Huievest
Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.
Plustown
A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.
Kien Navarro
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
Walter Sloane
Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.
Nobody-27
I started watching this film more because I had to than because I wanted to. I was fully aware that I may not like it. I can usually tolerate even watching terrible stuff like the new Bladerunner, when there is a good reason.But this time, around 60 min mark, I had to stop. This film was hurting my brain, and burning holes in it. Why, you ask? Oh boy, where do I start. Let's see:
A brother who jokes about oral sex (they used much more crude language in the scene however) with his brother during dinner with their mother present. That was supposed to be funny.An alienated looser of a drug salesman who has not a trace of humanity in him, falls in love with a girl who has no personality, other than her Parkinson. And I am supposed to care?Dialogues which confuse swearing with meaning. Crude and dumb to no end.Any time those things (bad dialogues, untenable relationship) fall apart, we get a sex scene, which is even worse. Sex is uninspired, loveless, crude, unfunny, uncaring, and all too logical/brainy to be interesting. It is what a teenager who never had sex imagines sex scenes should be like. Oh, and she does not want him back, and he falls for her even more, just like that. Bring that gawd-awful brother back!Jake G. and Anne H. were quite good, but good acting does not a good film make, especially not when the script is awful. They should have rejected those roles. I bet this film did not look any better on paper either.You get the idea. The film or script was made by people who have no interest or ability to understand human condition. They have the finesse of a nuclear weapon, and artistic flair of "paint by numbers" book. The result is this horror.Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and watch Miley Cirus to detox from this crap.
Python Hyena
Love and Other Drugs (2010): Dir: Edward Zwick / Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, Oliver Platt, Hank Azaria, Josh Gad: What drugs could possibly assist someone in getting through a screening of this junk? The drug in question is feelings and it stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a womanizer who recently lost his job then he is roomed with his slob brother and selling drug samples at doctors offices. He meets his match in Anne Hathaway, a victim of Parkinsons disease whom he will suddenly give a sh*t about. This is all very phony and even the disease subject seems like an ill contrived plot device. Director Edward Zwick previously made much different films in Blood Diamond and Courage Under Fire but here he can merely watch his actors become undone by dipstick circumstances. It is easily one of the worst films Zwick has ever attached his name to, and a total opposite to the greatness of Blood Diamond. Gyllenhaal is a fine actor but here he lacks the sincerity required. Hathaway is a stunning presence whose first scene has her exposing a breast. Eventually she shows up at Gyllenhaal's apartment dropping her robe displaying all of her goods. The view is spectacular but it comes off as desperate. In flat supporting roles are Oliver Platt as a job associate of Gyllenhaal's who eats a lot. Hank Azaria plays a doctor whom seeks Viagra from Gyllenhaal. This movie is everywhere. At one point it wants to be charming and funny, then it gets emotional presenting serious talk about Parkinsons. What it doesn't do is suggest the right drugs one should take to erase this drivel from memory. Score: 2 / 10
hjames-97822
I won't take up a lot of your time here. The script is the biggest problem here. It is mediocre at best. It tried to cover way, way too much ground. From their relationship to the state of big pharmacy in America to dealing with a major disease, the focus gets spread way too wide here.In another time this would have been a Rock Hudson/Doris Day film, except they would have kept their cloths on. It's fluff, not great movie making. For my part, in this film, I found most of the nudity and sex (this routine Hollywood simulated sex has become boring, at least for me) was written in for marketing purposes. More on that to follow.I have nothing against any of this, I just thought it was raunchy and mostly out of place. I think every director and writer have a professional obligation to take their storyboard scene by scene and question themselves as to whether or not what they want to film is A) in good taste and B) something they really--need--to ask their actors both male and female to do. That includes nudity, simulated sex, dangerous car chases, jumping out of planes, etc. You owe it to your people to ask "Is there any other way to shoot this scene that will do the job?" One of Jake Gyllenhaal's finest roles was that in Brokeback Mountain. Of course the film had some very graphic scenes, that was in my opinion quite different. First, the screenplay came from two of the finest writers and authors of our generation. It was IMHO a masterpiece when it hit the directors desk. Second that script and those actors (all of them) were in the hands of a genius director who gave us a frame-able painting with every shot. Nude or not.Frankly I have a personal list of actors whom I would respectfully say may keep their cloths on for the foreseeable future. Whatever they have to show has already been seen, ad nauseum. Both these leads have made my list.One last note. Your first clue that sex and or graphic nude scenes have been deliberately added by the producers and or directors is what you see coming out of the studio PR and marketing machine. Watch the trailers. And specifically watch the interviews the actors are contracted to give with the media. The PR folks are looking to fill seats and they will prepare media relations kits that literally coach interviewers on what to ask and appropriate clips will be provided. When you see (as is the case here) interview after interview after interview that has the actors spending 75% of the time answering questions about nudity with other actors and giggling about what to say (without saying too much) I guarantee you, you've been played.
Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"Love & Other Drugs" is another example of how Anne Hathaway is one of the most talented actresses from her generation. She managed to score a Golden Globe nomination just like her co-star Jake Gyllenhaal. I have to say I am not his greatest fan, so I was neither too impressed with his performance here nor did I manage to find him likable near the end which was probably the intention. He was just too unlikeable early on. The movie is directed by Edward Zwick, an Oscar-winning producer for "Shakespeare in Love".First of all, I want to say that the happy ending felt a bit forced in my opinion that they just had to close it with the two reuniting and it was a bit random. And didn't she say before she had somebody else already? Where did he go? Why did Gyllenhaal's character leave her anyway if he loved her? The whole split-up scene came totally out of nowhere only minutes after they confessed each other that they are in love. Anyway, Hathaway's enthusiastic behavior after the Parkinson convention was great to watch and she really nailed that scene. The whole convention and monologues were written nicely. What I did nit like about the film has'd mostly to do with Gyllenhaal's character. His brother was brought in for some comic relief, but added really nothing else. The final boner scenes were downright bad and brought some terrible "American Pie" humor to a film that did not fit it at all. Also, the whole medicine background story in the first half of the film was just not developed at all. That one scene when they talked about the impact of the medical industry at that point and included a reference to a Presidential candidate was downright bad. All of a sudden the movie seemed politically ambitious and it did not work out at all. The movie worked best as a somewhat different, more serious romantic comedy between the two protagonists.The film succeeds occasionally on an emotional level, for example when the older man tells Gyllenhaal's character to leave her and not go through all the struggles due to the illness. Another one would be when Gyllenhaal's character watches the video of his ex-girlfriend near the end. Gave me goosebumps. As a whole, the movie has some great scenes, some pretty weak scenes, but as a whole I'd recommend it, especially if you like one of the two main actors. Lots of graphic nudity too, so stay away if you're a bit on the prudish side.