Love & Other Drugs Movie Review ..

I’ve never really thought of Anne Hathaway as an actress. I mean of course she acts and I’ve loved her in a bunch of movies, but I never considered her as one with acting chops until I saw Love & Other Drugs. What should have just been another rom-com notch on Hathaway’s belt has become a truly romantic love story that is also kind of funny.

Love & Other Drugs introduces use to Jamie (Gyllenhaal), a charming pharmaceutical sales representative with visions of grandeur in his head. Whether it’s Zoloft, Viagra, or love Jamie sells it like, well like it’s his business. Jamie’s current goal is to leave behind Ohio for a more exciting and sales worthy adventure in Chicago.

In an effort to fulfill his goal, Jamie makes nice with doctors, goes undercover in hospitals, and even sabotages his biggest rival. Love & Other Drugs makes it clear that Jamie and his rival Trey (Macht) sell without regard to the effectiveness of the drugs, and that’s just fine. This is supposed to be a good time at the movies and I’m glad the director stayed away from mid-90’s social commentary about the pharmaceutical industry.

Aside from my above comments, it is important to note that during the 1990’s a fierce battle was waged between Zoloft and Prozac, each trying to out-prescribe the other. In order for Jamie and his sales partner Bruce (Platt) to make it to Chicago, they target Dr. Knight (Azaria). After several failed attempts to speak with the good doctor, Jamie falls back on his reliable assets—charm and boyish good looks to sneak into the office and steal all the Prozac samples.

When all else fails Jamie resorts to old-fashioned bribery, and pays Dr. Knight to allow him the privilege of following him around all day and extolling the benefits of Zoloft. It is on this ‘shadow day’ that we finally meet Maggie (Hathaway), who is a patient of Dr. Knight’s. Maggie has Parkinson’s (yes that Parkinson’s) and someone has stolen all of her medication. She gives Jamie a list of refills she needs replaced and asks him to look into a strange lump on her breast, which he happily does. The strange “lump” is a harmless spider bite, but Jamie’s intern cover is blown.

In the parking lot, Love & Other Drugs becomes…predictable. Maggie hits Jamie in the face with her bag for obvious reasons, and walks off in a huff. Even after he tracks down her number, Maggie must play hard to get or else the story isn’t as believable I guess. She turns down his offer of a date, only to accept it and start sleeping with him! Her only saving grace is that she’s totally on to him, but she’s sick and he’s hot, so who cares?

They begin a sexual relationship which consists of Maggie calling and Jamie coming—no pun intended. But where Love & Other Drugs really took my breath away was with the love story between Jamie and Maggie. Sure at first it seems like every other romantic comedy on the planet, but then even the audience can tell that Jamie & Maggie are awfully fond of each other.

Love & Other Drugs takes on a heavier tone when Maggie accepts Jamie’s invitation to a conference in Chicago. There, Maggie goes to a convention on Parkinson’s disease where she meets many others who share their tales of illness and death. When a man at the convention suggests that Jamie run like hell from Maggie and her illness, Jamie instead begins researching information on Parkinson’s and looking for specialists who can help Maggie.

What I liked most about Love & Other Drugs is the way Maggie and Jamie dealt head-on with her illness, instead of allowing it to pop up from nowhere for maximum emotional effect. The characters are surprisingly adult about the subject when their emotions aren’t getting in the way.

Gyllenhaal and Hathaway have amazing chemistry in Love & Other Drugs. His boyish face and handsome features play the career-obsessed playboy to perfection. At the same time Gyllenhall has consistently shown the depth and diversity he’s capable of and in Love & Other Drugs he proves that he is this generation’s next Leading Man.

Hathaway stands out too in her own right too, making Maggie a realistic and admirable blend of tough and tender. You honestly feel her hopelessness and refusal to give up as a deathly ill waitress without health insurance, which is another issue I’m grateful Love & Other Drugs avoided. It would’ve been easy and I’m sure it was enticing to throw a jab at American healthy care (or lack thereof), but this film was too good for that and the director knew it.

Although Love & Other Drugs is billed as a romantic comedy, it is truly a love story. The first half of the film has moments of humor and frivolity, but that all becomes irrelevant as the relationship and story of Love & Other Drugs unfolds. It is exactly what you’d expect from a romantic movie, but it’s far more than we’ve come to expect from romantic movies and Gyllenhall and Hathaway deserve all the credit.
Love & Other Drugs has an emotional depth that so many films are missing and that alone makes it a real stand out film.

Love & Other Drugs Movie Trailer

Alice in Wonderland Movie Review…

Most of us are familiar with the story of Alice in Wonderland but when you introduce Tim Burton as the director and add his slightly madcap influence and modern take on the traditional Alice in Wonderland, you are suddenly presented with a completely new and refreshing movie.

