"Director Edward Zwick (who also had a hand in writing the screenplay) orchestrates the tension in the central relationship superbly, while incidental subplots come and go on the periphery. Most disturbing is the portrait of the pharmaceutical industry; a sad indictment of our times. Involving and engrossing, this is a memorable love story and one that resonates."
Louise Keller URBAN CINEFILE
"While the film zips along at a smart pace, it's the stunning work from the actors that turns what could have been a slightly maudlin exercise into an arresting piece of work."
Kimberly Gadette INDIE MOVIES
"Part of the film, at least, is trying to explore the unhealthy relationship between drug companies and their salesmen and the medical profession and I think that's a very interesting subtext. This is not a romantic comedy or a romantic drama. It's got a lot more. I'm giving it four out of five."
David Stratton ABC AT THE MOVIES
The sizzle that transpires between Gyllenhaal and Hathaway is definitely the selling point of Love and Other Drugs, but is not confined to the strictly physical. The pair also engage themselves and the audience on a verbal level with an edgy brand of repartee that is very well-written. Curiously, the film achieves lift-off whenever sticking to the ground rules of the boy-meets-girl genre."
Leigh Paatsch HERALD SUN
"It's not "Last Tango in Paris," but it's fairly eye-opening by the squeamish standards of latter-day Hollywood. Noteworthy for the way it reintroduces skin and sex to mainstream movies."
Gary Thompson PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS
"It has loads of laughs, sharp dialogue, scads of sex and sections of sweet, gorgeous sadness. Gyllenhaal's character, Jamie, is a part Tom Cruise would have played 20 years ago. "Love and Other Drugs" is a sprawling, ambitious romantic comedy drama for grown-ups."
Colin Covert MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE
"You will laugh. You will cry. You will fall in love. Zwick perfectly blended together raunchy humor with a hard-hitting emotional story. It's 'hard' to not talk about the nudity of the film when it's right there in your face. Though, Edward Zwick directed the nudity with a sense of naturalism. If you are looking for raunchy humor and a hard-hitting love story, this is your film."
Kevin McCarthy BDK REVIEWS
"There is plenty of meat in the screenplay. Both leads work wonders with their characters, surrounded as they are by a collection of crazy and annoying people. There's laughter and fun here, but also a melancholy note that extends throughout the film, which is what grounds it so firmly in a recognisable reality; and makes the film satisfying."
Andrew L Urban URBAN CINEFILE
"You've probably heard plenty about the nudity and sexual content in this movie. It's for adults only, true, but these facets of the movie are never exploitive. They are natural and realistic. At last, here's a smart, grown-up romance that shows love just as raw and problematic as it can be in real life. A raw, realistic look at realationships."
Linda Cook KWQC-TV
"It's certainly not a romantic comedy. There are light bits in it but it actually deals with something quite serious. This was directed by Edward Zwick, who I always feel is a bit soft, but I think this is actually quite a robust effort from him. Four out of five."
Margaret Pomeranz ABC AT THE MOVIES
"Love becomes, for two people, the great challenge and the great educator, and at every step of this beautiful film, we believe it. The nudity here is necessary, not only for verisimilitude, but because the sex scenes mean something here. As is appropriate in a well-crafted and meticulous movie, the acting is strong down the line. Hathaway deserves praise for going along with the movie's sexual frankness."
