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"Love and Other Drugs" stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Jamie Randall, a pharmaceutical salesman who sells love, Zoloft, Viagra and other products with equal sincerity. He's a charmer, determined to sell his way out of Ohio and into the big Chicago market, and if that involves flirting with the receptionists in doctors' offices, it's a tough job but somebody's got to do it.

The movie takes place at that point in the 1990s when Viagra was tumescing in the marketplace, and Jamie is riding the success of his employer, Pfizer. He infiltrates hospitals, befriends doctors, pushes drugs and sabotages the best efforts of his aggressive rival Trey Hannigan ( Gabriel Macht ), whose product Prozac is outselling Zoloft. Whether these products, or any of their products, works very well is not a concern of the salesmen. They sell.

James is egged on by his supervisor Bruce Winston ( Oliver Platt ), and it seems quite possible he'll make it to Chicago when his life makes an unexpected course correction. He's buddies with Dr. Stan Knight ( Hank Azaria ), who introduces him as his intern and allows him to observe as he palpitates the breast of his lovely patient Maggie Murdock ( Anne Hathaway ). Strictly speaking, doctors aren't supposed to do that. Maggie discovers the fraud, and in the course of an argument with Jamie about it they both grow so passionate that, well, they rip off each other's clothes and fall upon a bed in a confusion of sheets and moans.

Maggie and Jamie discover that they really, really like each other. She has something she wants to tell him. She is in the early stages of Parkinson's disease. This introduces an unexpected note into what seemed to be a screwball comedy. Hathaway brings such tenderness and solemnity to her role that she moves the film away from comedy and toward “ Love Story ,” and from then on, we never quite know where we're headed.

The emotional tug-of-war intensifies because of the presence of Jamie's brother Josh ( Josh Gad ), who seems to have been imported directly from an odd buddy movie. Josh is helpless in the area of appropriate behavior, seems to have selected his wardrobe in high school for the rest of his life, has made millions of dollars in the markets and has a disastrous personal life. Although he could buy a hotel, he lacks the skill or the courage to check into one and seems intent on living for the rest of his life on the sofa in Jamie's small apartment.

That would be permissible in another kind of movie. Not in this one, where matters grow serious between the two lovers — so serious, indeed, that they begin to discuss how their love will prevail through the difficult road ahead. The movie gives full weight and attention to the subject of Parkinson's and doesn't trivialize it or make jokes (how could it?).

But the more weight the story of Maggie and Jamie takes on, the more distracting is the screenplay's need to intercut updates on the pharmaceutical wars. Nor do we continue to care much about Bruce and Trey. The movie's most effective single scene occurs at a meeting of people with Parkinson's and their loved ones. The husband of a victim describes to Jamie in stark, realistic detail the possible course of the disease and how it may affect the woman he loves. After this scene, the movie has definitively introduced a note that makes the rest seem trivial.

The director is Edward Zwick , a considerable filmmaker. He's essentially working with a screenplay (by Charles Randolph , Marshall Herskovitz and himself) that doesn't work. Given that problem, you have to observe that he is a capable filmmaker even in bad weather. He obtains a warm, lovable performance from Anne Hathaway and dimensions from Gyllenhaal that grow from comedy to the serious. The scene with the husband of the Parkinson's survivor has a simple grandeur. As a filmmaker by nature, Zwick gives that scene its full weight, no matter that it's not a good fit in his movie. That counts for something.

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Love and Other Drugs (2010)

Rated R for strong sexual content, nudity, pervasive language and some drug material

112 minutes

Jake Gyllenhaal as Jamie

Anne Hathaway as Maggie

Oliver Platt as Bruce

Hank Azaria as Dr. Knight

Josh Gad as Josh

Gabriel Macht as Trey

Directed by

Edward Zwick
Charles Randolph
Marshall Herskovitz

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Love and other drugs: film review.

Edward Zwick's "Love and Other Drugs," an offbeat romantic drama set in the world of pharmaceutical sales, plays at times like a patient who has gone off his meds.

By Kirk Honeycutt

Kirk Honeycutt

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The energy is far too great — manic even — at the beginning but calms down for a while to focus on the highly competitive but not always ethical arena of drug sales, then gets distracted by unusually bold sex scenes for a studio picture only to wander off into the cultural phenomenon of Viagra before the movie decides it’s a romance after all and so concludes in a highly conventional final embrace. The movie’s got ADD like you wouldn’t believe.

At its core, “ Love and Other Drugs ” has solid romance credentials and two very photogenic leads in the at times scarcely clothed Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway. So the film should gain box-office traction when it opens Thanksgiving weekend with young adults as its primary draw.

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Love & Other Drugs Reviews

Even with its average runtime, the movie feels overlong, as the story has far too many distracting, underdeveloped subplots when all it needed to do was explore the relationship at the center.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 3, 2023

Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway have never been better. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Aug 8, 2022

What pulls the film through is the impressive acting.

Full Review | Oct 12, 2021

The battle of wits and emotions remains fresh thanks to brazen, provocative, and cleverly insightful exchanges by the two very capable leads.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Nov 30, 2020

The recently deceased Jill Clayburgh and George Segal are a delight.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.0/4.0 | Sep 15, 2020

The film does not support its talent, with its uneven tone and over the top comedy and melodrama.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Aug 12, 2020

Part romantic comedy, part satire, part disease flick, this is a film that can't seem to decide what it wants to be, and ultimately fails despite two pretty likable leads.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | May 8, 2019

Even though it's a dog's breakfast... the chemistry between Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal, two of the most watchable movie stars on the planet, makes it a guilty treat.

Full Review | Mar 27, 2019

Its attempts to equally appeal to both male and female audiences come across as fragmented. Nevertheless, Hathaway deserves kudos for her sensitive portrayal amidst all the excessively gratuitous shots and crudeness.

Full Review | Feb 16, 2019

Love and Other Drugs is neither an aphrodisiac nor an expose. Its emotional reach is beyond its grasp, but if you're in the mood for seeing two likable, good-looking people come together, break apart, reunite and so forth, it will suffice.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Feb 16, 2019

Hathaway creates a tough, angry, complicated woman who deserved better than her lot in life. For starters. she deserved a better movie.

Full Review | May 3, 2015

Love and Other Drugs isn't a perfect film, and Zwick has certainly done better, but for what it is, it's mostly watchable and fairly enjoyable.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Nov 9, 2013

This movie is far from your standard romantic comedy. It's a deeper film that touches on heavier emotional moments.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 14, 2013

Zwick and his writing partners, Marshall Herskovitz and Charles Randolph, overextend their scope by a wide margin.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | May 26, 2013

Lacks a certain something, but not chemistry between Jake and Anne. They set off real sparks.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 27, 2013

Charismatic turns from its two stars provide the heartbeat for the movie, which resembles director Edward Zwick's TV show thirtysomething with its insight into male/female intimacy.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 14, 2011

There were several potential avenues to develop here, but the film settles for something conventional and sentimental with its love story.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Apr 8, 2011

Can he love her when her illness degenerates? Can she let him in even though she's scared? Will he always work for the people who are actually making her life more difficult? You're allowed not to care.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Apr 4, 2011

The movie has lots of scenes of the two leads in bed together, but it can't decide whether it's a big issue film, a romantic comedy or a weepy melodrama, so it ends up being none of them successfully.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Mar 13, 2011

Strange how for a movie about a Viagra salesman, we don't see the growth of the characters.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Mar 9, 2011

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'Love And Other Drugs': A Worthy Prescription

David Edelstein

Anne Hathaway plays Maggie, a patient with early-onset Parkinson's disease, who falls for Jaime, a Viagra drug rep played by Jake Gyllenhaal, in Love and Other Drugs . David James/20th Century Fox and Regency Enterprises hide caption

Love And Other Drugs

Director: Edward Zwick
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Running Time:112 minutes

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

Watch A Clip

'This Is Nice'

Credit: Twentieth Century Fox

Love and Other Drugs is brash and manic and sexy, then grim and weepy and self-consciously inspirational. It's madly uneven. But it's also one of the few romantic movies in the past few years with strong and insightful satirical undertones.

It's set in 1996, which wasn't quite the dawn of our psychopharmacological era -- though it was certainly the morning -- and Big Pharma sales-dude Jamie Randall, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, is an early riser. He's a supple, smooth-faced, blue-eyed cutie whom women fall for even when they know that his ingenuousness is an act: It's more winning than other men's genuine ingenuousness.

Under the tutelage of a company mentor played by Oliver Platt , Jamie gets more and more accomplished at sweet-talking physicians and receptionists. His goal is to get doctors to prescribe his antidepressant, Zoloft, instead of his even slicker competitor's Prozac.

Even set in the past, the first half of Love and Other Drugs is a state-of-the-art zeitgeist sex comedy, and it's even more of a kick when Jamie's company comes out with the Holy Grail: Viagra. Suddenly, he doesn't have to labor to get physicians' attention. He's the most popular guy in town.

Not that Jamie needs the drug. He has sex all the time and no particular hankering for a relationship. But one woman brings him up short, an artist named Maggie Murdock, played by Anne Hathaway. They meet cute, or cute-slash-icky: He pays a doctor played by Hank Azaria to let him pretend to be an intern to observe how physicians operate, and Maggie is a patient with early-onset Parkinson's disease. She's furious when she discovers what Jamie really does -- but he bugs her until she meets him for a date.

Jamie (Jake Gyllenhaal, right) gets fed up with living with his younger brother (Josh Gad). Ron Batzdorff/20th Century Fox and Regency Enterprises hide caption

Jamie (Jake Gyllenhaal, right) gets fed up with living with his younger brother (Josh Gad).

Soon, they're in her apartment, frantically removing clothes, and there's no getting around it: Gyllenhaal and Hathaway are beautiful specimens. Once or twice they're buck-naked, which is the film's come-on. They're even on the cover of Entertainment Weekly without their shirts.

