Love and Other Drugs

There are exactly two really good things about Love and Other Drugs. 1) Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway have fantastic chemistry, which, really, is the most important part of a romantic comedy. 2) The performances by the lead actors are stellar. Other than that, the movie was mostly one cliche after another and nowhere near as original or mature as it thinks it is.
Gyllenhaal stars as Jamie Randall, a helluva salesman who gets fired from his job at a Radio Shack rip-off after sleeping with his boss' girlfriend. Since he comes from a family of over achievers and doctors, he decides to go into pharmaceutical sales while sleeping with every available woman in the Ohio River Valley. While shadowing a doctor (Hank Azaria), Jamie meets Maggie Murdoch (Hathaway), a free-spirited 26 year old with early onset Parkinson's (eventhough they say this very clearly in the first twenty minutes or so of the movie, the older woman sitting behind me just didn't seem to get it. About halfway through, she very loudly exclaimed, "That girl must be sick!"). Maggie wants nothing to do with Jamie and, since he has never been rejected by a girl before, that makes her quite alluring. Soon, as in every single romantic comedy, he turns her no's into yes' and the two begin having a pretty heated sexual relationship (advisory - there is a LOT of nudity in this film, although it is all pretty tastefully done). Maggie tells him not to fall in love with her. He says he won't. Of course, he does. Things go awry. Blah, blah.
The movie is neither romantic or very comedic. I mean, I guess there are a few funny parts here and there but I would hardly say it was a comedy in any way, shape or form. And romantic? Not so much. They pretty much just have sex a lot and then suddenly are in love with each other. I know she is sick but she is also kind of awful at some points and it seems he might be with her just to prove a point. Like, yes, he can be an adult and have responsibilities. I don't know. They have amazing chemistry which is such a good thing but I'm not sure the script properly supported them.
The movie is also full of rom-com cliches. There is not a single lick of originality anywhere in the film. There is the artistic cute girl who lives in a terrible but artsy loft. There is the annoying but supposedly funny roommate. There is the loveable co-worker. There is the sweet, sweet montage where their love grows as they do simple day to day activities. There is the drama filled montage set to some sappy song as their relationship slowly falls apart. There is a crisis in the third act which results in a change of heart. There is a public display of a declaration of love. And the whole "I'm a cad but love is going to change me and make me a better person" thing was done so much better a million times over (Jerry Maguire, anyone? ... By the way, this movie rips off Jerry Maguire at least a dozen times).
Anyway, this movie could have been something good. Like I said, the chemistry between the leads, and their performances, save this movie from being pure crap. If only they had a good script to help them out. Instead, they are stuck in an average Hollywood cliche.
Grade: C+

Due Date

The elephant in the room, of course, is The Hangover which is one of the best comedies of the last decade or so. Due Date stars one of the stars of that film, Zach Galifianakis, and is also from the same writer / director. So, is it as good as The Hangover? Well, of course not. But did anyone really expect it to be? I tried to keep my expectations at a minimum so I wouldn't be disappointed. It sort of worked.
The story is simple - Peter (Robert Downey Jr.) is a first time expectant father and he is rushing home to Los Angeles from Atlanta for the scheduled C-section birth of his baby (with is the lovely and underused Michelle Monaghan). Well, he manages to get thrown off his plane thanks to a run in with a loony named Ethan (Galifianakis) who likes to throw around the words "terrorist" and "bomb" while on a plane. Not only do they get thrown off the plane, but also they find themselves on a do not fly list. It seems Peter's wallet with his credit cards and money is in his bag on the plane en route to Los Angeles so he can't even rent a car. Luckily though, Ethan can and they begin a road trip. Of course, craziness ensues - run ins with crazy pot dealers (Juliette Lewis) and crazier Western Union employees (Danny McBride) as well as car accidents and an ill fated trip to Mexico. Jamie Foxx shows up as Peter's bestie who may or may not have had an affair with his wife nine months ago. Also, Peter has a dog named Sonny, a cremated father in a coffee can (which they drink, of course) and wants to move to Hollywood to be an actor on Two and a Half Men, his favorite TV show.
So, that's the plot in a nut shell. Does it work? Sometimes. The film starts off insanely slow. In fact, the first half is a little boring. But it starts to get better (more laughs, better pacing) somewhere in eastern Texas. So, the second half is a whole lot better than the first. The ladies of the film are terribly underused. Foxx merely has a cameo. McBride does his same old funny asshole shtick (which I still love because I love him). So, ultimately this movie belongs to its leads and on that level, it most certainly works. These two guys have a chemistry together. Even though Galifianakis is playing a version of the same character he always does, he's still funny. I know a day is going to come when I get really sick of him, like Michael Cera, but that day hasn't arrived yet. All in all, Due Date is a lot of fun as long as you don't expect the greatness of The Hangover.
Grade: C