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
The Inside Story
1999 Oscar winner Edward Zwick ("Shakespeare in Love") directs, produces and co-wrote the screenplay for this unconventional and realistic romance that explores the nature of love and sex, how sex/lust evolves into love, and the ways people try and figure it all out. Zwick says his latest film, "presents two people who are desperate not to go to a deeper, more profound place in their connection to one another. But their appeal to each other and the nature of the love are so powerful they defeat the couple’s impulses to resist connecting. Jamie and Maggie just can’t help but fall in love no matter how much they try to avoid it. They surrender to something stronger than their intentions. And that’s fun to watch because it provides comedy and emotion." Those themes certainly resonated with the film’s two leads. 2002 & 2008 NBR Award winner Anne Hathaway notes the film is "about what it takes to let love in. Love is hard work and it’s scary and it’s all totally worth it!" "It’s a comedy and a love story about two people who are running away from the same things: intimacy, connection, and caring. These are some of the most difficult things you can ask of another human being. But the movie is first and foremost a comedy; that’s what we were trying to bring out in almost every scene," says 2005 NBR Award winner Jake Gyllenhaal ("Brokeback Mountain"). "Love & Other Drugs" has thematic ties to Zwick’s feature directorial debut, "About Last Night", a critical and box-office hit that, like "Love & Other Drugs", presents a realistic, non-glossy romance that begins one way, then evolves into something quite unexpected. In between these two films, Zwick helmed several epic dramas set in such locales and periods as 19th-century Japan ("The Last Samurai"), contemporary African diamond mines ("Blood Diamond") and displaced persons camps and Eastern Europe forests during the Holocaust ("Defiance"). But even painting on these larger canvasses Zwick always focused on character and relationships. For television, Zwick and writing-producing partner Marshall Herskovitz (1988 & '89 DGA Award winner), who co-wrote and produces this film, helped redefine character-driven narratives. "I think many people had forgotten that I started my career with stories of this intimate nature, especially on television, whether it was thirtysomething or My So-Called Life," says Zwick. "Since I hadn’t played with this voice in movies in a long time, when this opportunity materialized, I was drawn to it. I am interested in what is epic in the personal; sometimes the smaller struggles loom just as large with stakes that are just as high." Four time EMMY winner Herskovitz notes: "Ed and I are drawn to projects for multiple reasons and it’s the thematic complexity that brings us to a specific project. We’ve wanted to do a motion picture comedy for a long time and we were quite intrigued by the world of pharmaceutical reps and the kind of silly, almost absurdist aspects of that subculture. With "Love & Other Drugs", we saw a real and very interesting relationship between these two people who have avoided connections and serious relationships. You see that possibly neither one has the capability to be in a relationship so therefore you are pulling for them." "The truth of any good love story comes from how the characters grow up and that’s really what this movie is about," Producer Scott Stuber ("The Kingdom") notes. "It’s about two people who have to step out on the cliff that is love. Jamie’s got to mature and Maggie needs to let someone love her with all of her flaws." Producer Pieter Jan Brugge revealed, "Ed possesses the ability to fuse different tonal elements with remarkable skill and ease, which is not an easy thing to do."
The fictional world of "Love & Other Drugs" is based on the nonfiction 2005 book, "Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman", by Jamie Reidy, in which a cocky young Pfizer salesman chronicles his experiences as he played and beat the pharmaceutical industry at its own game in the late 90s. Hoping to adapt the book, Charles Randolph (who ultimately became a co-writer and producer) brought the tome to Scott Stuber in 2006. "It was actually the first thing that I bought as a producer," Stuber ("Scott Pilgrim vs. the World ") recalls. "Jamie wrote about experiences I thought were analogous to films like Jerry Maguire, Wall Street or any movie where a young man goes into the workplace with ideas of what the world is going to be and the world beats them out of him. That’s a very appealing theme." Randolph recalls that he was more intrigued with Jamie Reidy and his world then he was in the book itself. "I was interested in Jamie as a person. He’s fun and interesting. I wanted the story of "Love & Other Drugs" to be more about the tone of his life and some of the experiences he’s had, then a strict adaptation of his book." "Charles wanted the adaptation to be a love story set amidst this world of pharmaceutical sales, which inspired the creation of the Maggie character," Stuber elaborates. "Charles’ story brought Jamie’s journey together with the one Charles invented for Maggie, as her affliction brings her into Jamie’s world." Randolph worked on several script drafts until Stuber thought it was ready to go out to directors. Stuber was delighted that not only was Zwick interested in helming the project he and Herskovitz had some strong ideas for the story and characters. "Ed and Marshall added a lot of texture to the characters, but their real breakthrough was to weave together Jamie’s work life and love life into what feels like one story. They brought in their voices so that Ed could direct the film within his own voice." "I think one of the joys of doing what I do," Zwick confided, "is finding and working with people whose gifts are only coming into their full flower; I think that can be said of both Jake and Annie’s work in "Love & Other Drugs". I was the 'midwife' to that moment, and allowed it to happen. And they were not just extraordinarily brave and open with me; they were remarkable with each other." The director also notes the roles of Jamie and Maggie represent significant steps for the two actors. "As Jamie, Jake’s not just romantic, interesting and charming, he’s enormously funny. Jake’s sense of humor is nothing new to those who’ve known him socially, but up to now we’ve never quite had the opportunity to see that on film. He has a great leading man quality and is extraordinarily at ease, and that comes of maturity and experience. Jake’s work in this film allows us to witness a younger actor become a leading man, and that’s very exciting for a filmmaker and, I think, an audience." "Anne has long been taking extraordinary risks with her performances in films like "Rachel Getting Married" (for which she was Oscar ®-nominated) and through her work in Shakespeare in the Park," Zwick continued. "Maggie in "Love & Other Drugs" is another in a series of brave choices she has made again and again. Anne reveals yet another aspect of her talents, takes more risks and pushes more of her boundaries." Jamie is the black sheep in a successful family. He’s the ultimate seducer, and would have been perfectly happy to float through life minus the burden of responsibility or connecting to anyone. Gyllenhaal notes, "He’s bright but a bit self-destructive." But Jamie’s shell of charm and carefree seduction begins to crack after he meetsthe equally free-spirited Maggie.
