, suggesting that someone might have wanted to padthe running time. The scenes are of such a duration as to becomesomewhat uncomfortable for the audience, unless of course one iswatching the film alone and with the freeze frame control handy.Otherwise, this film can summed up as a very uneasy attempt atcombining sophomoric Owen Wilson/Ben Stiller type humor with a fewtoken elements of RomCom or ChickFlick, such as Judd Apatow was able topull off with his highly successful 'Knocked Up.' There is nothinginherently wrong with Hollywood making sophomoric adolescent malecomedies, nothing wrong with making a RomCom, nothing wrong with makinga ChickFlick. But a director needs to have the guts to commit to onevision for a film, and not try to hobble 3 incompatible things togetherin a soulless and cynical attempt to please focus audiences anddemographic groups.In this film, the humor runs out of steam about 1/3 way into it. Worse,there is a major subplot involving Anne Hathaway's character sufferingfrom Parkinson's disease...this issue, a character suffering from achronic incurable and debilitating disease is for the most part shownin a silly and dismissive way, so as to be a slap in the face of peopleand couples everywhere facing serious health problems. There are acouple sequences where the director seems suddenly to realize theseriousness of the affliction, but within the superficial and sillycontext of this film, these sequences come across as an attempt tomanipulate the audience into thinking they are seeing a film nottotally devoid of emotional content.There is another subplot involving the way citizens of the U.S. areneglected by their government and exploited by the pharmaceuticalcompanies. Here is another place where the audience is teased bycontent of potential relevancy to the human race but again the materialhas been carefully neutralized so as not to offend the sensitivities ofthe ruling class.The good thing is that the naked scenes of Anne Hathaway all occur inthe first half of the film. The best audience for this film will keeptheir remote controls handy.

nikkidynamo

23 May 2012

Manic Pixie Dream Girl and other Clichs

I expected more from this movie, if only because the Jake Gyllenhaaltitles I've seen previously have all been stories with some semblanceof depth, this one however fails to live up to that expectation. Jamie Randall is a character you're supposed to warm to as the movieprogresses, but his transition from a slimy, womanising sales rep to adecent loving man is thinly portrayed and unbelievable. Maggie Murdoch, the classic "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" character is 2dimensional at best and aside from Anne Hathaway's ability to show herbreasts a lot there isn't a lot to see here. She is the stock standard"I'm not like other girls" female lead complete with messy hair, stupidhat and funky outdated furnishings - just to prove that she is morecomplex than your usual girl. The sex is gratuitous, and WAY too pervasive, and so the story faltersalong, jumpy little scenes interspersed with Hathaway's breasts andGyllenhaal's butt. I'm all for a good steamy sex scene but this wasjust silly. Oh, and before I forget, I can't help but ask, was this movie funded bythe drug companies?? The homeless guy who gets progressively lesshomeless because of the drug samples he is stealing from the bin? Theconstant Pfizer references and product placements? The Viagrarevolution? It was really overdone, especially since Jamie's charactercould have been portrayed without any of it, and could have really usedsome actual character development. Most noticeable though was the lack of quality female characters, wehave the MPDG (maggie) as mentioned, the naive,pretty-but-not-beautiful, nurse who is oh so pliable with just a smileand a friendly word, the slutty seductress "Lisa" and various vapid andbeautiful women all ready to swoon at a successful man. Is it so muchto ask that a movie - especially a romantic comedy, marketed directlyto women - would have one quality female character? Someone real andwell rounded who doesn't fit into some ridiculous stereotype? I guessso. Overall, the movie was long, kind of boring, filled with unrelateableand unlikeable characters and predictable, but not even in that goodromantic comedy kind of way that is kind of annoying but nice at thesame time. A disappointment.

22 May 2012

Big Disappointment!

