The ensuing romance is marked by the same kind of sexual frankness of Zwick’s cinematic debut but is, at heart, an adult romantic comedy drama that still plays too close to formula. It’s also too eager to please.
Sharp, softcore smutty, sweet and silly, Love & Other Drugs, like Viagra, provides an easy ‘up’ on a slow weekend.
A pleasant surprise.
Avoid this sickly-sweet, dishonest nonsense.
Well above the standards of your average romantic comedy, it’s funny, sexy and smart. It’s just not smart enough to stick to its guns to the end.
It's a pity, because Love And Other Drugs clearly aspired to be a smart movie, adding a bit of an edge to the usually sappy romcom genre while taking a few jabs at the health insurance industry. Unfortunately, it looks like the effects wore off halfway through the film, which is rather depressing – but I believe they have pills for that.
When it finally grows up and realises it wants truly to be about the relationship between Jamie and Maggie it settles into a fine groove, but with just a bit more focus it could have emerged as this generation’s Jerry Maguire.
Hollywood can dabble in reality, as it tries to do here, but its addiction to gloss is a hard habit to break.
While the story contains few surprises, eyebrows will be raised by the fact it was directed by Ed Zwick, purveyor of more serious, and better, fare such as The Last Samurai, Glory and Defiance.
Edward Zwick's Love and Other Drugs is a Frankenstein's monster, a movie bolted together from disparate parts that never properly co-ordinate with one another. It lumbers, breaks into an occasional trot, then falls apart completely.
Love and Other Drugs is a corporate satire, a romantic comedy, a weepy melodrama with Judd Apatow-influenced lewdness. This restlessness and lack of conviction make it both fascinating and frustrating.
It's as if veteran director Edward Zwick signed on to tell one story and got railroaded into telling four different ones instead. The resulting film is a saccharine-fuelled, cliché-ridden mess.
Love and Other Drugs has a lot going for it, but ultimately it's not one, but two wasted opportunities.
The two narrative strands don't quite mesh, and the movie stumbles badly when trying to effect the redemption of Randall through love.
I ended up wondering how a screenplay this messy had ever gone into production, let alone attracted two actors of this quality.
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General release. Check local listings for show times.
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