"Love and Other Drugs" review

i would like to preface this review by saying i have always (well, since about 1999 when i saw him in October Sky) LOVED jake gyllenhaal, and this movie only intensified that love.

i was very excited to see this movie, and had been for a while. i read some reviews before hand, most of them positive, but there were a few that sited "too many/graphic sex scenes" and "not enough story" as the downfall of the movie. first i'll address the sex scenes. yes, there were a lot, and yes, they were fairly intense. however, from the not-so-nice reviews, i was expecting something borderline boogie nights. it was

nothing like that. anne hathaway does show off her assets A LOT and jake's bum gets some camera time, but the sex scenes were not overly gratuitous. (they're both gorgeous, so it wasn't hard to watch.) it really did show the passion and connection they had in their relationship, and how it developed.

As far as the story... I found it to be fairly predictable (as most romantic comedies are) and in need of a little more depth. there was complexity to the characters, but they were borderline one dimensional to me. i mean, there was hardly any backstory for maggie (anne hathaway's character) and the little biographical information we got on jamie (jake gyllenhaal) wasn't really enough to care about his success in his job. SLIGHT SPOILER: his family are all very successful doctors/medical professionals, and while jamie had great potential, he chose not to follow the same path as to not give his father the "satisfaction"... not to mention he had ADD and couldnt pay attention in college. that little spoiler is about as in depth as described in the film.

that being said, there is genuine chemistry (lots... like, crazy lots) between jake and anne, as you might remember from their early relationship in Brokeback Mountain... ya know, before she found out he was gay.

while it wasnt quite as deep and tear-jerking as i thought it was going to be, it still was a good film and i'm glad i saw it. perhaps viewing it a second time, i would catch some things i missed the first time. also, a little fun fact... in my producing class in college, we skyped with the producer of this movie. he said jake and anne were two of the nicest, sweetest people you'd ever meet... which only makes me mad that i dont know them in real life.