I had seen previews of this movie and was excited when it came out on DVD. However, I was so disappointed when I watched it. I did watch it all the way through hoping it would get better. To be honest it just aggravated me. I think that it had the potential to be a great movie but fail short.

pammcpat53

21 May 2012

Weak

I went to see this movie with my 23 year old daughter this afternoon.It was her idea. I had seen the trailers and knew a little bit aboutthe movie. Boy, was I disappointed! I admire both leads. Jake wasmagnificent in Brokeback Mountain and Anne Hathaway was wonderful inThe Devil Wears Prada. Unfortunately, there was no chemistry,whatsoever, between these two people in this movie. I wanted to feelsomething as their relationship progressed, but it never happened. AnneHathaway's acting was weak. She seemed to overplay every scene. Shejust wasn't very believable as a Parkinson's patient. Jake looked greatin all his suits and did his best in this flick but he couldn't saveit. Save your money.

itamarscomix

20 May 2012

Shoots much higher than it can hit

If you're looking for a satire about the pharmaceutical industry, lookelsewhere; Love and Other Drugs seems to go for that occasionally, butchickens out before it makes a real point. It also tries to make realinsights about sex, love and relationships, but doesn't quite make iton that front either. It's really just a run-of-the-mill romanticcomedy with a way above average quota of nudity and sex, and if that'swhat you're looking for, then you might enjoy it.My biggest problem with the movie, I guess, is that it never goes allthe way with anything. Three quarters of the way, it's a very cynical(almost unbearably so) comedy that actually manages to maintain a levelof realism while offering some half-insights about human nature andsexuality. Then, in the very last thirty minutes, it turns into asickeningly sweet Hollywood rom-com, complete evading so many issuesraised before and making most of the movie completely irrelevant,especially the parts that spent quite a lot of energy getting us todislike the protagonist.Overall, it's just a mess. The two leads do a commendable job -especially Anne Hathaway - but they can't save this half-assed script.

TwitterJamieMadril

19 May 2012

Lighthearted fun and profound emotion make this film a great watch

While some producers may find the idea of writing a love story based onan illness a bit taboo, I found this film to be beautifully gritty,honest and poignant. Anne Hathaway did an incredibly job portraying acharacter that is admittedly flawed. Her ability to create such a wellrounded character, with such a sense of strength and at the same timevulnerability was truly magic. Her pain was so raw that it couldn'thelp but strike a nerve in any viewer. Anne's presence was profound inthis film. This film had the perfect balance of lighthearted fun andraw emotion to please a wide range of viewers. The director succeededin their efforts to create a film that introduced the viewer to theharsh realities we all must endure, while still allowing us toexperience the unwavering love that lies in all of us.

Cristina

18 May 2012

Awful movie

Do yourselves a favor and don't watch this movie unless you want to seeAnne Hathaway's boobs. If you are interested in her breasts, watch onlythe first half of the movie. I can assure you that the movie doesn'tbecome more interesting or less boring. I wanted to stop the film andforget about it, but someone on IMDb said that it "fortunately, evolvesin to something more". I believed the user and now I'm sorry. I thinkthat the producer thought of the most popular things in a movie and hecame up with the perfect recipe: drugs, money, hunger for power, sex,even love, unshared love, a young girl's incurable disease, disgustingbrother sleeping on a couch, nice old persons who don't have enoughmoney to buy their essential medication and even the greedy drugindustry, etc. Unfortunately, is like mixing main course and desert inthe same plate, even if they are great if you eat them one by one, thecombination can be disastrous. It's just a friendly advice :D

killer1h

17 May 2012

Splendid

I've seen some mixed reviews about this movie and then decided it wasworth just seeing and turns out this movie is a diamond in the rough.The performances in it are top notch, both Jake Gyllenhaal and AnneHathaway are so on point it's scary. The best part of this movie isthat it shys away from the traditional boy meets girl, girl falls inlove, boy cheats on girl, and girl comes crawling back routine.The basic movie is jamie(Jake Gyllenhaal) is a sales rep who just losthis job so as a way to make some money he figures he'll become a drugrep and turns out its not quite as easy as he originally planned, hemeets maggie on one of his jobs and it just starts going from there.Without giving too much away it's definitely a nice trip down whatcomedy romance dramas are supposed to be like. 10/10 Don't miss thisone.

emreact

16 May 2012

Good movie in The Mainstreams.

