LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS

Written by Charles Randolph, Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz

Directed by Edward Zwick

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway and Oliver Platt

Jamie Randall: You're my little blue pill.

Ordinarily, I would say that any film that starts with The Spin Doctors’ “Two Princes” is destined to be a disaster. LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS takes place is 1996 though so I guess I can be reasonable. The catchy ditty that consumed the airwaves that year is blasting in a high-end stereo store, where Jamie Randall (Jake Gyllenhaal) is using his charms to make the sales and get the ladies while he’s at it. He hasn’t a care in the world until he meets a girl (Anne Hathaway) who has no choice but to take life seriously. The twosome are charming together and so disaster is averted but sadly, only so far as to achieve disappointment.

Director Edward Zwick (DEFIANCE) often makes socially conscious films and LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS is no different (although arguably much less serious than say, BLOOD DIAMOND, as far as issues go). Jamie is a pharmaceutical representative for Pfizer at just the right time to cash in on the Viagra explosion. This allows Zwick to explore supposedly scandalous themes like the evils of the drug companies and how they’re ruining our immune systems while getting disgustingly rich. Zwick is never really interested in the matter at hand though. He just uses hot topic scenarios as backdrops for the real story - in this case, the reluctant love between Jamie and Hathaway’s Maggie Murdoch. To make matters worse, and of course much more poignant, Maggie has early on-set Parkinson’s. And so the real question is how life can be so terribly unfair as to give these two people a transformative love that will only get harder and harder to hold.

My answer to that is pretty simple. That’s life, folks. For all of Zwick’s fascination with serious subjects, he rarely seems to comprehend the actual impact of these hardships on the people involved. Maggie pushes people away because she doesn’t think its fair for anyone to have to deal with her condition. Meanwhile, Jamie is frustrated that he can’t fix her with a pill like everything else and has to accept that love is hard. While these are real struggles, the tone is kept pretty light while both of them accept that love is a drug all unto itself. Fortunately for LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS, Gyllenhaal and Hathaway get along brilliantly. They are playful and sharp, like lovers should be, and thanks to Zwick’s somewhat voyeuristic gaze, they are hot and naked a whole heck of a lot too. They are certainly the only addictive element to the film though and when the buzz wears off, there is no withdrawal at all.

Black Sheep @ The Oscars: BEST ACTRESS

This was a tough one. The nomination competition was fierce enough on its own without Kate Winslet contending for a spot for two standout performances. Sally Hawkins won the Golden Globe and a number of critics’ accolades for her performance in HAPPY-GO-LUCKY but missed her shot here. Kristen Scott Thomas hoped for a spot for her performance in I’VE LOVED YOU SO LONG but that little seen film left little impression. Michelle Williams had hoped that her stark performance in WENDY AND LUCY would earn her a second nod but it was too bare to register. Even Cate Blanchett, an Oscar regular, couldn’t get swept up in the Benjamin Button bonanza. And so with one slot inevitably going to Winslet, who else managed to squeak past the stiff competition?

Anne Hathaway in RACHEL GETTING MARRIED

When you first meet Kym in Jonathan Demme’s "love it or hate it" family drama, RACHEL GETTING MARRIED, she is a lot to take. She talks to fill the silence and she does so very defensively in order to close the doors before they are even opened. She doesn’t want anyone to see what lies behind those doors, not ever herself. Hathaway infuses Kym with a nervous likeability that makes her both compelling and repelling. It is certainly the kind of performance that gave everyone pause and had everyone wondering if there was more to this princess than anyone had ever imagined.


Hathaway was considered to be an early favorite in this category when the film debuted to rave reviews at the Venice and Toronto film fests. Still, the film has proven to be more of a critical darling than anything else and, quite sadly as this critic loved it, this is the film’s only nomination, indicating that overall support may be thin.

Angelina Jolie in CHANGELING

Christine Collins is always a lady. She is always properly made up and appropriately composed. This would prove to be her downfall as all assume that she will just sit quietly and take all that is thrown at her but they did not take into account what a mother would do for her missing son. Jolie delivers another understated performance here and is just as captivating for her fragility and endurance as for her beauty.

