Love & Other Drugs

Or, Love & Other Drugs & Anne Hathaway's Naked. A Lot. I'm not saying that's the reason I watched this in the first place, but...I can't even think of another excuse. But then it turns out that the rest of the movie wasn't that bad. Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal have a lot of chemistry and they save a basic romantic formula with sweetness and charm.

This is a good time to explain how I rate these films. Basically, I try to consider each movie for what it is. Just because I give a PLUS to something doesn't mean I consider it the equal of Goodfellas. Something like Piranha 3D is not a work of art. No one at any part of its creation (except probably the screenwriter) ever considered it as such. It was intended to be a campy diversion. And it was, but that doesn't mean I'm putting it in the time capsule next to Citizen Kane. The art of The Distillery system is its simplicity--did you enjoy it, yes or no? Different movies have different stakes, different degrees of difficulty. It's like figure skating. A well-made Holocaust epic is like sticking a triple axel. That doesn't mean your half lutz wasn't technically sound, but, c'mon, a triple axel.

Two other L&OD notes: Check out director Edward Zwick's resume. This guy is way under the radar. I see a sweet distillation in his future. And then there's Josh Gad. If you ever ask me about The Rocker, I will tell you how Gad gave one of my favorite comedic performances in recent years (then I'd probably start talking about Emma Stone, though, sadly, never about star Rainn Wilson). Here, he plays Gyllenhaal's brother and steals every laugh again. I was surprised to see that he hasn't really been in anything else of note. Now that Jonah Hill has followed Seth Rogan into skinnyville, we need a new funny chubby guy. PLUS