I categorize movies (admittedly very roughly) and every group has itsown "rating standards" which I don't feel willing enough to analyzeright now and put into the words. But here are the groups: 1 - The Mainstreams: Movies that are made to be consumed by as muchpeople as possible. "Popcorn movies"... (exp: Most of the Hollywoodmovies)2 - The Non-mainstreams: Movies that are made to be good by itscreators' personal standards not considering mainstream public opinionsat all (or not too much)... (exp: Waking Life, The Best of Youth,Hedwig and The Angry Inch, Funny Games...) 3 - The Hybrids: The movies in this group contain some characteristicsfrom both of the above mentioned groups... (exp: Avatar, The Matrix,Fight Club...)"Love and Other Drugs" falls into the first category of course. I seeno reason to give it a rating lower than 8 considering the abundance ofcrap movies that set the standards of this group per se...

S Wills

15 May 2012

Great Love Story

I loved this movie even though I did not like a good third of it.Watching Jake and Maggie falling in love, culminating in a veryemotional crescendo when they reunite near the end of the movie simplyblew me away. I was especially impressed with Anne Hathaway's beauty,her convincing performance as an independent woman falling in love, aswell as her exceptional portrayal of a woman besieged by Parkinson'sdisease. Her gestures, facial expressions and manner of dialog deliverywere perfect, even though I could not quite catch some of her wordsseveral times. Actually, the fact that she did not sound like aShakespearian actress made her all the more believable. Jake Gillenhaalwas extremely convincing also, although I did not like much of themovie that featured him but did not include Hathaway. Jake Gillenhaal'skey scene eloquently trying to persuade Maggie to take him back in thehighly emotional segment mentioned above was perfect, totallyconvincing and, again, very moving. The emotions shown in hisexpressions were so well done. This scene was so good that words do notdo it justice. Anne's part in this scene, without as much dialog, butwith heart wrenching non verbal communication was riveting also. Manyhave criticized the "gratuitous" sex scenes, but I found them to berealistic and important to support the basic love story. Edward Zwickdeserves high credit for writing and directing the love story part ofthe movie, but thumbs down for the juvenile male humor scenes (like themistaken gear shift)that hurt this otherwise "Best Picture" levelmovie. I also really enjoyed the performances of Hank Azaria and OliverPlatt, who nailed their roles to the maximum possible. Ditto forGabriel Macht in his small role.

blerim2010

15 May 2012

Beautiful

Love and other drugs is an exceptional movie! Like many people saydon't judge a book by its cover. The same exception can be made forthis movie. I don't understand why the "critics" scored it so low, ifeel like the standards for movies has gotten so high that no one cancompare to them anymore. When is the last time you have seen a perfectscore from any critic? I'm not saying this movie is perfect anddeserves 10/10. I am just saying that it has a very underrated score of55, and it deserves a lot more credit then that. Maybe this isn't yourtype of movie, but for those who like the classic romance movie this isa must see. It is the type of movie you can sit through without takingyour eyes off the screen. It was remarkably done and the acting wasfantastic from both Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal, props to theboth of them. It was a very touching movie and both Anne and Jake soldtheir roles perfectly. Well done. 8/10.

nazztrader

14 May 2012

Good idea - and execution, at least for a while.

