This was written January 31 2011
The idea of Jake Gyllenhaal mostly naked…lets face it thats the main reason I watched this movie. A reason for straight guys and lesbians to watch is Anne Hathaway TOTALLY naked, a friend of mine I think questioned her own sexuality after seeing this movie.
So we have two exceptionally beautiful people (I don’t adhere to the idea either Gyllenhaal is offputting, I love them both) who happen to be rather good actors given a love story where they don’t have a dramatic change in personality, but do grow up. For those who do not know the basics Anne plays Maggie, a free spirited 26 year old who happens to have early onset Parkinsons. Jake plays Jamie, a drug rep with no apparent morals when it comes to women, sleeping with receptionists to get in with the doctors etc. So they meet, he is fascinated by her, she sees him for what he is and uses him accordingly. They have lots of sex, and not the normal hollywood pan away when they kiss pan back once its all over and everyone is under the covers, naked bodies a plenty.
Then things get serious, Jamie discovers he is a human, falls for Maggie, Maggie shuts him out then lets her guard down blah blah blah. Its what you expect, but the idea of Parkinsons is so scary in the real world and they translate the fustration, the hope, and the tragedy really very well in this movie that the inevitable twists and turns are not laboured, in fact you look forward so much more to the ups because the downs are very well executed.
The supporting cast are reasonable, I was never very sure of Jamie’s age as his younger (totally repulsive) brother had been with his wife for 10 years, never saying if this was the marriage or relationship as a whole.
So I was imagining Jamie to be early thirties, with Maggie already stated as 26. Hank Azaria is really good as the doctor who becomes a bit obsessed by Jamie’s free samples of wonder drug Viagra (the film is set in the mid-late nineties during the viagra boom). I wish there had been a little more of Jamie’s parents as they were really funny in the early scenes, though their absence showed a lack of sentimentality about Maggie’s condition and their attempt to be f*** buddies and not a lot else, so was appropriate.
Its very rare for me to hate a movie, I can be critical, had I been writing on a blog when Avatar was released my inner critic would have been unleashed. So unsurprisingly I really liked this movie, but I feel justified as it had enough romance to be girly, enough nudity and sex to be that bit different to your average chick flick, didn’t downplay the effects of Parkinsons but nor did it let this take over and become a complete weepy mess as it could well have done. Actually I can’t believe that hadn’t occured to me before, I didn’t cry, not once, I felt sad but that was it. I cry at adverts, and yet this wasn’t designed to make the weak bawl, I am that much more impressed.
If you like both Anne and Jake you will enjoy this movie, if you are a fan of the slightly tragic love story you will enjoy this movie, and if you just want to see naked bodies you definitely will not be disappointed.
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