Whilst the story is basically the same the visual effects are truly stunning and will delight children and adults alike. Mia Wasikowska’s innocent and natural beauty shines through as Alice; she is utterly captivating in the role. Alice in Wonderland begins by introducing us to Alice Kingsleigh whose father is very wealthy; Alice speaks to her father about all the wonderful adventures she has encountered in Wonderland. Alice’s father simply says that she is mad but not to worry about it as all the best people are slightly crazy! When Alice’s father passes away she feels completely trapped and cornered in a suffocating world consisting of etiquette and far too many rules, Alice has been having a recurring dream which she cannot explain. Alice in Wonderland transports its audience to another world with young Alice when she is attending a garden party; a proposal of marriage is directed at Alice by Hamish who is the son of a business partner of her late father.

Whilst all the boring bits are occurring Alice is distracted by a white rabbit that appears to be dressed in a waistcoat and seems to be exceptionally flustered about the time. Alice leaves Hamish standing alone and hurries after the rabbit, Alice in Wonderland then seems to truly come to life in my eyes as Alice falls down a hole at the site of an old tree trunk. She is plunged into a world called Underland where she meets some familiar Alice in Wonderland characters which have been given the Tim Burton touch!

Lewis Caroll’s 1865 novel, Alice in Wonderland has been followed in certain aspects, such as Alice drinking liquid which shrinks her and consuming cake which makes her grow bigger. To make it through a miniature doorway she soon works out that she has to make herself smaller then out she steps into the magical world of Underland. Alice in Wonderland has been made through a combination of both 3D animation and live action, the results are a delight to watch.

Some of the characters Alice meets include the sleepy dormouse, voiced by the comical Barbara Windsor, a rather peculiar dodo bird, voiced by Michael Gough and the Tweedle twins played by Little Britain’s Matt Lucas. Alice in Wonderland also stars the beautifully crazy Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen who has a fascination with the words, ‘off with his head’! I think you would be hard pushed to discover anyone else who could have portrayed this role as well as her. There is also a blue caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland with the laid back tones of Alan Rickman and not forgetting the cheshire cat who vanishes in a puff of smoke, Stephen Fry voices the cat to purrr-fection. (Sorry could not resist!)

There are simply too many wonderful characters in Alice in Wonderland to mention them all here but Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter is truly worth seeing with his vibrant orange hair, bewitching green eyes, top hat and liquorice allsorts bowtie. Anne Hathaway also stars in Alice in Wonderland as the White Queen, sister to the Red Queen, who likes everything happy but is also slightly mad.

Alice’s mission in Underland is to slay a creature called the Jabberwocky, voiced for its brief speaking part by Christopher Lee, the Jabberwocky is ‘owned’ by the Red Queen. Alice is convinced they must have the wrong girl and there is no way she can harm, let alone kill the creature. Crispin Glover plays the Knave of Hearts in his own uniquely creepy way he appears with a creature called a Bandersnatch and attempts to capture Alice.

There is an adorable bloodhound called Bayard in Alice in Wonderland which British born actor Timothy Spall voices superbly. Bayard is sent by the Knave of Hearts to track Alice on the promise that his wife and their puppies will enjoy freedom if he helps. Alice learns of a sword, the vorpal sword, which is kept inside a chest which is located within the living quarters of the Bandersnatch. The vorpal sword is the only weapon which can slay the mighty Jabberwocky.

Does Alice succeed in restoring happiness to Underland by slaying the Jabberwocky and dealing with the Red Queen? Watch the fabulous Alice in Wonderland to find out, you can catch a trailer below.

Alice in Wonderland Movie Trailer

In the meantime Dr. Harrison Copeland (Patrick Dempsey) makes sure he’s covering the day from his concubine, so that he can spend some quality time with the official wife. Of course, as any gentleman would do, he does prepare some flower arrangements for them both. Bad karma makes him chose Reed’s flower shop for this and Reed is best friend with his lover.

Love is there for old guys too. Senior couple Edgar and Estelle (Shirley MacLaine) are celebrating many years together and do this with good perfume, flowers and a night out.

Young Edison, although still a kid, has got a serious crush on some girl and decides it’s the best moment to let her know about his true feelings. So he’s employing Reed too with a very important mission: take some flowers to the “woman” he loves.

In an airplane Captain Kate Hazeltine (Julia Roberts) counts the hours till she can be again with that someone special in her life. She’s an officer and she’d been away for the past 11 months.

Liz (Anne Hathaway) storms out of her boy-friend’s apartment since she’s almost late at work and, as soon as she’s on the street she answers the phone and starts a very disturbing sexual conversation with some guy with a Russian name. We later find out she’s been solving her financial issues by being a ‘sex call’ phone girl.