If this were more realistic, it would be "indie" and get criticized forlacking coherence. If it were even more realistic it would be adocumentary, and lose most of its audience. I'm not suggesting this isa great film; I don't think it is. However, I did feel that there was alevel of honesty here one does not get in most "rom-coms" (not thatthis was intended to be one). Overall, the characters were more humanthan what one expects from a big budget Hollywood film these days. Theplot was clearly "forced," but how many films can't be criticized onthese grounds? I somewhat agree with the reviewer who said that itdoesn't "add up to anything satisfying," and that Hathaway's acting wasa distraction (Gyllenhaal was good).I would have liked this to be more about how the pharmaceuticalindustry manipulates people while selling drugs that may be dangerousor not particularly more effective than "tried and true" medications,and the first part of the film, which was focused on this, was welldone. Then it became something quite different, not as realistic nor asinvolving, and the pace slowed down as well. It almost felt like twofilms were merged together, with a nod to the "rom-com," perhaps toentice more young females. I think this could have been "saved" if theGyllenhaal character had been given a reason to "grow up." My endingwould be that he realizes he does not possess enough "character" todeal with her illness as it worsened, and he "let's her go." He pullsup aside the bus, sees that she does not notice him, and then takes hisfoot off the gas. We see his car slowly fade into the distance. Ofcourse, this would then be more of an "indie," and that's notpermissible in big budget Hollywood any more, right?

13 May 2012

LOVED IT!

This movie was by far one of the best movies I have watched in the past couple months. A true love story that is more common then many believe. Loved it!!!

12 May 2012

Drug for Chemistry Was Missing

Maggie (Hathaway) has Parkinson's and meets Jamie (Gyllenhaal) whodoesn't seem to care that Maggie has that disease. Jamie is apharmaceutical salesman who sells Pfizer drugs Zoloft, and Viagra andhe is on the rise. Let's see,….. this seems to be a story about a pharmaceutical salesmanwho meets a girl who likes sex but doesn't want a relationship. And,this works for a while, but you and I know that one is going to fall inlove. Yes, we are psychic.Or, it's a story about Pfizer and Viagra and let the good times roll.Or, it's almost an X-rated story about a girl who likes sex, stilldoesn't want a relationship.Or, it's really about Parkinson's and that nothing can be done about itto a point senior citizens go to Canada for cheaper meds for thedisease. Or, it is simply a love story about a girl with Parkinson's who meets asalesman who says that is okay for now, and leaves when the girl tellshim to leave because it isn't fair to him. Most of the acting in here is good, but Gyllenhaal in the beginning, asa electronics salesman, wasn't into it and this seemed to be quite astretch for him. I saw in his eyes that he wasn't into it. Could bewrong, but the eyes never lie. However, when he meets Hathaway all thatchanges and he is now committed to the role. The chemistry betweenGyllenhaal and Hathaway really wasn't that good. If it was, I wouldhave reached for the Kleenix at least once. Didn't happen as that is mygauge. I didn't think Anne Hathaway needed to be in the buff all that much aswe got the point of the love story …… such as it was. The getting-to-know-you romance in the beginning lasted too long. Thesex bouts lasted too long (however the 7th and 8th graders who sneakedin said they weren't long enough). The real story was the Parkinson'sthing and they should have gotten to that sooner. Don't look for comedyat anytime in the movie. It wasn't there except for the Parkinson'sjokes at a meeting of people afflicted with Parkinson's. Yeah, somewere lame and we heard them years ago. This is not good for a new movieas there should have been some new joke material here. But also at thisUn-convention was a man whose wife was in the 4th stage of Parkinson'sand he tells Jamie the facts of life as to what to expect if hecontinues with Maggie.Josh Gad as Josh Randall was miscast. He probably was supposed to bethe comic relief, but was just annoying with dirty sex talk. Also, Iwas somewhat disappointed in Oliver Platt as Bruce Winston. I regardhim highly as a Class A actor and I don't like to see or hear him usethe language he used and to be so animated? What is this world comingto?There was a girl in here that Jamie called Lisa (Winnick) and shelooked very much like Scarlett Johansson. And, very pretty. Hope to seemore of her. All in all too long, too many sub plots, too many F-bombs, and not thechemistry there should have been between the two stars. Violence: No. Sex: Yes, too often. Nudity: Yes, too often. LesbianScene: Brief kissing. Language: Yes.

