Film Review: Love and Other Drugs

Rating: MA 15+

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, Oliver Platt

Director: Edward Zwick

This review is going to be difficult to write because I feel Love and Other Drugs is missing something crucial. I still cannot work out what exactly this is, but here goes nothing...

                                                                                                                                                                                   

We meet Jamie Randall (Gyllenhaal) in 1996, a suave ladies’ man who has just become a salesman for a large drug company. He then meets Maggie Murdock (Hathaway) in a doctor’s surgery, whom he sees as merely his next fling. Maggie is, however, the female version of him – witty, charming, and only seeking sex. She does have Stage 1 Parkinson’s disease, so I guess she is ‘living it up’ while she still can.

Of course, the characters begin to develop deeper feelings for each other – Jamie wants to take care of Maggie, and Maggie (although completely in love with Jamie) says that would be unfair on him. By this stage, the subplot of Jamie selling the new wonder drug Viagra has taken a back seat, and the audience has forgotten that the movie is actually based on the book Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman. It’s obviously made him rich though, because suddenly he’s driving around in a Porche and is offered a higher-paid position in Chicago!

Like most romances, the central characters do everything to sabotage their relationship, but when the final scene beckons (Gyllenhaal’s “I want us” speech), Maggie melts into the Jamie’s arms and everything is forgotten.

The movie, however, is not all clichés. Maggie attends a Parkinson’s disease conference, and the audience is faced with the different stages of the debilitating illness. One man in particular shares how his life has changed since his wife’s diagnosis. What he says is not very nice, but probably expresses how some people feel when faced with such uncertainty.

There are many ‘shagging’ and nudity scenes (Hathaway is naked for much of her first few scenes), which I think the director uses to take the audience’s mind away from the generally lack-lustre storyline and often pointless banter between the characters. Therefore, Love and Other Drugs has probably only made it to mainstream cinema because of its two famous actors.

Spend your money on another movie and wait until this comes out on DVD!

2.5 out of 5 stars

Film Review: Jackass 3D

Director: Jeff Tremaine
Writer: Preston Lacy
Stars: Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Bam Margera
Rated: MA 15+

Most of my close friends and family will know that there is no way I would choose to see the typical guy movie (toilet humour, blowing up people, no storyline, etc). So when my boyfriend suggested we go to see Jackass in 3D, I reluctantly agreed when he offered to pay! Sure, I vaguely knew the movie was about a group of guys who perform ridiculous stunts, (and I do laugh at toilet humour more often than not), but nothing would have prepared me for what I was about to witness...

As we were lining up for our tickets, I decided I probably shouldn’t order the giant popcorn and frozen coke as I had just eaten a rather large dinner. This turned out to be the best decision of the night. During Jackass, I witnessed a guy’s bottom disguised as a mountain. And yes, the mountain did explode, if you get my drift. By this stage, my dinner started churning in my stomach and I began to feel quite ill. But this was nothing compared to the dry-reaching I experienced when one of the guys lifted up a cup containing a fat man’s sweat...needless to say I buried my head in the seat before I saw him drink it (and violently regurgitate it only seconds later).

I must admit, I did giggle at a few of the mild stunts. There were guys super-gluing their chest hair together, riding bikes through hedges – you get the picture!

So basically I can sum up the movie in one sentence:  Johnny Knoxville and his bunch of g-string-wearing mates perform ridiculous stunts that involve poo, sweat, animals, big jumps, and vomit. And considering the audience would consist of mostly males, it needs to be visual with no complex storylines. Right girls?

1 star out of 5