2010. Dir: Ed Zwick. Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, Oliver Platt, Hank Azaria and Josh Gad. ●●●○○
If the thought of seeing lots of Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway in the buff was what attracted to you to Love and Other Drugs then I have to say you won't be totally disappointed, there are boobs and bums all over the place, but not once does the flesh on screen seem gratuitous, indeed it's a film focussing on a relationship that (initially anyway) is based purely on the sexual connection and - forgive me if I'm unnatural - generally you're naked when you're having sex. The fact that I'm talking about the nudity at this point is rather odd, the film has been marketed heavily on the premise that Jake and Anne are naked a lot and this may well have clouded what this story is all about.
Here is where I agree with the marketing team, you can't isolate one strand that the film is about because it tries to be so many things it ens up falling over trying to please itself. It's a sex comedy, an expose of the pharmaceutical industry and Love Story rehash all in one; and that simply doesn't all gel together.
Jake Gyllenhaal plays Jamie Randall, master salesman and legendary lover, who meets bohemian waitress Maggie Murdock (Anne Hathaway) and whilst he's climbing up the greasy pole of pharmaceutical sales just around the introduction of Viagra she's coping with early onset Parkinson's disease (not that you can tell apart from the odd finger wiggle). They both start off not wanting a fully fledged relationship because they're both terrible afraid of bing abandoned but of course one develops and then they must learn to cope with the way things are.
Most of the satirical parts work well, Gyllenhaal and Oliver Platt as his supervisor, have a wonderfully crass on-screen chemistry and you they are scenes when you truly wonder how far these companies will go to ensure their product is prescribed. Enter Hank Azaria as a horndog doctor whose medical ethics extend to lying to patients, accepting bribes and prescribed whichever drug that the company will guarantee him getting laid. He has a nice speech about integrity later in the flm, utterly wasted in the background of a pajama party. In fact these sections come across as a medical Thank you for Smoking and perhaps had director Ed Zwick, who's TV experience with comedies such as "thirtysomething" and "My so-called life" has proved very useful.
The other sections don't work nearly as well. Hathaway simply doesn't convince as a Parkinson's patient, as a reluctant lover or even as a waitress. There's also a scene with real sufferer's talking about their illness which frankly belongs in another movie.
You wonder if the whole thing would have worked better if Maggie was just a girl disgusted by the industry who slowly taught Randall the error of his ways? (And yes I know it's based on a true story but surely they could have ignored that part for the sake of dramatic cohesion).
Overall I would say this is part of a good movie, interesting to get an insight into drug culture and miles above any other romantic comedy I've seen this year, but messy unfocused and stretched too far to work.
Thursday, 6 January 2011
Love and Other Drugs
Friday, 31 December 2010
Take Jake, three times a day (Out this week - 31/12/10)
It's the last day of the year, and consequently the last weekend with just three releases battling for screens this week. Naturally the biggest hit will be the one I don't want to see, but what can you do, there's no accounting for taste. Film of the week has to be the one with lots of naked Jake Love and Other Drugs, but I've seen both of the non Jack Black starring releases and the other one is a better film so make of that what you will (or just realise that my exciteability scoring may not be completely related to quality - for proof look at what picture I'm using again). 
Before I run down the releases I thought I'd just spill a bit of background on what has been a fascinating year for cinematic releases. Overall 486 films have seen the inside of British cinemas - not including documentaries and re-releases - that's 14.6% up on 2009. I saw just 41, less than 10%, down both as a proportion and in real terms against 2009. Naturally the largest producer of films has been the US with something like 40% of the total output. The rest of the top five were UK, India, France and Germany. The remaining 15% of films represented 45 other countries. Liam Neeson was in the multiplexes more than any other actor with Chloe, Clash of the Titans and The A-Team being backed by up voice work in Ponyo, The Dawn Treader and the reconstructive doc The Wildest Dream. Julianne Moore was the most prominent female, and I think it's safe to say her work was generally better received.
Perhaps as curious as the films that are released is the group that aren't. As we reach the end of the year there are inevitably some high profile movies that we must assume will never see the inside of a British cinema. There's Joel Schumacher's Town Creek with it's Nazi occult themes and starring the other one from "Prison Break", the short collection New York, I Love You might not have been as successful as Paris, Je t'aime but it's failure to be released - even to be withdrawn one week before a release date - is surprising. Finally I am shocked to see Oren Moverman's Oscar nominated drama The Messenger starring Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson and Samantha Morton hasn't had a whisper of a UK release, maybe the subject matter is still too raw for us.
Gulliver's Travels
I actually heard some very positive buzz from an exhibitor earlier this year about Jack Black's latest travesty which probably proves the lengths they'll go to sell tickets. It's a laughably unfunny trailer and even the orange advert they made on the way seems poorly written.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Love and Other Drugs
Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway are naked a lot. I'd like to pretend there are other reasons for watching this but I'm not sure I'd be being completely honest. Ed Zwick's a competent director - does that help?
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●○○○
The Way Back
Peter Weir's latest film follows the controversial story of escaped Gulag convicts trekking from Siberia to India to avoid their Soviet captors. Regardless of the provenance the film was funded by National Geogrephic so you know the vistas will be stunning.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●○○○○
Sunday, 19 December 2010
Jake Gyllenhaal
Happy Birthday to
Jake Gyllenhaal
30 today
Yes, I have put today's birthday picture a bit lower in the post in order to let it be bigger, and I fully believe looking at it tha I'm fully justified in doing so. The good news is tat Jake is only 10% younger than me, so I'm feeling less of a perv for drooling as I have in the past. Coming up (obviously) is Love and Other Drugs and his also rumoured to b in Garry Marshall's New Years Eve. 