danew13

12 May 2012

Very Funny, Yet Very Touching and an Enlightening Film

This and "No Strings Attached," have similar central themes, theplaygirl and playboy with the guy becoming the serious one. Andalthough I love both films, I find it hard to believe that No Stringshas a marginally higher rating on IMDb."Love and Other Drugs" is far more involved and better developed movie.It also sheds light on the prescription drugs industry that I neverknew. I mean, No Strings was fun and funny light comedy with no realdrama or payoff.The final, almost melodramatic scenes in Love are truly moving and hadmen and women reaching for tissues. The only negative aspects I wouldsay were too much time spent on one or two supporting characters. But,all in all, this was an old fashioned Hollywood love story spiced upwith explicit sex scenes...realism, right?

11 May 2012

DVD Love and Other Drugs! Best Movie Ive seen all year!!

This review is from: Love & Other Drugs (DVD) I watched this movie on-line first; it was so good I knew I had to own a copy of it to share with the family. This is the best movie I've seen all year! And I never watch "Love Stories". When I saw the drug part I thought it would be about one of them strung out on drugs and going to rehab. This movie is so real life and down to earth you have to see it! I bought it "used" at a good price and it works perfect........Thank you.

11 May 2012

Crass, crude, tasteless excrement catering to the basest of human instincts... Whats not to like???

A great movie to watch with grandma and the little tykes.Just kidding. Don't rent films blindly. Consult Common Sense Media before watching. This is what they said about this execrable bit of trash:"Jamie is a serial seducer who has sex with several different women -- and sometimes multiple partners. He falls in love with Maggie and has sex with her many times. Viewers see Jamie naked from head to foot (buttocks are shown, but no genitalia); Maggie is also naked several times (breasts are shown). Other minor female characters are seen in various stages of nudity. There's kissing, clothes being ripped off, suggestions of oral sex, minor thrusting, orgasmic moaning, and couples lying in bed (or on the floor) after sex. Also strong, constant sex talk, including conversations about Viagara and erections."Don't kid yourself. This is what passes for romantic comedy now, and impressionable young people are being taught how to live by drinking deep of this effluent. Hey, you've got to hand it to Hollywood---they really know how to stick with their agenda. What is it? Watch what they produce and see.

brian_dines

10 May 2012

Risky love ... and thoughts on Hathaway

This is a decent movie, to start with. Let's call it a rom-com, butthis isn't some thoughtless schlock like "Must love Dogs" or"Valentine's Day". It starts out in the usual fashion with Jake Gyllenhaal playing"Jamie", a charming schmoozer who's irresistible to women. After losinghis job, the former med school student signs on as a drug rep forPfizer and struggles to get his career going. We don't see AnneHathaway as "Maggie" until Jamie accidentally intrudes on her doctor'svisit 20 minutes into the movie. Jamie and Maggie, after a fewcompromises, end up in bed ... again and again and again. Maggie hasParkinson's Disease (incurable) and the crux of the movie is whetherthese two characters, well acted by Hathaway and Gyllenhaal, can overcome their fears and forge a real relationship from an extended fling.The fears both characters have are very real, not some little plotprop. Maggie knows she'll never improve and only get worse as time goeson, and she's not interested in inflicting that pain on, or becomindependent on, anyone. And Jamie is unsure if he's really up to thetask, after a very frank conversation with the spouse of anotherParkinson's patient.Hathaway has been doing comedy for some time, and she is somewhat funnyin this role, but the performance she gives as a woman wanting to liveout her remaining time on the planet to the best of her ability,unhindered by legal or romantic attachments, is quite good. Herportrayal is layered and believable. You can see her struggling againsther attraction and love for Gyllenhaal's character, breaking throughthe fear in little fits and starts. And when Gyllenhaal expresses theslightest doubt that he's man enough to see her through this disease,she bolts. It's a thoughtful, real and metered performance by her.Gyllenhaal is also good.