Susan Granger’s review of “Love & Other Drugs” (20th Century-Fox)
Set in 1996, this raunchy, romantic dramedy revolves around a smooth, seductive Pfizer pharmaceutical rep who unexpectedly falls for a free-spirited, bohemian artist/coffeehouse waitress.
When fast-talking Jamie Randall (Jake Gyllenhaal) pitches pills to doctors, he knows his stuff. After all, he comes from a family of over-achievers, including his crude, coarse, callow brother (Josh Gad from “The Daily Show”) who’s a software millionaire.
Reporting to an experienced, demanding boss (Oliver Platt), Jamie is highly competitive and not above seducing a clinic receptionist (Judy Greer) or sabotaging a Prozac-peddling rival (Gabriel Macht). So when Pfizer introduces Viagra, he’s suddenly in his element, convincing Dr. Stan Knight (Hank Azaria) that the little blue pill is, indeed, a wonder drug. Meanwhile, he’s become enamored with flirtatious Maggie Murdock (Anne Hathaway), an early-onset Parkinson’s patient and lust takes over. Although their pillow-talk reveals that neither is initially interested in making a long-term commitment, the reality of their future together poses undeniable obstacles. In the face of adversity, will this charming cad rise to the challenge and learn to love? You guess.
Written by Charles Randolph, Marshall Herskovitz and director Edward Zwick, it’s based on Jamie Reidy’s humorous memoir “Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman.” Given a different emphasis, the script could have been as sharply satirical as “Thank You for Smoking” or as revealing as “Up in the Air.” But with masturbation jokes and homemade sex videos, it’s not. Nor does it descend into the TV disease-of-the-week category, despite testimonials from Maggie’s Parkinson’s support group. Not quite focused, it falls somewhere in-between.
Having teamed up before in “Brokeback Mountain,” Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway exhibit an easy, familiar rapport, handling their saucy sex scenes with tasteful aplomb – but the script never really delves into her progressively degenerative and pharma-incurable disease.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Love & Other Drugs” is a slick, savvy 6, positioned as a mood-altering date movie that delivers only a tiny peek into the ethics, excesses, bribery and corruption within the medical establishment.