Director Edward Zwick made his name with the TV series thirtysomething and then moved on to Oscar-bait war movies. With Love and Other Drugs , he's rediscovered his inner Jason Reitman. Like Reitman's charismatically irresponsible protagonists in Thank You For Smoking and Up in the Air , Zwick's Jamie must develop a social conscience and learn to love.

The film's tone turns darker, as you know it will: It doesn't take much to see that Maggie is so tart and commitment-averse because she has a degenerative disease. And Jamie, though he desperately tries to help her, is powerless. He watches Maggie shepherd elderly men and women in a bus back and forth from Canada, where they can fill their prescriptions at a fraction of the prices set in the U.S., and he realizes that, as a drug rep, he's a cog in a machine he can't fully trust.

I think the movie would have been more on point if Maggie were depressed instead of afflicted with Parkinson's. With a more defined illness, the movie is on the soapy side. The surprise goes out of it, and the air, too. Hathaway is impressive in the first half, hard in a way that subtly signals her vulnerability. But in the second half, Zwick should have dialed her down.

In the end, half the audience will be drying their eyes and the other half rolling them. I was mostly in the latter camp, yet I like the movie's scope. It should also be said that romantic-comic weepers are drugs, too, and for all the mood swings this one induces, I feel reasonably confident prescribing it.

Movie review: ‘Love & Other Drugs’

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Finally, after years of suffering through Hollywood’s predictable pap, sentimental mush, boring bromances and mean girl clichés, comes a love story that is actually worth falling for, with Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal excellent at steaming up the screen in “Love & Other Drugs.”

The trick is that in director Ed Zwick’s world, love hurts. It may be funny, charming, poignant and sexy, and “Love & Other Drugs” is all that too, but at some point it stings like astringent on a fresh scrape. Like real life, or at least real enough to make for a very nice change of pace in the romantic comedy world.

The movie is set in Pittsburgh, which has never looked as good as it does through cinematographer Steven Fierberg’s lens, and is loosely based on “Hard Sell,” Jamie Reidy’s memoir of being a Viagra sales rep for Pfizer just as the potent little blue pill hit the market with its performance-enhancing promises. I say loosely because Reidy barely mentions a girlfriend, but Gyllenhaal’s Jamie Randall shares equal time with Hathaway’s Maggie, the funky 26-year-old artist who will be his undoing.

For the couple, it begins with a close encounter of the inappropriate kind, in a doctor’s exam room with Jamie stealing a peek at one of Maggie’s private parts, only to be cold-cocked by her a few minutes later when she learns he was not an intern, just a chump taking advantage of her northern exposure.

In the best opposites-attract tradition, they quickly move from making peace to making love of the passionate, clothes-ripping, the-floor-will-do-just-fine sort. Neither one has “long-term” in mind, which becomes the film’s central dilemma. Most rom-coms spend their time trying to get to that first embrace (think “Sleepless in Seattle,” Empire State Building, final scene), but “Love & Other Drugs” spends its time trying to get beyond it.

I don’t mean to suggest that the movie is free from stereotypes; it is not. Jamie is your typical charming rogue driven by his baser instincts, always on the prowl for meaningless sex and making money. Maggie as a smart, beautiful artist living the bohemian life is a type too. She’s also sick as it turns out, with a new life-altering diagnosis she’s learning to cope with. What sets “Love & Other Drugs” apart is what it does next, using the couple’s interplay as a way for their characters to deepen and get past the clichés to create something that is actually moving — a relationship, with all its conflicting needs and wants and desires.

If you’re worried about Maggie’s diagnosis being too much of a bummer, all I’ll say is this is no “Love Story” sob fest. This is, however, Hathaway’s movie. She delivers a performance easily as affecting as her emotionally bruised recovering addict in Jonathan Demme’s fine “ Rachel Getting Married,” which earned her an Oscar nomination in 2009. Maggie may do it for her again, with Hathaway exposing herself, both body and soul, as she lets us inside this lushly intelligent, painfully self-aware heartbreaker of a girl.

In Gyllenhaal, she has a good match. He’s a little like the ultimate Bridget Jones mash-up of Hugh Grant seduction and Colin Firth sweetness, so a complicated lot to take on. Together they sizzle whether they’re spitting and sparring or rolling around naked — they do a lot of both. It’s an intimacy that doesn’t feel faked, or gratuitous, despite the fun “Saturday Night Live” had with it over the weekend with Hathaway hosting. Gyllenhaal, as the bad boy who’s really a good guy, is better than he’s been since his breakout in 2005’s “Brokeback Mountain,” in which Hathaway played his all-too-knowing Texas wife.

While Hathaway provides the film’s heart, the guys are responsible for most of its mostly politically incorrect humor. Gyllenhaal has terrific comic timing and good partners in crime with the always-voluble Oliver Platt as Jamie’s Tums-packing boss; older but still charming Hank Azaria as Jamie’s best client, a Dr. Do Good who’s turned into Dr. Feel Good; and a wickedly funny Josh Gad as Jamie’s millionaire mess of a brother, a whiner of the top order. Suffice it to say that with those three, Viagra isn’t the only blue pill in this movie.

With Zwick and his longtime creative collaborator Marshall Herskovitz putting the final polish on the screenplay, which began with Charles Randolph (“The Interpreter”), there are echoes of the emotional churn that made “thirtysomething” and “My So-Called Life” resonate so deeply across prime time years ago. In film, Zwick has mostly occupied himself with epic storytelling such as “Legends of the Fall,” “Glory” and “Blood Diamond,” with the romance of his 1986 rom-com “About Last Night” really just a distant (and not that great) memory.

Zwick is thankfully much more of a grown-up now in dealing with relationship entanglements. Somehow, between the epic and the intimate, between Hathaway and Gyllenhaal, love doesn’t come easy, but with “Love & Other Drugs,” at least you don’t have to wait.

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Love & Other Drugs (2010)

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Love And Other Drugs Review

29 Dec 2010

112 minutes

Love And Other Drugs

The love is regular and enthusiastically made; the drugs are blue and diamond-shaped. Rom-com this may be, but it’s not for those who like their romances accompanied by sassy gay best friends and changing room montages. Love And Other Drugs stamps itself as a grown-up romantic comedy almost straight away by making it clear that its leads don’t just make love in dusky lighting to some simpering pop ballad; they fuck. Repeatedly and with gusto. No L-shaped sheets. No discreet cutting away to a moonlit skyline. Honestly, it’s nips-a-go-go until well into act two.

But that works. It’s real, and it makes it wholly believable that Jamie (Jake Gyllenhaal), a drug rep fixed on making lots of money and whoopee, and Maggie (Anne Hathaway), the world’s snarkiest waitress, with early-onset Parkinson’s, are two attractive people who might fall into a relationship together by way of the bed, fall inconveniently in love, but possibly fall apart before the closing credits. The she’s-sick-he’s-a-bastard set-up is pure Dying Young, but it never resorts to sickbed glamour. It’s far more interested in two people trying to ignore their physical or emotional disabilities.

Gyllenhaal and Hathaway are fantastic together, fizzing chemistry all over the shop. He’s puffed up with arrogance, but has the charm to pull it off, and she is becoming the most versatile commercial actress of her time, capable of charming in pretty much any role. It’s surprising to see that the film is directed by Ed Zwick, and not just because the scenery’s nothing spectacular and nobody’s doing a silly accent. Zwick has become a director of epics, but this is about intimacy, nailing the minutiae of a growing relationship, the moments you realise you’re in love, the moments you can’t be bothered and the things you never want to show.

It’s got ambition. Based on Jamie Reidy’s book about the rise (pun only partially intended) of Viagra, it starts to tell that story alongside its central romance as Jamie begins selling the drug and realises all his dreams have come at once (honestly, that one was an accident). That’s a funny side-plot, but ends up tailing off to nowhere. It’s got big narrative goals, but too little time to meet them all.

The film flounders in its final stages. After doing so much to be unusual it reverts to cliché, winding up with a big neat bow that was much more interesting as a tangle.

Movies | 17 11 2020

Movies | 30 08 2016

Movies | 16 08 2010

Twentieth Century Fox

Summary Maggie is an alluring free spirit who won't let anyone or anything tie her down. But she meets her match in Jamie, whose relentless and nearly infallible charm serve him well with the ladies and in the cutthroat world of pharmaceutical sales. Maggie's and Jamie's evolving relationship takes them both by surprise, as they find themselves ... Read More

Directed By : Edward Zwick

Written By : Charles Randolph, Edward Zwick, Marshall Herskovitz, Jamie Reidy

Love and Other Drugs

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Jake Gyllenhaal

Jamie randall, anne hathaway, maggie murdock, oliver platt, bruce winston, hank azaria, dr. stan knight, josh randall, gabriel macht, trey hannigan, george segal, dr. james randall, jill clayburgh, nancy randall, kate jennings grant, katheryn winnick, kimberly scott, peter friedman, california man, nikki deloach, natalie gold, dr. helen randall, megan ferguson, michael benjamin washington, bingo o'malley, dorothy silver, lucy roucis, un-convention parkinson's speaker, critic reviews.

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Love and other drugs, common sense media reviewers.

Sex, drugs, and disease clash in racy, uneven romcom.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

At first the movie celebrates commitment-free sex

Jamie starts out as a serial seducer. He's als

Jamie occasionally slaps and smacks his annoying b

Jamie is a serial seducer who has sex with several

Very strong language, including many uses of &quot

Jamie works for Pfizer; many drugs are referenced

Prescription drugs are a huge part of the plot, bu

Positive Messages

At first the movie celebrates commitment-free sex and wealth achieved through exploitation, but eventually Jamie and Maggie fall in love. In order to stay together, they must learn to be true to themselves and to value empathy, tolerance, and selflessness.

Positive Role Models

Jamie starts out as a serial seducer. He's also a salesman who's more interested in making money than in helping people or doing a job he loves. Meanwhile, Maggie is afraid to let anyone get close to her because of her health. But when they fall in love, they slowly learn to value love rather than sex, passion rather than wealth, and empathy rather than selfishness.

Violence & Scariness

Jamie occasionally slaps and smacks his annoying brother, with no real damage.

