movie review: Love and Other Drugs
The backstory: The trailer wooed me. The basics: Jake Gyllenhaal is a Pfizer drug sales rep in Ohio in 1996. Anne Hathaway has early onset Parkinson's. My thoughts: There is a lot of good in this movie, and most of it involves Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway. As a film, it doesn't work because it tries to do too much. It's part political message (prescriptions are heavily and disturbingly marketed to doctors/Viagra makes money while drug treatments for Parkinson's are neglected), part love story (including the requisite sappy chase scene), part frat boy humor (the brother of Jake's character is annoying and unnecessary), part erotica (there is a lot of nudity and sex people), and part professional odyssey and it makes it a rather messy film. It's a shame to fantastic performances are overshadowed by the film's lack of focus. The supporting cast is mostly solid too: Hank Azaria, Jill Clayburgh, Oliver Platt and Judy Greer are fine, but they don't h...