CHANGELING is also not a widely regarded film. Jolie missed the nomination in this category last year for her role in A MIGHTY HEART and so some might want to reward her for both as a means of making up for the past but she does already have an Oscar at home for her earlier performance in GIRL, INTERRUPTED. Jolie is not considered a threat in this category and I doubt that will change.

Melissa Leo in FROZEN RIVER

To be fair, I still have not seen this film. It only comes out next week on DVD and I can’t even remember it playing in theatres here in Montreal, which is odd considering the story takes place party in Quebec. I can tell you Leo plays Ray Eddy, a single mother drawn into the world of border smuggling. Aside from that, I got nothing.


Leo is certainly the dark horse in this category. The nomination alone has made people take notice of the film and, along with its nod for original screenplay, it could build some last minute momentum. Leo has been nominated for a number of awards already, including the National Board of Review, the Independent Spirit Awards and the Screen Actors Guild. There is certainly good reason to consider her the underdog contender but keep in mind, the SAG nominated her but she did not ultimately win. No, that honour went to …

Meryl Streep in DOUBT

You may never know a scarier screen nun after Streep’s Sister Aloysius Beauvier. The way that she leers at the children in the playground, just waiting for them to step out of line so that she can assume her duties as disciplinarian and well, discipline them. She almost seems to get some perverse joy out of it. She scours the world for all its evils and when she sets her eyes on her parish priest, you know he’s in big trouble because even God will be too scared to not side with the sister.

How many times does someone need to be nominated in their lifetime? Streep holds the records for most Oscar nods with 15 in total. She does have two wins but her last was for SOPHIE’S CHOICE in 1982. She is definitely due and many are saying that this will be her year. DOUBT did not play well outside of the acting categories, which denotes a certain apathy toward the film but Streep did take home the SAG award for this intense performance. The trouble is, so did …

Kate Winslet in THE READER

Hanna Schmitz is one of Winslet’s most complex characters. We meet her under the same circumstances as the young boy she ends up taking to bed. She seems nice enough, if not perhaps just a bit cold and guarded. Still, you would never imagine that she was personally responsible for countless deaths as an SS officer in the Second World War. Furthermore, it is unfathomable that she is actually able to rationalize her actions as entirely reasonable.


Winslet was expected to earn a nomination here for REVOLUTIONARY ROAD. In fact, after her double win at the Golden Globes opened the possibility of an Oscar repeat. Her role in THE READER was touted as a supporting performance but as she has the most screen time of any character in the film, that was a hard sell that was eventually rejected by the academy. The SAG rewarded Winslet in the supporting category and now both SAG honoured actresses find themselves going head to head at the Oscars. It could get ugly.

I would say though that even though Winslet did not get the nod for REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, no one will forget the force with which she delivered in both films. And so, Black Sheep predicts Kate Winslet for Best Actress in THE READER.

RACHEL GETTING MARRIED

Written by Jenny Lumet
Directed by Jonathan Demme
Starring Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Bill Irwin, Anna Deavere Smith and Debra Winger


Kym: I’m alive and I’m present and there’s nothing controlling me.

I’m sure there are a number of people out there who actually get excited when they check the mail to find the next in a seemingly never ending string of wedding invitations. I am not that person. Unless the invitation is to attend the nuptials of a dear friend or a close family member, all I see is an invitation to what will inevitably be a long day of small talk and potentially awkward speeches that will cost me a lot more than the day at the movies I would much rather be having. You are about to get an invitation to an entirely different kind of wedding though and not only must you RSVP as soon as possible, you must get yourself looking your best because this is a wedding I can guarantee you will enjoy. You will laugh and cry, be horrified and be moved all within the span of one intimate weekend despite not knowing a single other person there. This invitation comes from veteran filmmaker, Jonathan Demme, and this uniquely grounding catharsis is what happens when you attend RACHEL GETTING MARRIED.


Yes, Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt) is getting married but that is far from the only big event happening on this particular weekend. Her sister, Kym (Anne Hathaway), is also coming home for the wedding after nine months in rehab for drug addiction. Kym has been in and out of facilities for a number of years and her disease has taken a hard toll on her family. This time is different though as she has now gone nine months sober, just enough time to be reborn as a new person. Only, no one knows whether they can trust this, including Kym herself, and subsequently, no one knows exactly how to resolve the past and the present. Despite all this potential drama brewing, Demme shows up at the Connecticut house with an extensive crew of cameramen and is allowed full access. This is no ordinary wedding story though. What Demme strings together is a seamless documentary style expose of one family at a pivotal point in their history. The shots and cuts are as jagged as Hathaway’s choppy bob, creating a constant edginess throughout that is soothed only by the numerous musically inclined wedding guests casually playing in adjoining rooms.