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Sex, Romance & Nudity

Jamie is a serial seducer who has sex with several different women -- and sometimes multiple partners. He falls in love with Maggie and has sex with her many times. Viewers see Jamie naked from head to foot (buttocks are shown, but no genitalia); Maggie is also naked several times (breasts are shown). Other minor female characters are seen in various stages of nudity. There's kissing, clothes being ripped off, suggestions of oral sex, minor thrusting, orgasmic moaning, and couples lying in bed (or on the floor) after sex. Also strong, constant sex talk, including conversations about Viagara and erections.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Very strong language, including many uses of "f--k" and "s--t," plus "c--k," "laid," "p---y," "t-ts," "ass," "a--hole," "hell," "bitch," "damn," "goddamn," "dick," "slut," "oh my God," "goddamn," and "Jesus" (as an exclamation).

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Products & Purchases

Jamie works for Pfizer; many drugs are referenced by name brand -- including Zoloft, Prozac, and Viagra -- and play a huge role in the movie. Characters eat Pop Tarts for breakfast in one scene.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Prescription drugs are a huge part of the plot, but characters don't overindulge, and the main characters rarely take any drugs at all -- though Jamie tries Viagra at a party and has a comically bad reaction. A homeless man takes Prozac, and it eventually improves his life. Characters drink quite often, including wine, whiskey, and beer. After a bad day, Maggie swills a bottle of vodka in an attempt to get sloppy drunk and wash away her pain. Characters discuss having taken Ritalin as children.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this racy romantic comedy based on Jamie Reidy's memoir about his time as a pharmaceutical rep for Pfizer is filled with nudity (including erstwhile Princess Diaries star Anne Hathaway 's breasts), sex, and sex talk. There's also a fair bit of drinking (sometimes to excess), heavy swearing (including "f--k" and "s--t"), and many references to prescription drugs -- though the main characters are rarely seen taking them. And it's not all laughs: There's a serious subplot about Parkinson's disease. Ultimately, though, the movie has a good heart, and the characters do learn to become better people. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

Parents say (20)
Kids say (17)

Based on 20 parent reviews

To explicit

An excellent romantic film with perfect balance of love, sexuality and drama, what's the story.

After serial seducer Jamie Randall ( Jake Gyllenhaal ) loses his job selling audio equipment when he sleeps with the boss' girlfriend, he gets hired as a pharmaceutical rep for Pfizer -- and quickly finds that his way with the ladies helps get his foot in the door. Then he meets Maggie Murdock ( Anne Hathaway ), and she steals his heart, despite the fact that she has stage one Parkinson's disease. With Viagra on the way and untold wealth to be made, can shallow Jamie knuckle down and build a life with Maggie? And can Maggie trust that he won't run away when the going gets tough?

Is It Any Good?

Juggling the tricky mix of romantic comedy, sentiment, and serious issues is a job for a very graceful filmmaker, and Edward Zwick is about as far from that description as possible. In LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS, he relies on too many obvious romantic comedy staples -- like the "goofy best friend" -- and then flips over to heartstring-plucking moments relating to Parkinson's disease. (All of which is spiced up with tons of sex and language.)

In between, the movie tries to strike up some chemistry between Gyllenhaal and Hathaway, who previously played an unhappily married couple in Brokeback Mountain . It has its moments. Gyllenhaal never quite loses himself in his character, but Hathaway goes all the way. She gives a marvelously instinctive performance that brings Maggie to life, even when the movie doesn't.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the way the movie treats sex . The characters think and talk a lot about it and are seen having sex quite often. What role does it play in their relationship? Parents, talk to your teens about your own values surrounding sex and relationships.

The movie was based on someone's real-life experiences. Does that make it a true story? How much of the movie feels "true"? Why might filmmakers change some parts of it?

Why would Maggie be so reluctant to accept that Jamie could love her?

Movie Details

In theaters : November 24, 2010
On DVD or streaming : March 1, 2011
Cast : Anne Hathaway , Jake Gyllenhaal , Oliver Platt
Director : Edward Zwick
Inclusion Information : Female actors
Studio : Twentieth Century Fox
Genre : Romance
Run time : 112 minutes
MPAA rating : R
MPAA explanation : strong sexual content, nudity, pervasive language, and some drug material
Last updated : April 23, 2024

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DVD & Streaming

Love & Other Drugs

Comedy , Drama , Romance

Content Caution

In Theaters

November 24, 2010
Jake Gyllenhaal as Jamie Randall; Anne Hathaway as Maggie Murdock; Josh Gad as Josh Reidy; Oliver Platt as Bruce Jackson; Hank Azaria as Dr. Knight

Home Release Date

March 1, 2011
Edward Zwick

Distributor

20th Century Fox

Movie Review

Growing up, some folks want to be doctors. Some want to be lawyers.

Jamie … he just wanted to be a jerk.

He knew it’d be tough. Sure, he had some raw, natural ability: The charm to seduce women between “Hello” and “Check, please,” the sensitivity of a blacksmith anvil and the loyalty of an elk in heat. But he knows that to achieve superjerk status—to rack up the number of transient affairs and cause the number of emotional breakdowns he’d need to become a Hall of Fame heel—he’ll need to work hard.

And so he does, honing his abilities at a number of odd, occasionally lucrative jobs until he finally lands in the pharmaceutical sales business—a career that, in the film’s eyes, can truly leverage his talents. Both Jamie and the drugs in question are geared toward giving folks some temporary relief from what ails them. And if the effects are gone the next morning … well, that’s their nature, right?

Jamie’s brain is filled with rapid-fire sales pitches; his briefcase with high-powered drugs. It’s tough going at first, but once he starts selling an upstart product—a little blue pill called Viagra—he becomes the most popular pharmaceutical rep around. Doctors can’t get enough of the stuff. And, incidentally, neither can their patients.

Better yet, Jamie’s found the perfect casual relationship with Maggie, a beautiful artist who has no interest in intimacy but a lot of interest in sex. It’s like having a “friend with benefits,” only without the whole bothersome “friend” part.

Positive Elements

All of that sets Jamie up for the time that he begins to wonder whether the “benefits” he’s been reaping are, perhaps, a little overblown. Maybe there’s something (gulp) cool about being “friends,” he thinks. About drawing close with another human being. And so he begins to ponder whether or not it’s too late to switch career tracks—from jerk to genuine.

Maggie, we learn from the get-go, has early onset Parkinson’s disease. There’s no cure for it, and Jamie knows that, eventually, she’ll be incapacitated by it. Despite advice to the contrary, though, he sticks by her, even when the thought of caring for her terrifies him. For a time it looks as though he will leave her—but he can’t stay away. He finally tells her that, whatever the future holds, he’ll be there with her. Even if they could trade places with another Jamie and Maggie in a parallel world, he say he wouldn’t: “I want us. You. This.”

Never mind the mindless sex on display, Love & Other Drugs seems to say, We’re all placing too much emphasis on sex these days. The message is muddled by its surroundings, but it’s there nonetheless. One sex-addled doctor who mooches Viagra samples from Jamie confesses, “This profession for me was a higher calling—make people’s lives better. [Now] look at me.”

Sexual Content

For a good chunk of the film, Jamie and Maggie seem to be in a constant state of lovemaking. They smash into cabinets, writhe on the floor, pant and moan, engage in oral sex and loudly express their orgasmic responses. Audiences see both of them completely naked. (Only their pubic regions escape the frame.)

It’s pretty explicit stuff, and it’s not just moviegoers who get an eyeful. When Jamie’s brother, Josh, starts bunking with Jamie at his apartment, Maggie walks in and accidentally disrobes in front of him. Later, after Maggie and Jamie tape one of their sexual escapades, Josh finds it and watches it. It’s implied that he masturbates while doing so. And he spends the rest of the film making crude comments about his brother’s anatomy.

Jamie has sex with several other people, too. We see him with one woman in a store’s back room. (She explicitly asks him to do certain sexual things to her.) He’s with another in bed. And he cavorts with two women simultaneously at an adult “pajama party.” (All three are shown naked.)

Jamie suffers prolonged arousal after taking Viagra. Hiding the “results” under a pillow. Before he gets to the hospital, Josh smacks him in the crotch several times. Then he opens his robe so that the hospital attendant (and the camera) can see the erection through his boxer shorts.

Meanwhile, Jamie’s brother has sex with a woman at the pajama party. (We see her breasts.) And he jokes about Jamie giving him oral sex. Other jokes and conversations, some of them graphic, revolve around intercourse, masturbation, manual stimulation, sexual roll-playing, pornography, incest, homosexuality, infidelity, impotency and the affects of Viagra.

Maggie’s breast exam at a hospital gets screen time. Two women kiss in a hot tub. Dancers, representing the drug company Pfizer at a corporate gathering, prance about in revealing, cheerleader-type outfits.

Violent Content

Jamie and a rival get into a fight. Jamie gets punched in the gut and hits the guy in the jaw—injuring his hand. He smacks Josh’s head with a pornographic videotape. And he comes away with a bloody nose after brawling with a store manager. Maggie hits Jamie with a bag several times.

Jamie mentions to a Pfizer representative that one of the company’s drugs is suspected of causing teens to think more about suicide—a train of thought the representative simply shrugs aside.

Crude or Profane Language

At least 40 f-words, more than 30 s-words, lots of coarse slang for various body parts and a smattering of other profanities including “b‑‑ch,” “b‑‑tard” and “h‑‑‑.” God’s name is misused about 20 times; a half-dozen times it’s paired with “d‑‑n.” There are close to 10 abuses of Jesus’ name. An obscene gesture is made.

Drug and Alcohol Content

Jamie, in an effort to get a leg up on his competition, stocks doctors’ shelves with Pfizer antidepressants and tosses samples from rival companies in a nearby dumpster. A homeless man gets wise to the ruse and takes the trashed tablets—eventually asking Jamie whether he has any more. Jamie says the man can take what he wants. People ask Jamie to supply them with Viagra samples under the table, and Josh asks Jamie for an antidepressant after he has a particularly difficult day.

