Love and Other Drugs is a decent romantic comedy that, despite great performances, struggles to find its own identity.
It does take a refreshingly real approach to the genre, however.
Ultimately, though, it attempts to juggle too much.
This essentially leads the film to be something of a jack of all trades, while a master of none.
The biggest problem, I felt, was how Love and Other Drugs just takes itself too seriously.
In an attempt to stretch beyond the typical rom-com, the movie attempts to add in satire of the medical industry, commentary on social issues and awareness of living with a disability, all while trying to maintain the love story.
In the end, it falls flat on its face due to having too much to juggle.
Love and Other Drugs follows the story of a hotshot salesman, Jamie (Gyllenhaal), who finds himself quickly climbing the ladder in the cutthroat world of pharmaceutical sales.
His charm serves him well in career and with the ladies.
Enter the free-spirited Maggie (Hathaway) who catches the eye of Jamie.
Being a victim of Parkinson's, she has issues with accepting this disease which results in her being something of a standoffish character that doesn't like to be tied down.
When the two meet though, chemistry is definitely evident.
Seemingly having both met their match, Maggie isn't as easily persuaded by Jamie's advances and sees right through him, though is intrigued by his charm.
Likewise, Jamie is lured in by Maggie's unflinching resistance and how she seems to just understand him.
In the beginning, the relationship starts off purely sexual.
This gives the filmmakers plenty of opportunities to steam up the screen with countless sex scenes.
Ladies will have opportunities to see Gyllenhaal's butt, while guys will get to see plenty of Hathaway as this torrid love affair develops.
However, to the chagrin of the two main characters, things don't remain strictly physical.
Their relationship slowly develops as both come to realize that the other is really a perfect match for them.
The chemistry between Jamie and Maggie is undeniable.
Likewise, Gyllenhaal and Hathaway have excellent chemistry on-screen for these roles.
Jake Gyllenhaal also turns in a very charming performance that you can't help but like.
Meanwhile, Hathaway does great in capturing the fickle character that is Maggie.
I'm not usually a Hathaway fan really, but she does indeed turn in an excellent performance here.
From her charming and intriguing moments, to her distraught outbreaks, to the moments her character shows her emotional vulnerability.
Hathaway captures it all with a definite command over the role.
The performances by both of these actors is the saving grace of this film really.
They do a good job of reeling the audience in and really making you care about each of them from the start.
This is a good thing, though, as that pre-established sympathy is needed to endure the last half of the movie.
The first half or so of the movie moves along nicely.
It stays its course, keeps you interested and maintains a nice pacing.
The second half though, the movie seems to get in over its head.
This is where Love and Other Drugs attempts to take itself too seriously and step out beyond that typical romantic comedy realm to become something of much more substance.
The problem,.
though, is that it seems the filmmakers had several ideas of how they wanted to do this, but couldn't figure out which one to go with.
So, they chose them all.
As a result, you get what feels like a scattered story.
One that is struggling to find its own identity.
This, in turn, completely ruins the pacing of the movie.
For the last half of the movie, you're almost bored out of your mind due to the pacing.
You're left wondering, on multiple occasions: Is it almost over? It just seems to drag on, like a lame dog that just won't give in, but really should be put down probably.
The first half does well as a traditional rom-com with a refreshing take on the genre.
The second half looks to add too much depth.
Once they begin trying to make it too emotional and turn the movie into a serious look at the difficulties of living with a disease (Parkinson's) and how such a disease could affect a relationship, that's when the movie goes sour.
It's like, about halfway through, they decided they wanted to make a "Disease Awareness Week" Lifetime made-for-TV movie.
At the same time, though, they wanted to attempt to maintain the refreshingly adult and sentimental romantic comedy that they had established in the first half of the movie, coupled with the satirical look on the pharmaceutical industry.
This just becomes too much to cram into the movie and you're left with the film seemingly jumping back and forth between approaches.
One minute you're watching a charming satire in the likes of Thank You for Smoking.
The next you're watching a refreshing spin on When Harry Met Sally.
Then before you know it, you find yourself in the middle of (insert random sappy "awareness" movie from the Lifetime Network) which seemingly sucks the life out of the movie.
And for the last half of Love and Other Drugs you're bouncing back and forth between these three films, resulting in that "God, please let it end" feeling that just seems like it should have ended about 20 minutes ago.
The bad part though, due to the freshness of the first half and the performances by Gyllenhaal and Hathaway, by that point you're sucked in and invested and want to know what happens between them.
You just don't want to sit through the crap to get there.
Let's put it this way: if the book is as jumbled and poorly paced as the movie, at some point you will say "to hell with it" and just flip to the last page to read that and be done with it.
That being said, it's not entirely a bust as it may seem due to my rant there.
Love and Other Drugs does have some nice qualities.
Like I said, the performances from the two leads are great.
Both do an excellent job on-screen.
The first half of the movie, also, is really good.
It's such a nice and refreshing romantic comedy and so charming that you can't help but like it.
It even provides a few nice laughs.
The last half or so, though, it just seems to fall apart as the movie just loses focus.
This makes this somewhat of a hard movie to grade.
At times the movie showed charm and flair that was just brilliant, and, again, two great performances.
On the other hand, the last half was a mess, though still had those great performances.
As a result though, I guess that means I need to go middle-of-the-road with a rating as the good and the bad even themselves out.
All in all, Love and Other Drugs had potential and has some endearing qualities to it that make it enjoyable.
However, the loss of focus and attempt to take itself too seriously, while destroying the pacing, will indeed leave a sour taste in your mouth before the movie ends, and will even make you think it's never going to end.