"I loved how seemingly fearless Maggie is," says 2009 Prism Award winner Hathaway ("Rachel Getting Married"). "I was moved by the challenges she faces and by the façade she presents to the world, as an idealized sex goddess who is fine with everything and anything. But there’s an aching and yearning there; she’s scared and vulnerable, and a wonderful person under all of that. As an actress, you dream of opportunities to explore those things." "It’s not just that Anne and Jake are intrinsically funny and deeply smart and emotional not to mention attractive, but they share another quality that I think is possibly more important," three time EMMY Award winner Zwick (1983 & '88) says. "They’re both very brave. Some of the scenes and some of the choices that I asked of them demand that bravery, and the more I saw it the more I feel willing to ask it." The films supporting cast features many recognizable faces, including: Oliver Platt ("Bulworth" & "Pieces of April") as Bruce Winston, Jamie’s beleaguered boss, who is desperate to relocate to more fertile sales territory in Chicago; Hank Azaria as Dr Stan Knight, an ethically challenged physician who’ll write a prescription for whatever ails you; Josh Gad ("Marmaduke") as Josh, Jamie's successful younger brother and roommate; and Gabriel Macht ("The Spirit") as Trey, a successful pharmaceuticals salesman whose competition with Jamie is complicated by his earlier relationship with Maggie. "Bruce immediately becomes aware that Jamie is extremely bright, instinctive and talented," Stone offers, "although not necessarily in the most conventional ways, and sees Jamie as his ticket to a coveted sales slot in Chicago." Four time EMMY award winner Azaria, notes his character is "a successful family practitioner who has become really jaded. He began his career as a very idealistic guy who wanted to be a doctor and a healer but over time, has been ground down by the system seeing fifty patients a day, prescribing like crazy and essentially feeling like the shill of the pharmaceutical companies. It may seem as if he’s got it all going for him, but he’s become an unhappy, prurient, thrill-seeking and self-serving guy whose favorite part of being a doctor is being rich and getting laid." Jamie’s brother Josh plays a key role in the former’s life, as Gad observes. "Jamie has always been the black sheep, but he is much cooler: hey, he’s Jake Gyllenhaal!" Trey Hannigan is the top local sales rep for a competing product and firm. Trey is not happy with Jamie’s emergence as a rising star on the Big Pharma scene, or with Jamie’s burgeoning relationship with Maggie, with whom Trey recently had a deep love affair. "Trey is married and has two kids," notes Macht ("The Good Shepherd" & TV'S "Suits"), "and while he’s now back on the straight and narrow, he continues to care deeply for and feel protective of this young woman who’s changed his life." "Love & Other Drugs" is set in the late 90s, a moment, Zwick says, "when the fabric of American life changed forever." For the first time, drugs became commercialized, via ads in magazines and on television. Drugs were now being sold directly to consumers. At the top of the sales and advertising charts was a little blue pill called Viagra, a new treatment for erectile dysfunction. Viagra became a phenomenon was that pure gold for the company marketing and selling it, Pfizer, and for its legions of sales reps crisscrossing the country extolling its virtues. Author Jamie Reidy, has had first-hand experience with the pharmaceutical industry’s cutting-edge marketing tactics. "The production design of the medical offices was spot-on, and Jake and Oliver look exactly like real drug reps."
