Love and Other Drugs Reviews*

PAM: Love and other drugs.. how will I remember it? Ah yeah, that movie with lots of boob/butt exposure and sex and pharmaceutical sales agents and products like Zoloft and Viagra.

Uhh, that's all I remember.. was I drugged?

- - - - - - -

KEI: Love and Other Drugs disappointed me. Let me count the ways.

First, I thought it would be really good film to watch given the calibre of its cast namely, Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal, who co-starred before in Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain. Before this film, Anne made Rachel Getting Married, an independent film that showcased her acting skills. Jake, on the other hand, broke ground in his performance as Heath Ledger's gay lover in Brokeback. In this romance comedy (bold) film, the two let their hair down a bit given the lightness of their roles. Jake transformed into an easy-go-lucky guy from his previous roles in drama films; Anne returned to her role in Princess Diaries as somebody who is carefree (well, at least at the beginning of that film before she was forced to act like a princess) and does what she wants. 

I was probably just not expecting that these two actors who were recognized by their peers and critics for their talent would want to make a film where they show too much flesh for nothing. Perhaps, it's the Hollywood money, no? Though the film may dabble in health care issues, Anne's boob exposures and Jake's nakedness in the film mask the filmmaker's attempt to a discourse on it. Anne's character has a Parkinson's disease, though this has not been so relevant a detail except for an excuse for Anne and Jake to meet in her doctor's clinic. Jake's character is a pharmaceutical sales agent selling Valium's competitor, and later on the blue pill--Viagra--which put him on top of his company, Pfizer (please don't get me started on the so-called stealth advertising in this film!).   

Second, Anne's character started strong--free-spirited, independent, cool--but there were scenes where her self-pity took over her. She tends to get overly emotional, and this still plays on stereotypes of women. On the other hand, Jake was characterized to have changed from bad boy (he likes to sleep with women) to good boy (he fell in love with Anne's character and tried to be faithful to her), adding charm to his attractive sexy body. What can I say--after all, it's a chick flick where the chick is dehado. And the audience take pleasure on that.      

Lastly, there were just some disturbing scenes in the film, like when Jake's brother was masturbating while watching Jake and Anne's sex video. That was just sick, man! Jake's brother in the film was plainly, stupidly sick! There were times when it's entertaining to watch stupid sick guys, but this one just did not work out for me. 

- - - - - - - 

CAYO: “Love is a sales talk, and your aim is to close a deal. But before that plunge into the business of relationships, you need to get your act together, keep tricks up your sleeves, and keep your emotions guarded at all times. It always starts with sex, and like a drug, it consumes you. And then, you become dependent, and your only escape is to fall in love.” – a quote I tried to compose after the movie, just to make it seem smart.

Underwhelming.

Boob-flashes and medical jargons aside, I expected Love and Other Drugs to be a fun to watch film. I expected wrong.

I didn’t get the cohesiveness of the entire storyline.  Charming man and witty woman mixed with issued of drugs, Parkinson’s, Viagra, etc. etc. etc. The story was all over the place, and Anne Hathaway was all over Jake Gyllenhaal.

It was while watching this movie that I came to think that I would never really understand certain western ways. It’s just weird (for me). Blatantly, the movie felt empty. Intriguing, but empty.

If you were to ask me what I felt after watching, I would say that after seeing lots and lots of sex (and boob-flashes) I just felt the need to get laid myself (blue pill aside). I also felt the urge to go get some weed just to make me laugh, coz really the movie was “blah!” So yeah, I didn’t get the movie’s substance if ever it did have one.

 - - -

As a consolation, we did end up with this tag line: 

SEX is the ultimate drug, but LOVE is the only cure.

 

John Q. Reviews*

For this entry, we have invited a special guest reviewer. Kei is currently on birthday leave, so a frequent movie watching buddy came to fill-in for her in reviewing this week's movie. So coffee-drinkers-cum-movie-watchers, lets give it up for CLYDE! 