With such potential, the movie just couldn't follow through all the way to the end.
It does take a refreshingly real approach to the genre, however.
Ultimately, though, it attempts to juggle too much.
This essentially leads the film to be something of a jack of all trades, while a master of none.
The biggest problem, I felt, was how Love and Other Drugs just takes itself too seriously.
In an attempt to stretch beyond the typical rom-com, the movie attempts to add in satire of the medical industry, commentary on social issues and awareness of living with a disability, all while trying to maintain the love story.
In the end, it falls flat on its face due to having too much to juggle.
Love and Other Drugs follows the story of a hotshot salesman, Jamie (Gyllenhaal), who finds himself quickly climbing the ladder in the cutthroat world of pharmaceutical sales.
His charm serves him well in career and with the ladies.
Enter the free-spirited Maggie (Hathaway) who catches the eye of Jamie.
Being a victim of Parkinson's, she has issues with accepting this disease which results in her being something of a standoffish character that doesn't like to be tied down.
When the two meet though, chemistry is definitely evident.
Seemingly having both met their match, Maggie isn't as easily persuaded by Jamie's advances and sees right through him, though is intrigued by his charm.
Likewise, Jamie is lured in by Maggie's unflinching resistance and how she seems to just understand him.
In the beginning, the relationship starts off purely sexual.
This gives the filmmakers plenty of opportunities to steam up the screen with countless sex scenes.
Ladies will have opportunities to see Gyllenhaal's butt, while guys will get to see plenty of Hathaway as this torrid love affair develops.
However, to the chagrin of the two main characters, things don't remain strictly physical.
Their relationship slowly develops as both come to realize that the other is really a perfect match for them.
The chemistry between Jamie and Maggie is undeniable.
Likewise, Gyllenhaal and Hathaway have excellent chemistry on-screen for these roles.
Jake Gyllenhaal also turns in a very charming performance that you can't help but like.
Meanwhile, Hathaway does great in capturing the fickle character that is Maggie.
I'm not usually a Hathaway fan really, but she does indeed turn in an excellent performance here.
From her charming and intriguing moments, to her distraught outbreaks, to the moments her character shows her emotional vulnerability.
Hathaway captures it all with a definite command over the role.
The performances by both of these actors is the saving grace of this film really.
They do a good job of reeling the audience in and really making you care about each of them from the start.
This is a good thing, though, as that pre-established sympathy is needed to endure the last half of the movie.
The first half or so of the movie moves along nicely.
It stays its course, keeps you interested and maintains a nice pacing.
The second half though, the movie seems to get in over its head.
This is where Love and Other Drugs attempts to take itself too seriously and step out beyond that typical romantic comedy realm to become something of much more substance.
The problem,.
though, is that it seems the filmmakers had several ideas of how they wanted to do this, but couldn't figure out which one to go with.
So, they chose them all.
As a result, you get what feels like a scattered story.
One that is struggling to find its own identity.
This, in turn, completely ruins the pacing of the movie.
For the last half of the movie, you're almost bored out of your mind due to the pacing.
You're left wondering, on multiple occasions: Is it almost over? It just seems to drag on, like a lame dog that just won't give in, but really should be put down probably.
The first half does well as a traditional rom-com with a refreshing take on the genre.
The second half looks to add too much depth.
Once they begin trying to make it too emotional and turn the movie into a serious look at the difficulties of living with a disease (Parkinson's) and how such a disease could affect a relationship, that's when the movie goes sour.
It's like, about halfway through, they decided they wanted to make a "Disease Awareness Week" Lifetime made-for-TV movie.
At the same time, though, they wanted to attempt to maintain the refreshingly adult and sentimental romantic comedy that they had established in the first half of the movie, coupled with the satirical look on the pharmaceutical industry.
This just becomes too much to cram into the movie and you're left with the film seemingly jumping back and forth between approaches.
One minute you're watching a charming satire in the likes of Thank You for Smoking.
The next you're watching a refreshing spin on When Harry Met Sally.
Then before you know it, you find yourself in the middle of (insert random sappy "awareness" movie from the Lifetime Network) which seemingly sucks the life out of the movie.
And for the last half of Love and Other Drugs you're bouncing back and forth between these three films, resulting in that "God, please let it end" feeling that just seems like it should have ended about 20 minutes ago.
The bad part though, due to the freshness of the first half and the performances by Gyllenhaal and Hathaway, by that point you're sucked in and invested and want to know what happens between them.
You just don't want to sit through the crap to get there.
Let's put it this way: if the book is as jumbled and poorly paced as the movie, at some point you will say "to hell with it" and just flip to the last page to read that and be done with it.
That being said, it's not entirely a bust as it may seem due to my rant there.
Love and Other Drugs does have some nice qualities.
Like I said, the performances from the two leads are great.
Both do an excellent job on-screen.
The first half of the movie, also, is really good.
It's such a nice and refreshing romantic comedy and so charming that you can't help but like it.
It even provides a few nice laughs.
The last half or so, though, it just seems to fall apart as the movie just loses focus.
This makes this somewhat of a hard movie to grade.
At times the movie showed charm and flair that was just brilliant, and, again, two great performances.
On the other hand, the last half was a mess, though still had those great performances.
As a result though, I guess that means I need to go middle-of-the-road with a rating as the good and the bad even themselves out.
All in all, Love and Other Drugs had potential and has some endearing qualities to it that make it enjoyable.
However, the loss of focus and attempt to take itself too seriously, while destroying the pacing, will indeed leave a sour taste in your mouth before the movie ends, and will even make you think it's never going to end.
With such potential, the movie just couldn't follow through all the way to the end.