It is very difficult to make a film full of Anne Hathaway's naked breasts and Jake Gyllenhaal's bare butt unpleasant, but director Edward Zwick (""Glory"") finds a way to do so with ""Love and Other Drugs.""
Set in 1996, the movie follows Jamie Randall (Gyllenhaal) and Maggie Murdock's (Hathaway) relationship, one that begins with mere sex scenes but then develops into dramatic moments and sex scenes. Jamie is a pharmaceutical salesman who makes it big with the invention of those little blue pills, Viagra. Hathaway is an artist suffering from early onset Parkinson's disease. They meet in an exam room where Gyllenhaal is supposed to be shadowing a doctor but instead is checking out Hathaway's potentially cancerous boob.
From start to finish, the movie buys into every stereotype imaginable. Because of her illness, Hathaway's character is misunderstood, closed off and incredibly vulnerable. Likewise, because of his hotshot status and great career, Gyllenhaal's character is pompous, flirtatious and a frequent victim of female-related temptations. He lives in a nice apartment. She lives in a dump. He wears khakis. She wears corduroys. He drives the Porsche. She rides in the Porsche. The list goes on and on. The two eventually meet in the middle where both, previously incapable of expressing their feelings in any way other than groping, finally say aloud that they love each other.
But with this love comes fear, as Jamie is suddenly faced with the reality that Maggie's sickness will be his burden. At a convention in Chicago, a fellow attendee tells him that it will soon be his responsibility to dress her and ""wipe up her shit."" It's an uncomfortable moment with zilch compassion. To Jamie's credit, he sticks with Maggie, though the comment leaves an impression on him. Because of it, she becomes his pet project, taking her to clinics throughout the country, searching for a cure that doesn't exist. Maggie quickly grows to believe Jamie can't love her unless he can cure her, and thus she breaks up with him. This leads to a handful of scenes full of crying in coffee shops and restless nights. But wouldn't you know it, the couple gets back together in the end.
Perhaps it is unfair to expect more originality from a romantic comedy, but it is well within the realm of reason to expect more from Gyllenhaal and Hathaway. Both are tremendous actors who have graced the silver screen in far better films. While neither's performance in ""Love and Other Drugs"" is what brings the film down, they also don't help to bring it back up. Oliver Platt (""The Big C"") is the only actor who gives the film any redeeming value. As Jamie's sales partner, Platt's unfortunately infrequent scenes ground the film. While most of the movie's ""touching"" moments come off as disingenuous, Platt's inability to get the promotion that would bring him closer to his family seems real.
The film's lowest point is Josh Gad, who plays Jamie's little brother, Josh. His lack of talent is on par with the film's lack of imagination. A snotty millionaire kicked out of the house by his wife, Josh spends the movie on his brother's couch watching home videos of Jamie and Maggie's sexual escapades. It's obvious he is meant to be the comedic relief for a film that often grows dreary, but instead he falls flat, serving the purpose of a nuisance moreso than an appreciated chuckle.
Overall, ""Love and Other Drugs"" is one giant cliché with a bunch of wasted talent. It had some great blocks to build with, better than most other romantic comedies have, and yet these blocks add up to little more than a dud.