Maggie is a self-proclaimed medication “whore” who takes several different drugs to keep her Parkinson’s under control and alleviate the associated depression. When she runs out of a particular drug, she resorts to a bottle of booze, pouring herself glass after glass.

She and Jamie compare the ages when both of them went on Ritalin. She and Jamie and Josh all appear to smoke marijuana at various points. Jamie touts the benefits of watching TV while getting high. “If you’re stoned, it’ll blow your mind,” he says.

A doctor injects his own exposed buttocks with testosterone. Characters drink wine, beer and mixed drinks, often at bars.

Other Negative Elements

Jamie cheats to get an advantage over his competitors, lies to his mother to make himself sound better and uses subterfuge to get women to sleep with him (or perform other favors). A really rude, self-deprecating joke is told about women who have Parkinson’s.

At the pajama party, Josh has sex with a beautiful guest and leaves the gathering practically glowing—but not for the reason you might suspect. After spending a lifetime longing for casual sex (and idolizing his brother who finds it far more readily), he learns that sex, in and of itself, is pretty worthless.

“If I hadn’t experienced it, I wouldn’t have known how much I didn’t want it,” he says.

This, at its core, is the difficulty of Love & Other Drugs . It tells us that love and relationship are far better than casual sex. But it forces us—all of us—to voyeuristically experience lots and lots of the titillating, “non-important” stuff before we get the message.

That makes this an immoral morality tale for folks with no self-control. Once we get all that pesky carnal desire out of the way, it says, we can concentrate on what’s really important. You can find true love, it says, by trying out a lot of false sex.

When it came to dessert, as a kid I used to think along the same sort of lines: If I ate enough chocolate cake, I’d eventually get tired of it and crave, I dunno, some green beans.

There’s some truth embedded in there—but there’s also a reason why this philosophy never really caught on with my parents—or pediatricians around the globe. I would have eventually gotten sick of chocolate cake. But by the time I hit my limit of fudge frosting, my teeth would’ve all fallen out and I would’ve looked like Jabba the Hutt.

No, the truth is, there are multitudes of reasons why, from time immemorial, we’ve saved dessert for last … and we’ve saved sex for marriage. Society has, it seems, largely forgotten these reasons. And, by extension, so has this film.

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal star in 'Love & Other Drugs': movie review

Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal are the main draws in 'Love & Other Drugs,' a weepie that wastes an opportunity to look at medical malfeasance.

By Peter Rainer Film critic

November 24, 2010

As “Love & Other Drugs” demonstrates, the trouble with movies that try to be all things to all people is that they end up being not altogether anything for anybody.

Set in 1996, it’s a lumpy grab bag of comedy and tragedy, of spirits high and low, with more than a modicum of sex. The almost retro photogenic allure of stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway is the real subject (and drawing power) of the movie.

On the plus side, both actors, particularly Gyllenhaal, are more unbound (no pun intended) than we’ve seen them before. He plays Jamie Randall , a hot-shot Pfizer pharmaceutical rep whose rampant womanizing comes to a screeching halt when he encounters Hathaway’s Maggie Murdock , an artist who has early onset Parkinson’s disease. (They meet when he sneaks a peek at her breast during a medical exam.)

Maggie turns out to be a female version of the presmitten Jamie – she wants sex with no attachments. Inevitably, she becomes attached. We’re supposed to think she’s been holding out because, given her prognosis, she doesn’t want to fall in love. But Maggie, to Hathaway’s credit, looks like she was born nobody’s fool.

The early scenes between Jamie and Maggie are the film’s best. Freed up from gallivanting with CGI effects à la “ Prince of Persia ,” Gyllenhaal is refreshingly, disarmingly boyish. Jamie makes his living hustling Zoloft , and, triumphantly, Viagra , to mercenary physicians like Hank Azaria ’s Dr. Knight, but he’s essentially an innocent. That’s why Maggie, wised-up and afflicted, gets to him, and it’s also why, once they are a couple, he goes a little crazy trying to track down a cure for Parkinson’s.

If director Edward Zwick and his coscreenwriters Marshall Herskovitz and Charles Randolph , had focused on Jamie’s transformation from gadabout to crusader and jettisoned all the glib, not-so-crowd-pleasing shenanigans along the way, they might have come up with something more lasting than a glorified sitcom misted over with tears. (The source material is Jamie Reidy ’s nonfiction memoir “Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman.”) But too often the big emotional trajectories, such as Jamie’s feverish medical skullduggery, are presented as high-speed montages – as if the audience would be bored otherwise.

And do we really need Jamie’s slobbo brother ( Josh Gad ) as a running gag? He’s a sop to the goony, sub-Apatow crowd. We also don’t need quite so many shots of googly-eyed females (such as the medical receptionist played by Judy Greer ) eyeing Jamie as if he was fresh meat. This sort of thing went out with Dean Martin and 007.

What we could do with more of is the film’s attack, albeit with kid gloves, on the collusion between doctors and Big Pharma. Zwick is known for socially conscious political epics like “ Blood Diamond ” and “ Defiance ,” so his alternately goofy and somber, once-over-lightly approach to medical malfeasance seems like a wasted opportunity – especially since the film’s forced levity and echoes from “Love Story” aren’t exactly an adequate trade off.

The filmmakers were clearly hellbent on not making a movie-of-the-week weepie. But at least those weepies carry the conviction of their own mass-appeal sentimentality. They may be egregious but they don’t try to be anything more than they are. “Love & Other Drugs” is a slick weepie made by smart guys who want you to know they’re better than the schlockmeisters. They’ve outsmarted themselves. Grade: B- (Rated R for strong sexual content, nudity, pervasive language, and some drug material.)

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Movie Review: Love and Other Drugs (2010)

By Brad Brevet

Ed Zwick’s Love and Other Drugs is an imbalanced Jerry Maguire knock-off that relies heavily on a serious medical condition to gain any emotional traction with the audience. However, this wasn’t my immediate response to what begins as a rather harmless feature centered on a charming Pfizer pharmaceutical sales rep that falls in love with a woman suffering from Parkinson’s. It’s standard stuff played by good actors and from a director whose films I’ve enjoyed from Glory to The Last Samurai and, yes, even Blood Diamond . However, this change of pace for Zwick just didn’t work.

Loosely adapted from Jamie Reidy’s “Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman,” a non-fiction look into the pharmaceutical business during the rise (no pun intended) of Viagra, the story centers on Jamie Randall (Jake Gyllenhaal), a Pfizer rep, and his inevitable love interest Maggie Murdock (Anne Hathaway). Yeah, “love interest” is the proper description for Maggie even though her character does have a bit of an arc in this film, but the overall themes center on Jamie’s “evolution”.

Maggie’s life is wedged into Jamie’s story to give him some sort of redeeming quality, something to strive for other than finding ways to stock his client’s shelves with his latest product. Reidy’s book was reviewed as telling readers things about the pharmaceutical industry they’d rather not know or prefer weren’t happening, but much of that is tossed to the side as Zwick and his co-writers — Charles Randolph ( The Interpreter ) and Marshall Herskovitz ( Legends of the Fall ) — seem far more interested in carrying the Jerry Maguire football as far as they can take it.

Jamie is Jerry Maguire to a tee; just replace the idea of a sports agent pushing his athlete, to a sales rep pushing Viagra. Like Maguire, Jamie falls in love with a beautiful young lady and instead of being a single mother, she’s suffering from a disease you wouldn’t wish on anyone. And as hard as that comparison is to swallow, it’s true.

Jamie and Maggie’s paths follow a similar trajectory to those found in Cameron Crowe’s film all the way to an ending where a single pause had me expecting the next two words to be “…complete me”, which almost would have been preferable. It’s always refreshing to know a film is self-aware and the filmmakers know how closely they are ripping off another story. It was a moment where the entire film could’ve redeemed itself, but instead it seemed intent on walking a path we’ve been down before.

But where the film really loses its way is in the forced inclusion of Jamie’s dim-witted brother played by Josh Gad. Love and Other Drugs has more than enough to deal with from Jamie’s on-going battle with a competing local rep (Gabriel Macht), his attempts to win over the territory’s white whale (Hank Azaria), working hard to please his superior (Oliver Platt) all on top of his new relationship with Maggie. Adding his pathetic and lecherous man-child of a brother to the mix is like adding a second plastic bag to make sure this film really suffocates from overkill. Especially when it all leads to a late night pajama party that pretty much sealed this film’s demise in my eyes.

In the lead role of Jamie, I actually enjoyed Jake Gyllenhaal for the film’s first half. His charm had me sold, but as the film wore on so did my patience. When we first meet Jamie his life is without a trajectory and as the story moves forward his obsessive personality bounces from one thing to the next until he finally decides what he wants, but you can’t tell if his decision is made out of want or if it’s out of need. I blame none of this on Gyllenhaal, who is better here than I’ve seen him since Brokeback Mountain , but that doesn’t change the fact the character just doesn’t end up working.

Hathaway I’ve had my documented troubles with as an actress. I don’t see in her what everyone else seems to see. Instead I see an actress whose ego has grown to the point she believes the hype. I see her performance and imagine her inner-monologue is saying, “Look at me, I’m an actress… I’m acting and you believe every word of it.” She flounced around in Alice in Wonderland earlier this year and received all the recognition for Rachel Getting Married over the far superior Rosemarie DeWitt. Not even the fact she’s naked for 50% of this film (an exaggeration), which is far more sexually explicit than your average run-of-the-mill romantic dramedy, or her late-in-the-game crocodile tears can save this performance.

Of course, Hathaway is dealing with a character that fills a narrative need rather than a character in and of itself. Like I said earlier, this film isn’t about Maggie. Maggie serves the narrative as called for, just like every other female in the story whether they need to be romanced to get samples on the shelves or sexed up for an overly chauvinistic hot tub mÃ©nage Ã trois.

The only character I was impressed with throughout was Oliver Platt, but that seems to be the norm for Platt in my eyes. Even in the less-than-impressive Please Give earlier this year Platt gave a performance worthy of note, and yet he’s continually dismissed as a character actor.