The only “normal” people who are not crazy with the event are Kara Monahan (Jessica Biel), who’s actually organizing a “I hate Valentine’s Day Party”, sportsman Sean Jackson (Eric Dane), Kelvin Moore (Jamie Foxx), a TV sports presenter who’s getting the task of covering the event and Paula Thomas (Queen Latifah).

And then it all goes wrong.

Proposals are rejected, old infidelities are confessed, new infidelities are found, preparations for the perfect sex get to a dead end, flowers are not being delivered on time etc. People break up for moronic reasons, the soon life shows them in love there’s more than bubbly champagne and flowers. And of course, because it’s a comedy in the end, everything sorta comes into place. The movie does offer some twists too, so you cannot really predict everything.

If you look at the cast, maybe you’re gonna have some high expectations, in the end there are some strong names in it. From this point of view the movie might under-deliver. On the other hand this is a comedy and no one claimed it should be more than that. There are enough funny situations to justify some good laughs too.

So, if you’re in for some cute pleasant story, with some good actors and some funny scenes too, you can make the “effort” to watch it. For two hours of entertainment, it surely does the job.

And still Meryl was in the movie, so I had to see it.

The movie starts very relaxing. I did have a good feeling about it from second 1. The music was entertaining (not a fan of pop, but the songs were WELL CHOSEN), the scenes pretty entertaining. It started as a nice beautiful movie and it stayed the same.

We have Anne Hathaway playing the role of a young graduate from “the country” who’s trying to start a journalism career in New York. Has no interest in anything fashion related and dresses even worse than I do. Her BF is training as a chef while she’s trying desperately to find some sort of a job.

And she finds it.

One of the most important magazines in fashion is called Runway (doh, pretty inspiring) and is run by the “nazi” like editor in chief Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep). As you can imagine our young talent gets her “behind” handed to her in some epic verbal fights with Miranda, who’s amazingly polite and decent and kills with her eyes and words at the same time.

I don’t recall seeing Meryl Streep look so sexy in her entire career. They “aged” her (she’s having grey hair), but she’s looking absolutely stunning. I kinda see another Cruella DeVil in her, except she’s not obsessed with fur and has a better mental state than the character Glenn Close brings to life.

Everyone is afraid of her and she’s getting the “pet-name” of dragon lady. As you can guess she’s the villain in the movie and the lifestyle she has is “bad”. The little journalist has to sacrifice her relation and beliefs to work for Runway and can’t wait to escape the “terror”. This is where I stop understanding where they’re going with the plot. Let’s focus …

She’s a young casual dressed woman. Of course she has to start caring about fashion and dress better than you’d dress to walk your dogs. Tough. I have “corporate” friends who hate elegant outfits just as I do, but wear suits. Because you can’t go to the bank in your every-day clothes. So, I fail to understand her drama. You’re working for a fashion magazine, you dress like it.

Then we have the career problem. Her BF is mad she’s missing his birthday (imagine the importance of such galactic event). Again, tough. My sister in law is a doctor. I can’t count the birthdays, Christmas dinners, Easter dinners etc. her family spent without her. Did her husband divorce? Not as far as I can recall it. My BF worked all day long as a civil engineer. Even worked in another part of the country or another country altogether. Did I leave him? Nope.

So, careers sometimes do require a sacrifice. So, his entire attitude kinda .. blows, if you allow me.

And let’s see this “dragon lady” Miranda Priestly, who’s so feared and evil. She is running a HUGE business. She is the one setting the tone in fashion (designers don’t show their creations publicly till she’s giving the OK). There’s millions of dollars at stake, hundreds (if not more) employees a huge brand to be kept successful. She cannot succeed if she’s lazy or “cute”. You cannot be an amazingly successful business woman and be a “doll”.

Andrea “Andy” Sachs on the other hand needs to grow up in my opinion. You get a difficult, but with great potential job. Amazingly, once you stop whining, you can even get better at it. No, forgive me, GOOD. So good, you’re now in the “first league” together with your boss. And you still fall on your back amazed to see how much drama is between coleagues and how people stab each others in the back. Well, flash-news: it happens EVERYWHERE.

The end for me at least is weird. I cannot understand why would we like to think about such a career in a bad way. It’s a lot of hard work, but you are there, in the top. Instead of going along and working at the Runway, once she’s Miranda’s right hand, she chooses to work as a “journalist” at a newspaper or something. I’ve worked in the media for 10 years, there’s nothing fancy about this. Or maybe it’s in the USA and I am not getting it.

Overall the movie was EXCELLENT. It was very dynamic, I can’t remember a moment of dull action, the situations were comic and every time I watched again (have seen it for 8 times I think) I was able to discover something new about it. I do recommend it with all my heart, since it’s been a well spent hour and a half. You will laugh, see some “cool” images and of course meet an amazingly looking Meryl Streep, doing an amazing role.