CCCXXIII: Love and Other Drugs

RaeRae treated me (!) to our movie-date tonight, the highly anticipated Love and Other Drugs starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway. I was looking forward to it because of Jakey and the, ahem, steamy scenes, and on those fronts (and backs) it didn't disappoint.

[SPOILER ALERT] The story is about Jamie, a Pfizer pharmaceutical sales rep who doesn't really care about anyone or anything other than making lots of money because he is led to believe this is the measure of success. He meets Maggie, a 26-year old with Parkinson's, while shadowing a GP. She is unlike anyone he's ever met because she doesn't want a relationship. And you can tell how the rest of the story goes: they fall in love, hit a couple of snags, break up, and then end up happily ever after. There are moments of comic relief, mostly in the form of Jamie's slob millionaire brother who for some reason lives on Jamie's couch. There is a scene where Maggie makes several double entendres. There's some nudity. There are some side effects to Viagra usage. Even Moe from The Simpsons (Hank Azaria) is in it!

First, I couldn't get over how two of my friends who are dating are also named Jamie and Maggie. That deserves a "jigga--WHA?". I didn't think about this until the last quarter of the movie.

Then I wondered, if the story was taking place in 1996 as they says it is, why they had nice LCD computer monitors and common usage of the internet.

Now I'm also thinking about how Maggie's character could work as a waitress when she had tremors in her hands, and how she could afford her meds without insurance.

And near the end, during the movie's heart-to-heart moment, I couldn't help but think that Jake Gyllenhaal seemed to be making a few too many smouldering eyes at Anne Hathaway. This made it a bit funny for me instead of tear-jerking.

On the whole, I thought the movie was alright. Maybe I would have liked it more if I had seen it a few years ago, but I am becoming a movie-cynic--increasingly pickier and grumblier--and am maybe asking too much from the big screen. If you think either of the stars is attractive, watch it because you'll see a lot of them. Also go if the previews were appealing to you. But if you have hugely inflated expectations (which you shouldn't now because I just did you a favour--you're welcome!), put those in check at the door so that you can enjoy the movie much more than you would otherwise. Make sense? C'est la vie.