Love & Other Drugs

Movie: Love & Other Drugs

Year: 2010

Director: Edward Zwick

Cast: Anne Hathaway, Jake Gyllenhaal, Oliver Platt, Hank Azaria, Judy Greer

Love, sex, drugs, and a little bit of Rock & Roll. Not a bad combination when it comes to a movie and this one has it all.

Jamie Randle (Gyllenhaal) is a self-professed slacker and true ladies man. Hailing from a family of overachievers, he’s dropped out of medical school and has bounced from job to job, until he lands a high-energy, super competitive position as a salesman with pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer. Using his witty charm, he meets Maggie Murdock (Anne Hathaway) a young artist struggling with a cruel and debilitating disease, Parkinson’s, but determined not to let it rule her world. What begins as no strings attached sex, soon blossoms into a relationship both are reluctant to start.

This movie was a pleasant surprise. I love Anne Hathaway, but this was far from her role as Mia Thermopolis in the Princess Diaries. You won’t see the good girl, refined to become a princess, but a good girl evolved into a woman who is truly aware of her sexuality. I was impressed with the movie, not because of the saucy sex scenes between Hathaway and Gyllenhaal, but because of the ability of the writers to bring awareness of a disease many still have no clue about without standing atop a soap box and being overly preachy.

Hathaway’s portrayal of Maggie, a young woman coming to grips with how her life will be and then having someone enter her world and show her there is another way to live is inspiring. You’ll see Gyllenhaal’s character, Jamie, evolve from a self-obsessed player into a one woman man with a purpose and determination to put someone else’s needs above his own. Love & Other Drugs is a love story that pushes the limits and makes you wonder just how much you would be willing to sacrifice for the person you love.