'Love & Other Drugs' Trailer Makes Boner Pills Romantic

CBS Films has had a boner for Rapp for awhile now. They originally were set to adapt the novel Consent to Kill with Antoine Fuqua set to direct, but after talking to Zwick, realized starting at the very beginning was a very good place to start. Author Flynn is totally down with Zwick as the studio’s choice. So fans, don’t go aggressively dipping your quills in that ink well. The creator of Mitch Rapp knows what’s best for Mitch Rapp. (Deadline)

Love and Other Drugs is one of those romantic comedies that opens with pop music. It’s retro pop music because the movie is set in the ‘90s, but it’s still one of those movies that has no personality of its own so it tries to bogart a song that conveys personality. They even construct an impromptu dance montage in the opening credits, woven “seamlessly” into the plot and character establishment.

Jamie Randall (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a pharmaceutical rep hounding doctors’ offices to push samples of Zoloft. His powers of seduction come in handy with the receptionists, but he actually falls for a patient, Maggie Murdock (Anne Hathaway).

I would be down for a smart romance set against a backdrop of medical ethics, but that’s not what Love and Other Drugs is. This movie is trying so hard to be cute and clever it is annoying. The dialogue is so intent on characters dressing up their words, it draws attention to itself. No one can just say, “This is what’s happening to me.”

Here’s the difference between real clever and fake clever. Real clever leaves the point implied so the viewer can make the connection. Think Social Network. Fake clever is when characters express every single theme that’s supposed to be implied by their actions. Jamie uses all his medical knowledge to diagnose every character he encounters. Maggie analyzes Jamie’s pick-up game to explain their connection, or makes jokes to spell out her entire medical history. Those are all just references, not implications.

All the characters talk too much. Jamie’s brother Josh (Josh Gad) fills the role of the sleazeball best friend. His mom and dad (Jill Clayburgh and George Segal in only one scene) just plow through exposition about their sons’ backstories. Jamie’s partner and mentor, Bruce (Oliver Platt) just spews words out. I don’t blame the actors. You’ve got to work. The writing and directing should have been more subtle and let the scenes sit for a moment.

There are lots of hot bodies and nudity though. The sex scenes between Jamie and Maggie are hot. Hathaway even tries blocking the view with her arm or pulling the sheets up, but her boob keeps popping out. You see Gyllenhaal’s butt a lot too, but more her.

There is such inherent drama in this relationship and the world of pharmaceutical ethics, couldn’t Ed Zwick just trust the material? The training methods Pfizer teaches their reps are interesting. Jamie’s game is more powerful than The Mystery Method too. Seriously, he could host a “Seduce and Destroy” seminar. There’s a really healthy scene where Maggie builds up Jamie’s self-esteem when he doesn’t even know he’s insecure. That’s followed by a totally fake love moment.

Love and Other Drugs has a substantive message about relationships and medicine, but it’ buried in the insincere rom-com. Maggie’s emotional moment is hardcore, and when Jamie breaks through her rejection, even I fell for him. All I can remember though are people talking with their mouths full and bumbling around on the phone.

_Deeeeeeeerp!

Jack Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway star in Love & Other Drugs, a romantic comedy that isn’t afraid to rom-com it up in every aspect possible. Gyllenhaal plays a charming Viagra salesman who tricks a free-spirited Hathaway into taking her shirt off. After she beats him with a suitcase, they go get a cup of coffee, and the rest is history.

The cheeseball lines, the music, the sappy on-screen text, the emotionally distant male protagonist whose resolve is broken by the emotionally distant female protagonist — it’s got it all. Why couldn’t their casual arrangement of sex with no strings attached just have remained casual?! Because love got in the way, Silly. Ed Zwick, who has been taking on period pieces such as The Last Samurai and Defiance as of late, directed the film, which I suppose could still be considered a period piece, meaning you have to be able to have one in order to think it looks good.

Love & Other Drugs hits theaters November 24th.

Check out the trailer after the jump…

Love and Other Drugs Trailer – Watch more Movie Trailers

Director: Edward Zwick

Cast: Anne Hathaway, Jake Gyllenhaal, Hank Azaria, Judy Greer, Oliver Platt, Gabriel Macht, George Segal

Synopsis: Maggie (Hathaway) is an alluring free spirit who won’t let anyone – or anything – tie her down. But she meets her match in Jamie (Gyllenhaal), whose relentless and nearly infallible charm serve him well with the ladies and in the cutthroat world of pharmaceutical sales. Maggie and Jamie’s evolving relationship takes them both by surprise, as they find themselves under the influence of the ultimate drug: love. Based on Jamie Reidy’s memoir “Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman.”

Release: November 24th, 2010