Thank you, Love and Other Drugs! Not including some of the tasty treats coming soon, recently the cinema have been dishing up some absolute turkeys (Little Fockers, Gulliver's Travels, even Tron: Legacy to an extent) but I am glad to say that, while not the greatest rom-com ever, this is a film that had me laughing (and sweating as the cinema had their heating full blast!)
Jamie Randell is a cocky, self assured womaniser who can turn on the charm for his own personal needs as well as hoping to rise the ladder selling pharmaceuticals to doctors. His life is completely uncomplicated until he meets Maggie, a beautiful young woman who is suffering from stage one Parkinson's disease. He isn't looking for love and neither is she but what they are looking for is uncomplicated sex without the hang-ups. Unfortunately Jamie is starting to see things differently and his future, including selling Viagra, is changing.
You might be surprised to know that the film is directed by epic film maker Edward Zwick, who has given us Glory, The Siege, The Last Samurai and more recently, Defiance. Don't be that surprised, as he was also the producer of the hit TV show thirtysomething, a mix of comedy and drama around young upwardly mobiles facing all kinds of life problems. So he manages to handle the material here with a huge amount of sensitivity.
It being a romantic comedy there are the rom-com cliches, except this time they don't feel faced like in others.
Jake Gyllenhaal, as Jamie, is far too nice to be regarded as a bastard and even though we are suppose to hate him at the beginning, you cannot help but like it. Ably supported but the ever reliable Oliver Platt and Hank Azaria, there is a nice comic turn by Josh Gad as his slobbish younger brother, and even though every rom-com has to have one, his turn is actually funny.
Anne Hathaway is the star of this film. Not only is she one of the screens natural beauties, her performance is a dream. Never taking the Parkinson's disease to the extreme, she carries herself brilliantly, with warmth and humour (and she gets to show more of her than we've seen before, if you know what I mean.)
Mixing the comedy with real pathos, there is one scene that is both hilarious and moving, in which Maggie goes to a convention made up of Parkinson's sufferers, telling their stories and it is one of the high points of the film.
Those who read my reviews will know that the rom-com is not my favourite genre. When done bad, they can be awful. Gladly this is one of the good ones and instead of heading off to see Jack Black being unfunny or the Little Fockers being genuinely disappointing, try this sweet natured tale instead. Word of warning, however, it contains a lot of sex scenes...and I mean a lot, so maybe don't take your gran with you.
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