Love and Other Drugs is out of character for Zwick, whose films recently have been far more grandiose in scale including The Last Samurai , Blood Diamond and Defiance . I haven’t seen his 1986 comedy-drama About Last Night… , but even that film didn’t enjoy the greatest of acclaim. Perhaps this just isn’t a genre up Zwick’s alley. Either way, I wasn’t impressed, though I would say the first half of the film was headed down a path to becoming an enjoyable feature before it fell off the map by the end.

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Love and Other Drugs

Details: 2010, USA, Cert 15, 112 mins

Direction: Edward Zwick

Genre: Comedy / Romance

Summary: Maggie, an alluring free spirit, meets her match in Jamie and their evolving relationship takes them both by surprise

With: Anne Hathaway , Gabriel Macht , Hank Azaria , Jake Gyllenhaal , Josh Gad , Judy Greer and Oliver Platt

Peter Bradshaw

Salesman Jake Gyllenhaal and Parkinson's victim Anne Hathaway star in a cynical, dishonest romcom. By Peter Bradshaw

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By Tom Shone

Nov. 19, 2010

THE director Edward Zwick has faced many challenges in his career. For his Civil War drama, “Glory,” he built an entire fort on a Savannah, Ga., beach and then laid siege to it. While shooting his domestic terrorism thriller, “The Siege,” he shut down the Brooklyn Bridge for an entire day. But these pale, perhaps, before the latest challenge he has set for himself: persuading men to shell out for a romantic comedy. That’s what people are calling “ Love and Other Drugs, ” even if the label is a loose fit. Adapted from Jamie Reidy’s best-selling memoir about the Viagra gold rush in the late 1990s, it stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a womanizing pharmaceutical representative who falls in lust, and then in love, with a beautiful young woman (Anne Hathaway) with Stage 1 Parkinson’s disease. It would be a plunge deep into disease-of-the-week territory, if not for the raunch — sex scenes, sex tapes, nudity, an orgy — that Mr. Zwick has seasoned the film with and that may leave some in the audience wondering whether they are watching a film about Viagra, or on Viagra.

“One resists categorization at one’s peril,” said Mr. Zwick, a voluble 58-year-old with curly brown hair, a neatly trimmed beard and a resonant bass voice, over breakfast at the Gramercy Park Hotel. But, he added, “romantic comedy has come to mean a couple of moderately talented actors placed in implausible situations obliged to go through a set of paces that are all too familiar, the end result being neither romantic nor comedic.”

Whatever you call it, “Love and Other Drugs,” which opens on Wednesday, signals a change of direction for Mr. Zwick, best known for movies like “ The Last Samurai ,” “ Legends of the Fall ,” and “ Blood Diamond .” These are handsome epics that make big claims on both the moral high ground and the audience’s emotions, and that tend to elicit words like solid, stirring and old-fashioned from critics. If “Love and Other Drugs” has any precedent in Mr. Zwick’s work, it is the film that kick-started his career, “ About Last Night ,” the 1986 romantic comedy starring Rob Lowe, Demi Moore and an assortment of thigh-length sweaters to give even the most doctrinaire ’80s revivalist pause.

In all Mr. Zwick’s movies “the thing that has always interested me — amidst the scale, the historical spectacle, or the social significance or the political resonance — has been the relationships,” he said. “In this case the challenge and the joy of it was to strip all that away. The investment is only in the personal.”

He compared the endeavor to the salto mortale, the 19th-century Italian circus act in which acrobats flew through a ring of fire into what they hoped would be a pair of hands on the other side. “I was asking them to make that leap,” Mr. Zwick said of his stars. “We were either in this together, the three of us, or not.”

Ms. Hathaway described herself as initially “discomfited” by the script, with its mixture of emotion and ribaldry — a sort of James L. Brooks for the Age of Apatow. “I thought the script covered so much terrain, the love story was quite frank, and my character was electric,” she said. “I was thrilled by the prospect of doing it, but also terrified by the ways I thought it could go wrong. The characters field such big emotions. This was a very big, capital L, capital S Love Story. Let me put it this way: I didn’t have a call into my agent saying, ‘Find me a part where I can take my clothes off.’ ”

Sensitive to “this age of screen savers and screen capture” as he called it, Mr. Zwick gave his stars veto power over sequences that made them feel uncomfortable, and screened a series of films — including Michael Winterbottom’s “Nine Songs,” Julio Médem’s “Sex and Lucia,” Bernardo Bertolucci’s “Last Tango in Paris” — soliciting their opinions about what they liked and didn’t like, what worked and what didn’t.

“Anything that didn’t feel organic immediately got a big thumbs down from us,” Ms. Hathaway said. “Any time the actors felt self-conscious, we were instantly taken out of the story. The film couldn’t stop in order for the characters to make love.”

Mr. Zwick speaks of the sex scenes in his new film as a kind of dramatic icebreaker: the ingredient necessary to “break down the wall” with which contemporary audiences guards their emotions. “A sex scene is gratuitous when it only exists for its own sake,” he said, adding, “We thought if we were to look at these scenes as we would look at any other scene, to advance the plot, or drive conflict, or overcome an obstacle, then we could apply all that we already knew about scene work and craft to the scene.”

By the end of the shoot they had “become pretty intimate” Mr. Gyllenhaal said, referring to the three-way chemistry among himself, Ms. Hathaway and Mr. Zwick. It’s similar, he noted, to what he finds in some of his favorite films: “There’s something about the chemistry between the two characters, but in the case of Billy Wilder, or James Brooks or Cameron Crowe, you feel the chemistry with the director too. It was all three of us in there.”

Mr. Zwick’s willingness to collaborate with his actors is nothing new. “He sees it as his job to disappear so that you can do yours,” said Denzel Washington, who won an Oscar for his role in 1989’s “Glory,” and later worked with Mr. Zwick on “Courage Under Fire” and “The Siege.” Mr. Washington pointed to the scene in “Glory” in which his character, an escaped slave, is whipped for insubordination: staring right into the camera, he sheds a tear.

“It was something that just happened in the moment but Ed seized the moment, reset the cameras, and did some extra shots. He adjusted to the situation on the fly. He has a very good flow with his crews and his actors. It’s never us against them. You’re all in it together.”

Mr. Zwick has had his misfires, most notably “Legends of the Fall,” a woozy piece of calendar-art classicism in which Brad Pitt attempts to outdo the Montana plains for mythological resonance. His last film, 2008’s “Defiance,” about Jewish resistance fighters in the Belorussian forest during World War II, did not do particularly well at the box office. The kind of big-canvas filmmaking Mr. Zwick has specialized in is something of an endangered species in today’s recession-strapped Hollywood. “As in real life the middle class is being squeezed,” he said. “If I made ‘Glory’ today, I would have to do with a platoon, not a regiment.”

“Love and Other Drugs” was made for just $30 million, with Mr. Zwick and his stars taking a fraction of their usual pay. Thus far the experiment appears to have paid off, Mr. Zwick said, if audience tests are anything to go by. “It plays equally well to men, women, men over 30, women under 30, all four quadrants, so called,” he said. “Once they’re there they have an identical experience of the movie. The question is: Will they come?”

Asked if he would like to repeat the experience of making a film in a similar vein,” he answered before the question was finished.

“It’s funny to have come full circle in this way, somewhat later in my career, and come to that recognition but the answer is yes. I had a great time. I remembered all the things I most love about making movies.”

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Love and Other Drugs

By Peter Travers

Peter Travers

Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal are hotties with talent. And they maneuver through the daunting maze of shifting tones and intersecting plots of Love and Other Drugs like the pros they are. Gyllenhaal plays Jamie, a horndog pharmaceutical salesman during the late 1990’s rise of Viagra. Hathaway is Maggie, a free-spited artist diagnosed with stage-one Parkinson’s disease. They click, laugh, get naked, get angry, hold back tears, get naked again.

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Director Ed Zwick, who co-wrote the script with frequent partner Marshall Herskovitz (remember Thirtysomething ?) and Charles Randolph, seems to be flying around in futility trying to find a place to land. I hated the subplot with Jamie’s rich bore of a brother (Josh Gad), but liked the stuff with his parents, played by George Segal and the luminous Jill Clayburgh (in her last screen role). This movie is best treated like dim sum. Wait out the bad portions until a tastier dish is served. Let Hathaway be your guide. She’s a dynamo and just the no-bull actress to hold off the floodgates of puking sentimentality. Loosely based on Jamie Reidy’s memoir, Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman , the movie shamelessly resorts to the theme of terminal illness that’s been propping up Hollywood romances since Camille morphed into Love Story . If you think Hathaway and Gyllenhaal are worth watching in anything, try Love and Other Drugs . It puts that theory to the test.

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47 Facts About The Movie Love And Other Drugs

Written by Trudi Cintron

Modified & Updated: 05 Mar 2024

Reviewed by Sherman Smith

47-facts-about-the-movie-love-and-other-drugs

Love and Other Drugs is a captivating romantic comedy that takes viewers on a rollercoaster ride of emotions. Released in 2010, the film was directed by Edward Zwick and stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway in lead roles, delivering stellar performances that leave a lasting impact. Set in the late 1990s, Love and Other Drugs explores the budding relationship between Jamie Randall, a charming pharmaceutical salesman, and Maggie Murdock, a free-spirited woman living with Parkinson’s disease. This article delves into the fascinating world of Love and Other Drugs, uncovering 47 interesting facts that will make you fall in love with the movie even more. From behind-the-scenes trivia to memorable moments on screen, get ready to dive into the enchanting world of Love and Other Drugs.

Key Takeaways:

Love and Other Drugs is a captivating movie that explores love, personal growth, and the complexities of human relationships, blending romance, drama, and comedy to create an immersive cinematic experience.
Based on real-life experiences, the film sheds light on the pharmaceutical industry, societal taboos, and the transformative power of love, leaving a lasting impression on audiences with its strong performances and engaging storylines.

Love and Other Drugs is based on the book “Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman” by Jamie Reidy.

