DVD Reviews

Love & Other Drugs – DVD Review

By June L. Mar 11, 2011, 15:53 GMT

Maggie is an alluring free spirit who won\'t let anything, including a formidable personal challenge, tie her down. But she meets her match in Jamie Randall, whose relentless and nearly infallible charm serve him well with the ladies and in the cutthroat world of pharmaceutical sales. Maggie and Jamie\'s evolving relationship takes them both by surprise, as they find themselves under the influence of the ultimate drug: love. ...more

Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal star in the romance Love & Other Drugs, a witty and wild look at what happens when two people are trying to keep from developing a meaningful relationship.  Falling in love would simply ruin their casual affair on so many levels.
 
Jamie (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a salesman for a large pharmaceutical company.  Maggie (Anne Hathaway) is an artist who is in the early stages of Parkinson’s Disease.  They meet in a doctor’s office where Jamie posing as an intern is intrigued, and Maggie is annoyed. 

From this off-beat beginning, they start a casual affair, as they agree neither wants to deal with anything permanent.  As Jamie climbs the ladder in the pharmaceutical rep world, his adventures are punctuated by brief encounters with Maggie. 

While they continue to disavow any connection other than the fun of the affair, it is apparent that they are really beginning to care for each other.

We know more about Jamie than we do about Maggie, having seen his life and family before the two meet.  He is a good person, but has never pushed himself or tested his intellect or hidden strengths.  Through knowing Maggie, he begins to care about who he is and where he is going in life. 

The craziness of their world where Maggie routinely leads a group of elderly people on a bus tour to Canada to buy their medicines more cheaply, while Jamie is trying to corner the physician’s market for a variety of drugs created by a company that has billions to spend, just make their connection more heartfelt and real. 

In a world that has just produced Viagra, certainly there is something that can make a dent in the progression of Parkinson’s Disease.  Jamie is consumed with the idea of finding a cure, Maggie not so much as she faces the reality of the disease.  

In a story that never becomes maudlin or morose, viewers follow Jamie and Maggie through the complexities of their relationship.  There are times that are wonderful, and times that are tough.  But always there is strength and honesty between them, even as Jamie waffles a bit, you know the goodness inside of him will win.

Love & Other Drugs DVD is presented on single disc with a running time of 112 minutes.  Supporting cast for the film include Olive Platt as Jamie’s boss, George Segal and the late Jill Clayburgh as Jamie’s parents, Josh Gad as his nerdy younger brother, and Hank Azaria as a physician friend.  

Special features for the DVD include deleted scenes which the resident scientist says should have been left in as they offer explanatory bits for the story, and some may agree with him, others may find the film perfectly edited as it stands. 

Love & Other Drugs, an Actor’s Discussion, Beautifully Complex:  Anne Hathaway is Maggie, Reformed Womanizer:  Jake Gyllenhaal is Jamie, and Selling Love & Other Drugs complete the peeks behind the scenes and the work of  actors and crew to produce a smart, sassy, funny, touching and enjoyable romance for grownups.   

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