If you’ve seen the preview trailer, you’re thinking Love And Other Drugs is a raucous romantic comedy just in time for the holidays.  Well, it is, and it isn’t.  Although it’s marketed as a romantic comedy, this film is really more of a dramady.

Love and Other Drugs features Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway.  He’s a pharmaceutical rep and she’s an artist. I do think one of the selling points of the film is that Gyllenhaal and Hathaway have really good chemistry on-screen.

The characters have a strong and nearly immediate attraction to one another, but falling in love takes longer, and there are certain complications that make this an unusual romantic comedy.  Although many reviews have revealed it, I’m not keen on spoilers and will not reveal the major complication, even though it is established early in the film.

I liked this film but didn’t love it.  My major problems with the story are too much schmaltz in the second half and not enough backstory on Hathaway’s character.  I’m not looking for overkill here, but enough context to fill in her history as much as Gyllenhal’s would add some needed texture to the script.

Maybe my dissatisfaction is partly a matter of my own expectations.  Love and Other Drugs is directed by Edward Zwick and co-written by Zwick, Charles Randolph, and Zwick’s long-time writing and producing partner Marshall Herskovitz.

Zick and Herskovitz are responsible for the terrific television series thirtysomething and My So-Called Life.  I love both of those series.

Zwick has also directed big dramas like Glory, Legends of the Fall, and Blood Diamond, though I think he’s yet to surpass thirtysomething and My So-Called Life.  Point being, this is a really, really talented and experienced team, and Love and Other Drugs ends up being a little too smaltzy in the second half and not quite complex enough in terms of the characters.

I hoped for something terrific that would make me weep and give me new insights into human experience…a film I would turn over and over in my head and want to see more than once.

Hmmmmm…writing that makes me want to see The Secret In Their Eyes or Bright Star again…