CLYDE: Denzel Washington did an excellent job of playing the role of a compassionate father who desperately fought for the life of his son. To be honest, I never fancied him to lead in a drama role and I laughed when I saw him crying on screen. And as expected from Denzel, he never fails to portray a ‘macho’ character.

The pIot is as straightforward as it is. Though the movie may fall into heavy drama, the dialogue and scenes were not that colorful and dramatic. The first reason is the lack of background music and catchy lines. As far as I know, most drama movies capitalize on background settings, if not on a good script and heavy acting. The second reason is that the plot and script is very much human and quite realistic. The scenario is that: if you give a passionate man no choice, then he results to violence. Well for me, as a person who grew up in a community where family matters, John Q’s story is not really new. Many poor families throughout the country, in some point in their lives, experienced sickness of a loved one that usually results to hopelessness, desperation, and oftentimes can either lead to committing crimes or incurring a lifetime debt.

On the surface, you can say that the movie is quite dumb since it lacks certain elements that you look for in a star-studded movie. If you think about it, John Q is an underrated movie that depicts the harsh realities of poor families not only in America but also here in our country. I believe that the main objective of the film is not to purely entertain, but to inform and make the viewers realize the forgotten and taken for granted aspects of our society. And for that, I give the movie a high score of 4/5.

P.S. I want to say THANKS to Cayo and Pam for inviting me to write as a substitute for Kei who is currently celebrating her birthday somewhere away from the public. LOL. Happy birthday Kei! Pasalubong! :D

- - - - - - -
 CAYO: The first 5 minutes of the film was a catcher, but it was also a little stupid because the “Beautiful Woman“ (as the credits described her) seemed to have had a death wish right there and then. From my seat I said “T*NGA” as she got hit by the large truck. Intriguing, yes, but as you continue on with the film you start to wonder if it was the right scene to start with. I understand the attempt of tying things together towards the end of the movie, but execution didn’t seem so effective.

Actually, there’s a lot about the film that could have been done better. I mean, it's a freakishly star studded cast yet the level of acting didn’t seem to deliver. Was it the script? The direction? I’m not sure. I was just expecting more from each of Hollywood’s best I guess. Not to mention the ER scenes where like circus acts filled with different stereotypes that provided awkward comic reliefs to the seemingly serious film.

On a side note, Washington did a SUPERB job at acting. He seemed to be the only redeeming factor in the film. He and his son (Daniel E. Smith) to be exact. It was only in the scenes of the Archibald family where the film seemed to have substance.

But all in all, the film did an effective job in putting the issue on medical insurance out there. It left my friends and I in discussion about insurance issues, medical expenses, and what not. Again, all the elements were there: An idea…  A great cast… everything except a properly executed film.

- - - - - - -
PAM: First, let me welcome our guest reviewer, Clydie with the squirrel zodiac! On a serious note, thanks Clyde for writing a review. Clyde's a tiger, we'll get along.

I have seen John Q several times on cable TV. I'd always catch the middle but never really made it to the end even with its powerhouse cast including Robert Duvall, Ray Liotta, James Woods, Anne Heche and Denzel Washington, dashing and sexy as ever.

There are movies that, even when I never saw the beginning, I'd get hooked and watch it until "The End" or "Fin" or until the credits roll. After viewing John Q from the very start right to the very end, I understood why I got bored without seeing the beginning of the movie. The plot, though predictable could have used some great script writing for it to work - desperate father using desperate-almost-criminal measures to get attention and service deserved by his very ill son, politics hindering appropriate negotiation measures, trigger-happy police, wise old man (hostage negotiator) versus action-hungry younger man (police chief), greedy insurance companies, scheming media people to get scoop, pay first before cure. Hero wins, with some repercussions. No surprises there.

I agree with the boys, the writing was faulty.

Nevertheless, it was still able to send out a strong message about healthcare, the importance of media and the tendency of institutions that are supposed to provide healthcare to prioritize profit over saving human lives.

*viewed on Feb. 2, 2011