The movie takes inspiration from the real-life experiences of a former Pfizer sales representative.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays the role of Jamie Randall, a charming and ambitious pharmaceutical salesman.

Gyllenhaal’s performance earned him critical acclaim for his portrayal of a self-destructive womanizer who finds love amidst his professional struggles.

Anne Hathaway takes on the role of Maggie Murdock, a young woman suffering from Parkinson’s disease.

Hathaway’s performance received praise for her ability to depict the emotional and physical challenges faced by Parkinson’s patients.

The film explores the controversial pharmaceutical industry.

Love and Other Drugs delves into the world of drug marketing and the ethical dilemmas faced by sales representatives in promoting prescription medications.

The movie combines elements of romance, drama, and comedy.

This genre-blending approach adds depth and humor to the storyline, captivates audiences, and keeps them engaged throughout.

Love and Other Drugs received mixed reviews from critics.

While some praised its performances and chemistry between the lead actors, others felt the film was inconsistent in tone and lacked depth.

The movie includes several intimate scenes between Gyllenhaal and Hathaway.

These scenes challenged both actors to bring vulnerability and authenticity to their performances while depicting the complexities of a relationship affected by disease.

Love and Other Drugs explores the effects of Parkinson’s disease on the characters’ lives.

The film sheds light on the physical and emotional toll the degenerative neurological disorder takes on Maggie, her family, and her romantic relationships.

The soundtrack of Love and Other Drugs features a mix of contemporary and classic songs.

The music enhances the film’s emotional impact and adds another layer to the storytelling.

The movie tackles themes of love, commitment, and the quest for personal fulfillment.

It explores the transformative power of love and how it can inspire individuals to change and grow.

Love and Other Drugs was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards.

The film received nominations for Best Actor and Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for Gyllenhaal and Hathaway’s performances.

Edward Zwick’s direction creates a visually appealing and immersive experience for the audience.

His keen attention to detail and ability to capture the characters’ emotions elevates the overall quality of the film.

The movie features supporting performances from actors such as Oliver Platt, Hank Azaria, and Josh Gad.

They add depth and humor to the story, complementing the performances of the lead actors.

Love and Other Drugs explores the concept of self-discovery and personal growth.

Through their tumultuous relationship, Jamie and Maggie learn to confront their fears, embrace vulnerability, and find a deeper sense of purpose.

The film challenges societal norms and stereotypes surrounding illness and sexuality.

It addresses the stigma associated with diseases like Parkinson’s and portrays characters who defy societal expectations.

Love and Other Drugs takes place in the late 1990s.

The film captures the essence of the era, including its fashion, cultural references, and technological advancements.

The chemistry between Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway shines on-screen.

Their natural rapport and convincing performances help to further convey the complexity of their characters’ relationship.

Love and Other Drugs combines moments of heartache with moments of humor.

The film strikes a delicate balance between emotional depth and light-heartedness, creating a rollercoaster of emotions for the audience.

The movie portrays the challenges faced by those in the pharmaceutical industry.

It highlights the pressure to meet sales targets, the ethical conflicts, and the continuous demand for innovation and competitiveness.

Love and Other Drugs explores the concept of love as a transformative force.

It shows how love can push individuals to confront their inner demons, embrace vulnerability, and find redemption.

The film received an R rating due to its explicit content and strong language.

These elements contribute to the raw and honest portrayal of the characters’ relationships and struggles.

Love and Other Drugs offers a realistic portrayal of the challenges faced by individuals with chronic illnesses.

It highlights the importance of empathy, understanding, and support in navigating these difficulties.

The movie addresses the influence of money and profit-driven motives within the pharmaceutical industry.

It sheds light on the delicate balance between providing necessary medications and the potential exploitation of healthcare.

Love and Other Drugs showcases the power of perseverance and resilience.

Through their personal and professional challenges, the characters learn to overcome obstacles and fight for what truly matters in life.

The film incorporates elements of social commentary on healthcare and societal expectations.

It urges viewers to question prevailing norms and to challenge the status quo.

Love and Other Drugs was a box office success.

Despite receiving mixed reviews, the film resonated with audiences and grossed over $102 million worldwide.

The movie features a range of emotions, from joy and laughter to heartbreak and despair.

It takes viewers on an emotional rollercoaster, eliciting strong reactions and forging a connection with the characters.

Love and Other Drugs highlights the importance of intimacy and human connection.

It explores the impact of genuine emotional connections on personal well-being and fulfillment.

The film tackles the complexity of romantic relationships amid personal struggles.

It portrays the challenges of maintaining a healthy relationship while dealing with individual hardships.

Love and Other Drugs is a story of self-discovery and personal growth.

It illustrates how relationships can serve as catalysts for transformation and finding one’s purpose.

The movie emphasizes the need for compassion and empathy towards individuals living with chronic illnesses.

It promotes a greater understanding of the physical and emotional challenges they face on a daily basis.

Love and Other Drugs explores the vulnerability and strength required to open oneself up to love.

The characters learn to let go of their defenses and embrace the uncertainties that come with emotional connection.

The film highlights the importance of family and support systems in times of adversity.

It demonstrates how loved ones can provide a source of strength and comfort during difficult times.

Love and Other Drugs features stunning cinematography.

The visuals enhance the storytelling, capturing the beauty of the characters’ emotions and surroundings.

The movie portrays the societal pressures and expectations that can hinder personal growth and happiness.

It challenges viewers to question these norms and forge their own paths.

Love and Other Drugs incorporates humor to lighten the emotional intensity of certain scenes.

The comedic moments provide relief and balance, creating a more well-rounded viewing experience.

The film tackles the themes of identity and authenticity.

It explores how individuals strive to find their true selves, despite societal expectations and self-imposed limitations.

Love and Other Drugs delves into the complexities of commitment and the fear of vulnerability.

The characters grapple with their own personal demons, which hinder their ability to fully embrace love and intimacy.

The movie captures the power dynamics within relationships.

It explores the challenges of maintaining a balance of power and the dynamics that shape the emotional connection between two individuals.

Love and Other Drugs depicts the evolution of the characters’ perspectives on love and life.

Through their personal journeys, they learn to redefine their priorities and embrace what truly brings them happiness.

The film features a mix of poignant and lighthearted moments.

It strikes a delicate balance, portraying the characters’ emotional struggles while injecting moments of levity into the narrative.

Love and Other Drugs addresses the societal taboos and misunderstandings surrounding certain medical conditions.

It aims to raise awareness and promote a more empathetic and inclusive outlook towards individuals dealing with health issues.

The movie showcases the power of human resilience and the ability to overcome adversity.

Despite the challenges they face, the characters find the strength to navigate through difficult times and emerge stronger.

Love and Other Drugs challenges preconceived notions of love and romance.

It highlights the messiness and imperfections of relationships, emphasizing that love is not always a fairytale.

The film encourages viewers to embrace their own vulnerabilities and to let go of societal expectations.

It champions the idea that true happiness comes from accepting oneself and pursuing one’s own dreams and desires.

Love and Other Drugs highlights the importance of open communication and honesty in relationships.

The characters learn that true connection can only be achieved through vulnerability and authentic self-expression.

The movie leaves viewers with a sense of hope and the belief in the transformative power of love.

Despite the challenges faced by the characters, Love and Other Drugs ultimately celebrates the resilience of the human spirit.

In conclusion,

Love and Other Drugs offers a compelling and thought-provoking exploration of love, personal growth, and the complexities of human relationships. It combines elements of romance, drama, and comedy to deliver a well-rounded and immersive cinematic experience. With its strong performances, engaging storylines, and social commentary, Love and Other Drugs is a film that leaves a lasting impression.

The “47 Facts about the movie Love and Other Drugs” provide an in-depth look at the various aspects of the film, from its development to its impact on audiences. Whether you’re a fan of romantic comedies or interested in the pharmaceutical industry, Love and Other Drugs offers something for everyone.

So, grab some popcorn, sit back, and immerse yourself in the world of Love and Other Drugs!

Love and Other Drugs is a captivating film that provides a unique perspective on love, fear, and the complexities of human relationships. With its compelling storyline, brilliant performances, and thought-provoking themes, it has managed to captivate audiences around the world. The movie beautifully explores the dynamics of a romantic relationship amidst the challenges of living with a chronic illness. It portrays the vulnerability, passion, and resilience of its characters in a way that leaves a lasting impact on viewers.

Love and Other Drugs stands out not only for its powerful narrative, but also for its ability to blend romance, drama, and comedy seamlessly. It is a testament to the talented cast and crew who brought this story to life. Whether you’re a fan of romantic movies or simply appreciate well-crafted storytelling, Love and Other Drugs is definitely worth a watch.

1. What is the storyline of Love and Other Drugs?

The movie follows the story of Jamie Randall, a charming pharmaceutical salesman, who falls for Maggie Murdock, a free-spirited woman with early-onset Parkinson’s disease. Their relationship evolves as they navigate the challenges of love, career ambitions, and personal obstacles.

2. Who are the main actors in Love and Other Drugs?

Love and Other Drugs features Jake Gyllenhaal as Jamie Randall and Anne Hathaway as Maggie Murdock. Other notable cast members include Oliver Platt , Hank Azaria, and Josh Gad.

3. Is Love and Other Drugs based on a true story?

No, Love and Other Drugs is not based on a true story. However, it is inspired by the non-fiction book “Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman” by Jamie Reidy, which explores the author’s experiences as a pharmaceutical salesman.

4. Does Love and Other Drugs have a happy ending?

The ending of Love and Other Drugs is bittersweet, as it reflects the complexities of life and relationships. Without giving away any spoilers, it is safe to say that the movie offers a realistic portrayal of love and leaves audiences with a mix of emotions.

5. What makes Love and Other Drugs unique?

Love and Other Drugs stands out for its ability to tackle serious subject matter, such as chronic illness, with a balance of humor and heart. It delves into the vulnerability and emotional rollercoaster of love, while also shedding light on the pharmaceutical industry. The film’s unique blend of genres and its stellar performances make it a memorable cinematic experience.

