Ladies man Jamie Randall (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a super smooth talker working in an appliance store. When he is fired for having sex with a co-worker he is pressured to find a new profession. His brother, a lazy overweight computer geek, has already made a fortune selling computer software to pharmaceutical companies. As such, Jamie uses his charming persona to become a sales representative for a drug company, working to sell drugs to local doctors and GP's. It's a cutthroat business, but he still manages to work his way around people. He meets his match when he meets Maggie (Anne Hathaway), a slightly neurotic artist who initially holds him in contempt but then grows to appreciate his fleeting nature. She is only interested in casual sex but slowly Jaime becomes more attached and more concerned about her wellbeing.
Love and Other Drugs was adapted from the book "Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman" by director Edward Zwick. With Marshall Herskovitz and Charles Randolph, he also wrote the screenplay too. It seems like an oddity for Zwick who has mostly specialised in action films like The Last Samurai, Blood Diamond and Defiance. His lack of familiarity with the romantic comedy genre is most evident with the jarring changes of tone of this film. It starts off as a quirky comedy but there's also a distinct lack of wit in the screenplay. Jamie's supposed charm and suave is so overdone and phoney that is difficult to believe that any of the women in the film could fall for it. Annoyingly, they do repeatedly. The intrusion of Jamie's overweight brother, the typical fat character employed for comic relief, is a superfluous addition too that adds little to the narrative. In the second half, the film is nearly two hours, the story attempts to change gears to become a medical melodrama, as Maggie's illness deteriorates. At this point the film seems to becoming more thoughtful and smarter than the typical Hollywood romantic comedy since Jaime has to find a balance between his work and looking after her. However, it's undone by an extremely safe and predictable conclusion, complete with the kind of mawkish speech that only a romantic comedy could provide.
Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway have worked previously together in the film Brokeback Mountain. Gyllenhaal though is an unusual choice for what this particular role demands. He seems miscast because his smoothness and supposed suave is so artificial. He overplays it entirely in the opening scene. His choice of stealing drugs from rival companies seems like an incredibly unlikely practice. After he transforms into the typical nice guy in the latter portion of the film his character becomes bland, rather than sincere. This is more the fault of the screenplay as the inner life of his character is particular uninteresting. The only particularly memorable aspect about his character is that he never managed to finish medical school. Hathaway is rather spiteful as Maggie, not always likable in the way that she treats Jamie, particular in the second act. The women in the film generally do not come off well here as they are either gullible or in Maggie's case, plain irrational. Notably, the love scenes shared between Jamie and Maggie are more frank than most mainstream comedies. It's just unfortunate that the film is a lot less interesting when the characters have their clothes on. Ultimately, the cardinal rule of a romantic comedy is broken: you don't care whether they end up together or not.
Love and Other Drugs was adapted from the book "Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman" by director Edward Zwick. With Marshall Herskovitz and Charles Randolph, he also wrote the screenplay too. It seems like an oddity for Zwick who has mostly specialised in action films like The Last Samurai, Blood Diamond and Defiance. His lack of familiarity with the romantic comedy genre is most evident with the jarring changes of tone of this film. It starts off as a quirky comedy but there's also a distinct lack of wit in the screenplay. Jamie's supposed charm and suave is so overdone and phoney that is difficult to believe that any of the women in the film could fall for it. Annoyingly, they do repeatedly. The intrusion of Jamie's overweight brother, the typical fat character employed for comic relief, is a superfluous addition too that adds little to the narrative. In the second half, the film is nearly two hours, the story attempts to change gears to become a medical melodrama, as Maggie's illness deteriorates. At this point the film seems to becoming more thoughtful and smarter than the typical Hollywood romantic comedy since Jaime has to find a balance between his work and looking after her. However, it's undone by an extremely safe and predictable conclusion, complete with the kind of mawkish speech that only a romantic comedy could provide.
Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway have worked previously together in the film Brokeback Mountain. Gyllenhaal though is an unusual choice for what this particular role demands. He seems miscast because his smoothness and supposed suave is so artificial. He overplays it entirely in the opening scene. His choice of stealing drugs from rival companies seems like an incredibly unlikely practice. After he transforms into the typical nice guy in the latter portion of the film his character becomes bland, rather than sincere. This is more the fault of the screenplay as the inner life of his character is particular uninteresting. The only particularly memorable aspect about his character is that he never managed to finish medical school. Hathaway is rather spiteful as Maggie, not always likable in the way that she treats Jamie, particular in the second act. The women in the film generally do not come off well here as they are either gullible or in Maggie's case, plain irrational. Notably, the love scenes shared between Jamie and Maggie are more frank than most mainstream comedies. It's just unfortunate that the film is a lot less interesting when the characters have their clothes on. Ultimately, the cardinal rule of a romantic comedy is broken: you don't care whether they end up together or not.