What It's All About
 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 (a charismatic underachiever who’s finally found his niche, as a rep for a drug called Viagra that has just hit the market), whose relentless and nearly infallible charm serves him well with women and, in the cut-throat world of pharmaceutical sales. Randall too, has never let anyone tie him down. His tried and tested formula works every-time. Up until he meets Maggie, his pickup lines had never let him down: netting him what he's always wanted; sex. Maggie and Jamie’s evolving relationship takes them both by surprise. They soon find themselves under the influence of the ultimate drug: love. While most relationships proceed from love to sex: theirs goes in the opposite direction, because both it seems weren't interested in love, but rather sex.
The Verdict
"The little girl we all loved and watched grow through films such as "The Princess Diaries", "Ella Enchanted", Brokeback Mountain (with Jake Gyllenhaal), "The Devil Wears Prada", "Becoming Jane" and "Rachel Getting Married" takes a brave step with her latest role as Maggie in "Love & Other Drugs". Brave? Yes brave! For many cinemagoers, there has always been some sort of ethereal aura surrounding Anne Hathaway. You know what I mean. Many would see her as some sort of virginial, untouchable goddess: even though there were hints cheekiness. That has now been well and truly blown out of the water. Sure the cheekiness (and there are plenty of 'cheek' shots here) is still there (a.k.a. "Rachel Getting Married"), but everything else many cherished about this gorgeous actress has been blown away thanks to some heated sex scenes in which she (just about) bares all. The one thing these steamy sex scenes (with a very handsome Jake Gyllenhaal) won't dent, is her reputation as a highly accomplished actress. Her performance is superb. The same can be said for Gyllenhaal (pronounced jill-en-hall). Those who saw him in Nicole Holofcener's "Lovely & Amazing" (2001) would have realized that there were bigger things in store for this then twenty year old. If "Lovely & Amazing" didn't send enough signals as to his future, "The Good Girl" surely did. Over the years he's shown he has all the goods to make a role such as Jamie Randall, his own. He's charismatic, cheeky and damn handsome. And what a couple (but not for the first time) Gyllenhaal & Hathaway make. Not to be dismissed, is the solid contribution the supporting cast make. They are the icing on the cake, the glue of success that binds "Love & Other Drugs" together. As for Zwick, he has produced a doozey! Another notch in the belt for the talented director, writer and producer whose noteworthy contibution to films such as "Defiance" (Daniel Craig), "I Am Sam" (Sean Penn), "The Siege" (Denzel Washington & Bruce Willis), "Blood Diamond" (Leonardo DiCaprio), "Traffic" (Benicio Del Toro), "The Last Samurai" (Tom Cruise & Ken Watanabe ), "Glory" (Denzel Washington & Morgan Freeman) and "Shakespeare in Love" (Geoffrey Rush), has endeared him to audiences the world over. Highly recommended. It may not set the critics hearts a flutter, but this is good fare for those who love a 'meaty' romance. Very recommended. 4 STARS."
Who's Playing Who?
Jake Gyllenhaal
Anne Hathaway
Oliver Platt
Hank Azaria
Josh Gad
Gabriel Macht
Judy Greer
George Segal
Jill Clayburgh
Kate Jennings Grant
Katheryn Winnick
Kimberly Scott
Peter Friedman
Nikki Deloach
Natalie Gold
Megan Ferguson
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Jamie Randall
Maggie Murdock
Bruce Winston
Dr Stan Knight
Josh Randall
Trey Hannigan
Cindy
Dr James Randall
Nancy Randall
Gina
'Lisa'
Gail
California Man
Christy
Dr Helen Randall
Farrah
The Production Team
Director
Screenplay
Adapted from
Producers

Original Music
Cinematography
Film Editor
Casting
Production Design
Art Direction
Set Decoration
Costume Design
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Edward Zwick
Charles Randolph and Edward Zwick & Marshall Herskovitz
the book "Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman"
Pieter an Brugge/Marshall Herskovitz/Charles Randolph
Scott Stuber/Edward Zwick
James Newton Howard
Steven Fierberg
Steven Rosenblum
Victoria Thomas
Patti Podesta
Gary Kosko
Meg Everist
Deborah Lynn Scott
Run Time 112 minutes
Rated MA15+ [AUST]
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