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LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS

"naked truth".

What You Need To Know:

(PaPa, C, B, LLL, V, SSS, NN, A, DD, MM) Strong pagan worldview, mitigated by some moral, redemptive elements at the end stressing strong commitment, sacrifice and love in the face of debilitating disease; at least 63 obscenities and profanities (including several strong profanities); excessive sexual content includes frank discussions of sex, lead characters have several torrid sex scenes, male lead’s brother caught abusing himself while watching sex tape of leads, and man wakes up in bed with two women; lead characters are naked in several scenes, full-body but no images of private parts, rear nudity, upper female nudity, and male lead is seen with upper male nudity in several other scenes, including waking up with two naked women after a one-night stand threesome; light violence when two men fistfight humorously and woman angrily hits man with purse; some alcohol use; smoking marijuana; and, lying and deception are shown as key to being a good salesman.

More Detail:

The romantic comedy/drama LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS offers an extremely mixed bag for media-wise, discerning filmgoers. It features some of the most extensive nudity and frequent sex scenes of any mainstream major Hollywood release in years, while ultimately offering a powerful testament to love and commitment, in the face of caring for someone with a debilitating disease that can’t be cured.

The movie opens by following the exploits of ladies’ man Jamie (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) as he enters the fast-paced, highly lucrative world of pharmaceutical sales amid the mid-1990s boom times of Zoloft and Viagra. This opening establishes early on that Jamie’s constantly in pursuit of his next sexual conquest. Jamie is also constantly scamming his way from one sale to the next, particularly pursuing the business of a doctor (Hank Azaria) who finds he needs Jamie’s Viagra in order to keep up his own promiscuous lifestyle.

Jamie meets Maggie (Anne Hathaway) through the doctor, as she comes in for the extensive prescriptions needed to fight her rare case of early-onset Parkinson’s Disease. The two immediately engage in a heated relationship that she insists on keeping casual because she’s afraid of ever burdening a man with her lifelong care. After many complications, Jamie learns to tame his wild ways and convinces Maggie that he will always be by her side, even if he someday has to carry her everywhere she goes.

LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS features enormously appealing performances from Gyllenhaal and Hathaway, despite the fact they are nude or in various states of undress throughout much of the movie. While there are plot holes, such as the film not offering an explanation of how an artist like Maggie is able to afford a huge loft or has wads of cash at the ready for her medication, its dialogue is funny and its plot zips masterfully through the unique milieu of pharmaceutical sales. The movie is particularly strong in its ability to shift tones as the film takes a serious, emotional turn towards the end. [SPOILER ALERT] The final scene, in which Maggie confesses her fears of being a burden on even a life partner and Jamie convincingly swears his lifelong love and care for her, is a masterful moment that offers far more depth than most Hollywood depictions of relationships. While the sexual frankness in the other parts of the movie will no doubt turn away most moviegoers, the message at the end is commendable.

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"We waste our money so you don't have to."

"We waste our money, so you don't have to."

Movie Review

Love and other drugs.

US Release Date: 11-24-2010

Directed by: Edward Zwick

Starring ▸ ▾

Jake Gyllenhaal , as
Jamie Randall
Anne Hathaway , as
Maggie Murdock
Oliver Platt , as
Bruce Winston
Hank Azaria , as
Dr. Stan Knight
Josh Gad , as
Josh Randall
Gabriel Macht , as
Trey Hannigan
Judy Greer , as
George Segal , as
Dr. James Randall
Jill Clayburgh as
Nancy Randall

Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway in Love and Other Drugs .

Love and Other Drugs is an okay movie, but it suffers from something of a split personality disorder. The strong performances by its two likable leads help cover some of its problems and keep you interested, at least in their relationship, but even they're not quite enough to help it all gel together.

The movie starts as the story of Jamie (Gyllenhaal), a charming, but shallow electronics salesman who decides to try his luck as a pharmaceutical rep. His womanizing and attempts to sell drugs to doctors with his partner, played by Oliver Platt, is mainly played as a comedy. In particular, the character of his brother (who comes across as Jack Black's less talented second cousin) seems to have been imported from a Judd Apatow comedy.

When Jamie bribes a doctor, played by Hank Azaria, to allow him to follow him around on his rounds, he meets Maggie (Hathaway). As the doctor examines her, we learn that she has early onset Parkinson's disease and also see her breast. When Maggie learns who Jamie really is, instead of suing him and the doctor, she ends up going on a date with him where they quickly end up having sex. It's supposed to be a way for them to meet cutely, but it's not very realistic.

After Jamie and Maggie start dating and having lots sex, featuring more than your average amount of nudity in a typical Hollywood romance, the movie shifts gears and becomes less a frat boy comedy and more of a romantic comedy, only the remnants of that portion of the movie keep hanging around, mainly in the form of Jamie's brother. I mean, by the time you get to the scene at the Parkinson's medical convention and Jamie realizes the full impact of Maggie's disease, it doesn't seem possible that it's a scene from the same movie where Jamie's brother is caught masturbating to a tape of Jamie and Maggie having sex. It's like combining Love Story and American Pi e in the same movie.

Another side effect of combining too many subplots is that the movie runs long at almost two hours. It didn't need to focus on the love story and Jamie's job. Halfway through the film Jamie begins selling Viagra, as the movie is set in the mid 1990s when Viagra was first released. That subplot could have been a movie unto itself, as the love story could have been, but by combining them you end up short changing them both.

Hathaway, who is the co-star to Gyllenhaal's star, is really the brightest thing in the film. She lights up the screen when she appears and evokes the most real emotion. Her character is the most interesting of the two. Gyllenhaal is an okay actor and he looks good, but he's not in her league. He fits the suit and he looks good naked, but he shows very little range. What emotion you do feel regarding the couple comes almost entirely from Hathaway, who also looks good naked, but doesn't come across as someone as who spends hours and hours in the gym each day (and I mean that as a compliment). In other words, she looks and acts like a human being and not the cartoon that some of the characters are.

After watching this movie I was left with the feeling that somewhere within it was a good one, but it needed a much tighter editing job to bring it out.

Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal in Love and Other Drugs .

Jake Gyllenhaal as Jamie Randall, is a good looking guy from a wealthy family, with more charm than can be believed. I had zero sympathy or interest in anything he had to do or say. Even though he occasionally has some problems on the job, he stills seems to walk through life without a care. After all, he has his wealthy parents and rich brother as a safety net. Even if he loses his job he will never fall on hard times.

He gets a job selling pharmaceuticals. It is a business that feeds on insecurities with some supposed miracle cures, that often have side effects that out weigh the cure. In some ways, Jamie is no different than a Huckster in the old west selling snake oil. Ritalin, so much easier than parenting. Prozac, so you can excuse your bad mood.

Later, he tells Maggie he has some Daddy issues. Considering he says it while laying naked in bed with Hathaway, I again felt no concern for him. I did not pity him when he could not get it up. Viagra, so you don't have to wait for the right moment. Although I did like Hathaway's speech afterwards, "All men care about is performance, but they have an appendage that doesn't work if they worry about performance."

Only when he starts to develop actual feelings for Maggie does he become at all vulnerable, and a character worth investing in. Although their relationship starts purely physical, it easily develops into more. When he meets her at the bus from Canada, they realize they are in a committed relationship without ever saying it. It is such a big deal for him to say that he loves her that he nearly has a heart attack.

Jamie's brother Josh has the funniest, albeit crude, jokes. "Hey, what do you say we blow this joint and then each other." "Hey, does she go down on you? Farrah looks at my dick like it's the eye of Sauron." His best moment is when Jamie catches him masturbating to their home made porn.

It is needed comic relief. The last part of the movie becomes a drama as Jamie becomes desperate to find a cure for Maggie. She in turn sees where it is all headed and decides to break up to avoid the inevitable. This is the part of the film that should have been cut. The pajama party scene is titillating and humorous but it takes away from the love story. They should have cut from the break up to the packing scene.

Scott, you thought the time spent on the job should have been cut, and you are right. The story is trying to make a point about how Viagra is celebrated as a miracle but it does not save lives. Maggie does not have a cure for her Parkinsons and even has to go with other patients to Canada to get meds. The social/political message should have been left on the cutting room floor.

The scene near the end when they get back together is highly romanticized but moving none-the-less. Jamie admits his flaws and confesses to Maggie just how much she brings to his life, and how much he needs her. Maggie cries to Jamie, "I am going to need you more than you need me." She continues, "I have places to go." Jamie smiles and responds, "You'll go there. I just may have to carry you." I did not like Jamie at the start of this film but he became a man of honor and conviction by the end.

Yeah Love and Other Drugs is a bit schizophrenic. It is part romantic comedy (only with lots of nudity and sex) part workplace/frat boy situation comedy and finally a bit of a tragic-young-woman-with-an-incurable-disease drama. All of the individual parts work to some extent but when combined they don’t quite fit. I agree with Scott that the two leads are both extremely likable. They give it their all and in the process nearly manage to pull it all together.

I prefer both Gyllenhaal and Hathaway as serious actors more than comic ones. I therefore enjoyed the dramatic aspects of the story most. Agreeing with my brothers, the scenes on the job should have been trimmed, which is ironic considering the movie was based on a book written by a former Pfizer sales rep that doesn’t even include a love interest for the main character.

The love story angle is very nicely handled. This could have been a classic romantic drama. Their falling in love makes so much sense and unfolds rather beautifully. It is Jamie that falls in love first, while Maggie (having a better grasp of what lies in store for her with her disease) is the more hesitant to give her heart away. By small increments she allows Jamie into her life.

Then comes the pivotal scene in Chicago. Maggie is empowered by the Parkinsons’ support group and has a breakthrough moment. She is now ready to take the chance of getting her heart broken by committing wholeheartedly to their relationship. Of course Jamie, at the same time, has an epiphany of his own, courtesy of one of the husbands of a woman with advanced Parkinsons. For the first time he truly considers just what lies ahead.