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
Tuesday Trailers - Love and Other Drugs
Our trailers for December continue with the latst film from Ed Zwick. The good news is that it doesn't look like it's going to be painfully pretencious too, focussing on a modern relationship between a phamaceutical rep and a girl he meets battling illness. There's sure to be smiles and tears based on this trailer, plus an awful lot of the incredibly attractive coupling of Jake and Anne jumping into bed with each other.
Love and Other Drugs is released on 31 December 2010
Saturday, 16 January 2010
20 for 2010 - Love and Other Drugs
Getting ever closer to the top spot with the 3rd place Love and Other Drugs.
One of the reasons, oh go on then it's the main reason, that I want to see Ed Zwick's latest film is residual love for Brokeback Mountain. Here we have Jack and Lureen Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway) reuniting; only this time they will actually fall in love - no beards necessary. Both of the two have proven themselves capable of a wide range of roles and I suspect both have fans who would be prepared to watch them sit and read the phone book.
There other reasons to get excited. For starters Ed Zwick may be best known for his bombastic historical dramas, but lets remember he cut his teeth producing television dramadies like "thirtysomething" and "My So-Called Life". This experience will be extremely helpful in adapting Jamie Reidy's bestselling memoir about his life as a drug salesman during the advent of Viagra.
Which leads nicely to the fact that this is a film about drugs and sex. With lots of viagra jokes. There must be some laughs to be had in there.
There's also a top notch supporting cast, with Hank Azaria, Judy Greer and Oliver Platt among many others.
Although saying that the main reason I'm anticipating this so much is still Jake and Anne. (Especially Jake)
Thursday, 12 November 2009
Anne Hathaway
Happy Birthday to
Anne Hathaway
27 today
Anne has a lot to prove in 2010. After her Oscar nod for Rachel Getting Married last year the next couple of films - the excreable Bride Wars, straight to video Passengers - were a major disappointment. Coming up are romantic ensemble piece Valentine's Day, Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland (pictured) and a second pairing with jake Gyllenhaal in Love and Other Drugs. If she doesn't knock it out of the park in at least the thrid one I'll be transferring my affections elsewhere.
Saturday, 20 June 2009
Film News (20/06/09)
Actually quite an interesting week for news, with a couple of really big projects getting a mention, and a couple of smaller ones thought to have disappeared being resurrected.
Indiana Jones 5
You have to wonder whether I've crapped on enough of my youth by going to see 3 Star Wars prequels and the 4th Indiana Jones movie, but apparently I'm still gagging for more. So hearing Shia LaBeouf chatting away at pre-Transformers interviews about the next Indy script in the works I have been a little excited. I'm not an apologist for the last film, it was a dreadful misstep. But then again so was The Temple of Doom, and it wasn't the CGI gophers and Shia loving monkeys that made me dislike it. It was more the bizarre UFO, 5th dimension, Lucas/Spielberg mindfuck that I objected to.
In the next film I'd like to see a return to Nazi and Judeo-Christian mythology. Maybe Joseph Mengele and a group of exiled Nazis mount an expedition to find the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Knowledge. It might be a rip off (say The Boys from Brazil meets The Fountain) but that won't stop it being entertaining.
Black Swan
Talking about The Fountain Darren Aronofsky is returning to one of his side-lined projects following the runaway success of The Wrestler. Black Swan tells of the rivalry between two prima ballerinas, one of whom is Natalie Portman, the other is either imaginery or from beyond the grave!!! It'll be good to see Portman strecting herself again, as well.
City of Angels
I've always thought the 1989 Tony award winning Musical has always seemed like it was destined for film. Well apparently Mssrs. Shaye and Lynne of Unique films have thought the same. In a press annoucement this week covering over 10 projects in the works there's a mention of turning the part Hollywood satire, part hard-boiled detective thriller into a movie.
Love and Other Drugs
I don't know how I missed this a couple of weeks ago but Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway are teaming up for this adaptation of Jamie Reidy comic tome about life inside the pharmaceutical sales environment. It will be nice to see them play a couple who actually in to each other, unlike their Brokeback Mountain collaboration. And the serio-comic style of the book might be right up their street.
Sam Mendes (Butcher's Crossing and Middlemarch
Focus Features have made a first look deal with Sam Mendes and his producing partners, according to Variety.com. Now, I'm not completely sure I fully understand this story. I expect a first look deal, means that Focu Features get to choose whether they distribute a film first - should have chosen not to distribute Away We Go, from what I hear. They've also bought out 2 productions that are currently being prepped, either one of whcih could be done by Mendes. These are George Eliot novel Middlemarch, which has been rumoured for some time (and is a great novel); and the adaptation of John Williams' revisionist western Butcher's Crossing, about a harvard graduate who goes buffalo hunting (I'm sure it's more complex than that). Curiously the article makes no mention of Preacher, which I though was Mendes' next challenge. Looks like that particular graphic novel may have even longer to wait.
Mixed Blood
Anyone want any Samuel L. Jackson action? After all he was only been in 7 films in 2008 and a mere 16 projects at some point of the development and production process. At least he's signed on to star in Mixed Blood based on the Roger Smith novel. From the precis it sounds like a version of The Fugitive where Richard Kimble beats up kidnappers rather than saving boys with heart defects with Jackson in the Tommy Lee Jones role.
Unbreakable 2
In related Samuel L. Jackson news, M. Night Shyamalan has been talking up the idea of returning to the Unbreakable story he kicked off in 2000. Personally I quite like this idea, Shyamalan movies has got steadily worse since then and the central conceit of a master criminal who needs a hero to feel a purpose and a hero who doesn't think of himself as a hero is quite fascinating in a low-key way. Of course whether Bruce and Samuel will sign back on may be a tricky one, but if M. Night pulls it off it may just be the trigger for getting the public back on his side.
