Love And Other Drugs [2010]

“Love And Other Drugs” can be a bit misleading. From the trailer and the poster, one can easily expect a routine romantic comedy. It isn’t. In fact, it’s a bittersweet, romantic drama with a provocative backdrop and an intriguing premise. But I wish I could say I was entirely satisfied by it. The plot: Jake Gyllenhal is a superficial guy who’s always had his ways around women and doesn’t believe in a serious relationship. Anne Hathaway is a woman who enjoys sex but keeps men at a distance, because she wants to protect herself from getting hurt. She also suffers from early onset of Parkinson’s disease. They both meet in a very unusual way, and a physical relationship blossoms. There’s a lot of naked scenes involved, making “Love And Other Drugs” strictly an adult piece of entertainement. So why was I not entirely satisfied? 1: the movie suffers from extreme overlength (they could have easily trimmed it a bit). 2: the inability to turn dramatic scenes into poignant ones was a major problem to me (I couldn’t take Hathaway’s situation too seriously). 3: I wish the ending didn’t have Hollywood written all over it (when it tries to be emotional, I couldn’t help but feel I’ve seen it all before). So because of that, I cannot fully recommend it, but I cannot dismiss it either. The movie still succeeds in being entertaining, and both actors give it their best, so it’s not a total loss.

Rating: 2.5/4