Ed Zwick's tale of a drug rep is good, but I'm not the first person to say that the script was a few drafts short of being great. Many of the elements are there. An interesting topical subject. Good actors in interesting roles. Drama. Comedy. Romance. But should they have been taken together?
Jamie Randall (Jake Gyllenhaal, BROTHERS) is a born salesman. In his job as an electronics salesman, he could sell a car audio system to a 95 year old grandma. He uses his sales skills in pursuit of women too. The two sales opportunities sometimes cross, which gets him in trouble. After getting fired, he decides to become a drug rep, primarily because it's the only job where a starting salary could be over 100k. Partnered with the veteran Bruce Winston (Oliver Platt, TV' s THE BIG C), he is given the difficult task of pushing anti-depressant Zoloft when all patients are asking for is the name recognized Prozac.
While trying to sell Dr. Stan Knight (Hank Azaria, THE SMURFS), Jaime poses as an intern and sits in on a check-up for the beautiful young Maggie Murdock (Anne Hathaway, RACHEL GETTING MARRIED). When she sees him putting drug samples into his car, she puts two and two together, which equals her becoming furious that a drug rep saw her bare breasts in the examination room. Of course Jaime turns on the charm and Maggie eventually looks at him as a good lay.
So lets look at these parts. Gyllenhaal and Hathaway make for a convincing couple. Both characters don't want serious relationships. Maggie because she has Parkinson's disease and doesn't want to burden anyone else with her health problems and Jaime because he doesn't take anything seriously. But Maggie is different and he falls in love, which gives him a panic attack. It's great how the film subtly makes the point that love is like a drug in how it controls our emotions. It's ironic that a womanizing drug rep would end up making his most money shilling Viagra.
The drama surrounds Maggie's increasing symptoms of Parkinson's. Jamie hasn't wanted to commit to anyone before, so will he freak out when he discovers the real extent of the problems Maggie will have to deal with in the future? Maggie isn't the nicest person when she's sick either. The drama on its own works fine, but the transition from the romantic comedy elements is too abrupt. The film doesn't give it enough time so it doesn't seem like the characters are doing 180 turns in personality.
The critique of the drug industry is tepid at best. It points out how drugs get into the doctor's office through bribes. Side effects or effectiveness are secondary. Penis pills were a hit because doctor's liked the free samples. But drugs that could actually help sick people are massively expensive and rarely available because they can't be mass marketed. People have to take bus trips to Canada just to get affordable medication. The film sort of leaves the issue at face value without taking a chance to comment. The whole drug industry issue disappears toward the end once the drama kicks in.
The comedy is two fold. While it's not biting like the tobacco lobby skewering in THANK YOU FOR SMOKING, the film gets in a few jabs at the $600 plus billion industry. The romantic comedy elements work the best. Jaime's reaction when he tells Maggie that he loves her is hilarious. The worst part is Jaime's fat, crude brother Josh (Josh Gad, 21). He is like a bad Jack Black clone atomic bomb that destroys every moment he is in. It's like if SOUTH PARK's Cartman turned up in TERMS OF ENDEARMENT.
Despite its missteps, the film never ODs on its mistakes. The high of the solid love story saves its life. Gyllenhaal and Hathaway are practitioners of real chemistry. The story even avoids many generic romcom cliches and makes the love story something easily sold to the audience. The weaker elements might be hard to swallow at times, but in the end you still feel good for having taken the full dose.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
