Reviewed by: Harrison Cheung —
New on video, LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS is an uneven dramedy that just screams for a lighter mainstream touch a la Nora Ephron or a heavier grim-reality point of view like Ryan Gosling’s recent and acclaimed indie flick, BLUE VALENTINE.
Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Jamie, a never-do-well college drop-out stereo salesman who ends up hitting the career jackpot as a Pfizer salesman just before the introduction of Viagra. He meets an odd young woman, Maggie (Anne Hathaway) who starts off as his sex buddy but soon becomes something more.
Gyllenhaal and Hathaway both have skilled comic sides, and it shows with the first half of the movie as Jamie gets into the Pfizer sales team and struggles to get into doctors’ offices to push Zoloft subscriptions. We get a very amusing look at the world of pharmaceutical competition as he battles the Prozac salesman for key accounts.
When he first meets Maggie, the two seem well matched – neither want a relationship, both are extremely happy to be friends with benefits. Both Gyllenhaal and Hathaway have eyeballs the size of planets so the audience is treated to lots of respective ogling, R-rated nudity, and Hollywood styled sex scenes. 
LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS has a very watchable comic cast. The very funny Josh Gad plays Jamie’s kid brother who camps out on his couch after his marriage dissolves. Oliver Platt plays Jamie’s Pfizer sales coach.
Unfortunately director Edward Zwick seems to be unable to steer. Midway through the movie, LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS hits a major mood swing when Jamie falls in love with Maggie. This development is something Maggie absolutely does not want, so the movie shifts gears abruptly into a miserable romance with a predictable Viagra joke, some preaching about the cost of prescription meds, and a predictable ending.
Strictly for Gyllenhaal or Hathaway fans anxious for a big dose of skin, this movie is in need of some sort of enhancement. Or at least a couple of script rewrites!