Movie Review: Love & Other Drugs

No one warned me going into this film that this was going to be sexually graphic and a bit raunchy. Haha. But while a couple scenes between Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal were highly erotic, I thought that the sex scenes were done tastefully and the movie in general was actually a noticeable cut above the average romantic comedy films.

No, it wasn't excellent by any means but it was entertaining and quite insightful. I thought the film surprisingly had a little bit of everything - full of explicit sex and nudity, a number of pretty crude sex jokes, a decent love story and some hard hitting heavy drama - and while this was it's greatest strength, it also seemed to be the movie's biggest flaw.

That's right! Love & Other Drugs was just all over the place. It seriously had that tantalizing potential given the premise, but the film suddenly went to the frustratingly formulaic territory. It had the satiric edge that marked a strong beginning because of the pharmaceutical angle but the narrative that followed after that became confusing. Was the movie trying to be funny? Or touching? Or relevant? Or just plain sexy? There were moments were I felt a tear coming on.. and then boom! comic relief.

That would've worked if the actor playing the obligatory 'funny guy' was actually funny. But no, he's just outright annoying! This Jonah Hill-esque character served absolutely no purpose to the plot whatsoever. He existed purely for comedic potential - a potential that was not once realized. EVER.

Good thing, the performances - and chemistry - of Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal were incredibly good that it made me want to just be stubborn and disregard some quibbles I had with the film. I have to say, I had fun watching them develop together as a character and I completely bought them as a real couple. There was something authentic about their performances - their little joys and affections with each other was endearing to watch. Oh, and I had no real idea about Hathaway's considerable physical assets, until this one. Haha. It was shocking.

Now, as far as romantic comedies go, this film was - as I've said - a cut above average. Half the battle was to establish likable characters and a compelling scenario, both of which the film managed admirably. If only there were able to turn dramatic scenes into poignant ones and the drug and sex jokes into some insightful commentary, this would've been a terrific romantic comedy with edge. Sad.

RATING: 7/10