This makes the ending much more poignant and romantic. If Jamie had stayed with her from the beginning they would not have made it as a couple. He had to lose her in order to realize just how much he loved and needed her. Yes the ending is highly romanticized but since this is a love story it needed to be. Scott is right that Hathaway is the more talented actor of the two leads but it is the character Jamie that has the bigger arc. As Eric wrote he grows from a selfish man/child into a grownup man of honor. It’s just too bad the movie goes through so many personality changes first.

‘Slow’ Review: A Swoon-Worthy Romantic Drama Grapples With Asexuality With Loving Care

Marija Kavtaradze and her two leads, Kęstutis Cicėnas and Greta Grinevičiūtė, craft a beautifully choreographed study in coupled intimacy.

By Manuel Betancourt

Manuel Betancourt

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‘Slow’ Review: A Swoon-Worthy Romantic Drama Grapples With Asexuality With Loving Care 2 weeks ago
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Romantic dramas — and romantic comedies, for that matter — hinge on the conviction that when we find “the one” we will be all the more malleable for it. It’s not so much that we will change who we are but that who we will become alongside our lover will be a better version of who we are without them. In Marija Kavtaradze ’s intimate and touching “ Slow ,” a budding couple put such a belief to the test, sketching out the challenges of what it means to balance the selfishness and selflessness that’s required when being in a committed relationship.

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As “Slow” unfolds, Kavtaradze’s script takes you through the requisite challenges Elena and Dovydas face as they try to build a life together — one that, as Dovydas reminds Elena, necessarily has to make room for his sexual preferences, or lack thereof. At times that feels incredibly easy, like when she sees how thoughtful and caring he can be on any given day, his mere touch (like when they hold hands for the first time) making her feel whole — wanted, even, though not in the way she’s used to. At others, their rather sexless relationship feels incredibly hard, with Dovydas constantly feeling like he needs to either apologize for his lack of sexual interest in her or wildly compensate in order to satiate her needs. That back and forth, a dance in and around intimacy, structures much of “Slow” which, in the end, is a heartbreaking study of what it means to try and meet your partner where they’re at all while demanding they do the same for you.

Playing with the genre trappings of a modern-day romance, “Slow” demands we assess what those familiar beats reveal about how it is we understand such seemingly self-evident concepts like “love,” “desire” and “commitment.” It helps that with a dancer on one end and a sign language interpreter on the other, Kavtaradze’s film benefits from being rooted in a sensual rather than a sexual world. The writer-director gets her actors to embody moments of closeness that cannot be collapsed into lust, nor conceived as mere preamble for something else. Indeed, those dance numbers Elena is choreographing with her colleagues and those love songs Dovydas ends up interpreting on camera work as fitting interludes that further stress how in tune this couple is with their own bodies, and yet how their joint intimate language proves hard nevertheless to harness and make sense of.

Theirs is a love story that touches on well-worn tropes (about jealousy, commitment and the like) and yet they’re made to feel quite new. Neither dryly didactic nor neutered when it comes to its depiction of asexuality, “Slow” reveals itself to be quite a tender portrait of love and companionship, of what our bodies yearn and want in others, and how we could do well to upend the stories we tell each other about living and loving another.

Reviewed online, April 18, 2024. In Sundance Film Festival 2023. Running time: 108 MIN.

Production: (Lithuania-Spain-Sweden) A KimStim release of an M-Films, Frida Films, Garagefilm International, Film Stockholm production. Producer: Marija Razgutė. Co-producers: Luisa Romeo, Anna-Maria Kantarius.
Crew: Director, writer: Marija Kavtaradze. Camera: Laurynas Bareiša. Editor: Silvija Vilkaitė. Music: Irya Gmeyner, Martin Hederos, Vincent Barriere.
With: Greta Grinevičiūtė, Kęstutis Cicėnas. (Lithuanian, English, Sign Language dialogue)

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COMMENTS

Love and Other Drugs movie review (2010)
The husband of a victim describes to Jamie in stark, realistic detail the possible course of the disease and how it may affect the woman he loves. After this scene, the movie has definitively introduced a note that makes the rest seem trivial. Advertisement. The director is Edward Zwick, a considerable filmmaker.
Love & Other Drugs
Max W Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway make a charming pair, and Love & Other Drugs is one of the best interpretations of urban romantic comedy. Rated 4/5 Stars • Rated 4 out of 5 stars 04/14 ...
'Love & Other Drugs,' With Jake Gyllenhaal
Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway star in a period romantic comedy set in the 1990s. David James/20th Century Fox. Love and Other Drugs. Directed by Edward Zwick. Comedy, Drama, Romance. R. 1h 52m ...
Love and Other Drugs: Film Review
Love and Other Drugs: Film Review. Edward Zwick's "Love and Other Drugs," an offbeat romantic drama set in the world of pharmaceutical sales, plays at times like a patient who has gone off his meds.
Love & Other Drugs
Love & Other Drugs - review This article is more than 13 years old Edward Zwick's adaptation of the real-life story of a drugs salesman is a sharp combination of polemic and romance
Love & Other Drugs
Love & Other Drugs Reviews. Even with its average runtime, the movie feels overlong, as the story has far too many distracting, underdeveloped subplots when all it needed to do was explore the ...
Movie Review
Credit: Twentieth Century Fox. Love and Other Drugs is brash and manic and sexy, then grim and weepy and self-consciously inspirational. It's madly uneven. But it's also one of the few romantic ...
Love & Other Drugs
Love & Other Drugs is a 2010 American romantic comedy-drama film directed, produced and co-written by Edward Zwick and based on Jamie Reidy's 2005 non-fiction book Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman.Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, Oliver Platt, Hank Azaria, Josh Gad and Gabriel Macht, the film tells the story of a medicine peddler in 1990s Pittsburgh who starts a ...
Movie review: 'Love & Other Drugs'
The trick is that in director Ed Zwick's world, love hurts. It may be funny, charming, poignant and sexy, and "Love & Other Drugs" is all that too, but at some point it stings like ...
Love & Other Drugs (2010)
Permalink. 7/10. "Love and Other Drugs" has a few problems, but it is still a beautiful story of boy loves girl. napierslogs 24 November 2010. Set during the rise of Viagra, "Love and Other Drugs" follows Jamie (Jake Gyllenhaal) trying to sell drugs and trying to bed women. Women are easier.
Love and Other Drugs
Love and Other Drugs - review. Salesman Jake Gyllenhaal and Parkinson's victim Anne Hathaway star in a cynical, dishonest romcom. By Peter Bradshaw. Peter Bradshaw. Thu 23 Dec 2010 17.19 EST ...
Love And Other Drugs Review
28 Dec 2010. Running Time: 112 minutes. Certificate: 15. Original Title: Love And Other Drugs. The love is regular and enthusiastically made; the drugs are blue and diamond-shaped. Rom-com this ...
Love and Other Drugs
Lopez17. Feb 6, 2011. Edward Zwick's "Love & Other Drugs" is typical rom-com flare seriously upgraded thanks to a surprisingly adult outlook when it comes to romance instead of using the typical romantic comedy stereotypes such as the bicker till they kiss romance plot line seen in " The Ugly Truth", "You've Got Mail", "Life as we know it".
Love and Other Drugs Movie Review
Our review: Parents say ( 20 ): Kids say ( 17 ): Juggling the tricky mix of romantic comedy, sentiment, and serious issues is a job for a very graceful filmmaker, and Edward Zwick is about as far from that description as possible. In LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS, he relies on too many obvious romantic comedy staples -- like the "goofy best friend ...
Love & Other Drugs
Drug and Alcohol Content. Jamie, in an effort to get a leg up on his competition, stocks doctors' shelves with Pfizer antidepressants and tosses samples from rival companies in a nearby dumpster. A homeless man gets wise to the ruse and takes the trashed tablets—eventually asking Jamie whether he has any more.
Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal star in 'Love & Other Drugs': movie
Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal are the main draws in 'Love & Other Drugs,' a weepie that wastes an opportunity to look at medical malfeasance. Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway are shown in a ...
'Love and Other Drugs' Movie Review
Movie Review: Love and Other Drugs (2010) November 23, 2010. By Brad Brevet. Ed Zwick's Love and Other Drugs is an imbalanced Jerry Maguire knock-off that relies heavily on a serious medical ...
Love and Other Drugs
Love and Other Drugs. Details: 2010, USA, Cert 15, 112 mins. Direction:Edward Zwick. Genre: Comedy / Romance. Summary: Maggie, an alluring free spirit, meets her match in Jamie and their evolving ...
Edward Zwick's 'Love and Other Drugs'
If "Love and Other Drugs" has any precedent in Mr. Zwick's work, it is the film that kick-started his career, " About Last Night ," the 1986 romantic comedy starring Rob Lowe, Demi Moore ...
Love and Other Drugs
November 24, 2010. David James. Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal are hotties with talent. And they maneuver through the daunting maze of shifting tones and intersecting plots of Love and Other ...
47 Facts About The Movie Love And Other Drugs
Love and Other Drugs is a captivating romantic comedy that takes viewers on a rollercoaster ride of emotions. Released in 2010, the film was directed by Edward Zwick and stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway in lead roles, delivering stellar performances that leave a lasting impact. Set in the late 1990s, Love and Other Drugs explores the ...
LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS
LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS opens by following the exploits of ladies man Jamie as he enters the fast-paced, lucrative world of pharmaceutical sales in the mid-1990s boom times. This opening establishes that Jamie's constantly pursuing his next sexual conquest. Jamie is also constantly scamming his way from one sale to the next, particularly ...
Love and Other Drugs
It's like combining Love Story and American Pie in the same movie. Another side effect of combining too many subplots is that the movie runs long at almost two hours. It didn't need to focus on the love story and Jamie's job. Halfway through the film Jamie begins selling Viagra, as the movie is set in the mid 1990s when Viagra was first released.
'Slow' Review: Romantic Drama Treats Asexuality With Loving Care
With 'Slow,' Marija Kavtaradze and her leads, Kęstutis Cicėnas and Greta Grinevičiūtė, craft a beautifully choreographed study in coupled intimacy.

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