In order for Demme’s brave, raw approach to elevate past gimmick and achieve the harrowing beauty that it does, the players need to come off as natural and as familial as possible. Obviously, any actor in any film needs to give a strong performance in order for the film to be better but it is imperative here in order for the viewer to feel that they are actually a guest at this wedding. The cast is superb. As Rachel, DeWitt is a woman filled with both love and fear. She is surrounded by love from her immediate family and new extended family but she is also worried that all this love will be taken away from her as it has in the past. Her father, played by Bill Irwin, is as giddy as a young boy to be giving away his oldest daughter and to have his youngest back at home. The girls’ estranged mother, played very subtly by Debra Winger, is noticeably absent even when she’s in the room. It is naturally Hathaway though that shines brightest. Yes, she does have the showiest part, but it is how well she owns this role that is most impressive, in that it is altogether surprising given her previous work. Hathaway is a force that demands attention whenever she is on screen, which only further lends weight to the fragile, unintentional neediness of her character. She inspires both disdain and sympathy but never seems to care which we feel more.


When I first saw RACHEL GETTING MARRIED, I felt disoriented leaving the theatre. Once I had finished drying my eyes, I had to sit down because I didn’t feel ready to walk. This is Jonathan Demme’s masterpiece. It is filled with such candid moments from random friends singing at the rehearsal dinner to intense family eruptions that make you feel as though you should leave the room. It is all so real, all so warm and all so deeply personal. There is an abundance of love at this wedding but like any great love, it comes with great potential for pain and sorrow. And while it may be a horrible struggle at times, RACHEL GETTING MARRIED always strives to focus on the love and the future that love will make possible.

GET SMART

Written by Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember
Directed by Peter Segal
Starring Steve Carrell, Anne Hathaway, Dwayne Johnson, Alan Arkin and Terrence Stamp


Maxwell Smart: Yes, they are bad guys but that is what they do, not who they are.

Maxwell Smart is the kind of guy who can see the big picture. His mammoth 600+ page reports demonstrate his great attention to detail; the post-it notes he leaves for himself throughout his home show his dedication to living an orderly existence; and though he has little skill in social scenarios, his big heart gives him solid insight into where those around him are coming from. Max, as he is known to most, is also ambitious. In the last few years, he has gone from dramatically overweight fact checker to fit potential secret agent at supposedly defunct undercover spy agency, CONTROL. Yet still, he carries himself as though he were invisible. All of this makes Steve Carrell the perfect man to play the television icon in the first film incarnation of GET SMART. His humble likeability is always endearing and his dry delivery is as sharp as ever but even his dumbfounded obliviousness is not enough to save GET SMART from its trite pandering to the masses.


Essentially, GET SMART could have been a lot smarter. It also could have used a little more effort and originality. The irony of the Maxwell Smart character is that he really is a bright guy. He is both book smart and emotionally intelligent. He possesses attributes that give him the potential to be an amazing agent but his smarts rarely make it past his clumsy, awkward exterior, leaving the impression on most around him that he is basically useless. And though parts of this duality are present in Carrell’s performance, veteran television writing team, Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember, rely on some very simple conventions to guarantee laughs. We’ve got jokes about carb consumption and presidents who read to schoolchildren when there are more important matters to attend to. There are intimidating giants that are really sensitive souls and overweight women who show off the dance moves they never get to seeing as how no one ever asks them to dance. As if that weren’t enough fuel for formulaic fun, we’ve even got The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) walking into walls while flashing us his toothy greatness.


As simple as the whole story is, director Peter Segal puts so little effort into telling it that it’s often easy to forget that a story is actually happening. Pieced together, it goes a little something like CONTROL has been compromised and brand new agent, Max and his freshly reconstructed partner, Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway), must infiltrate arch nemesis bad guy group, KAOS, as they are the only agents left who could do so without being recognized. KAOS intends to blow up the world if they don’t get an obscene amount of money and CONTROL seems to be the only group that believes they exist. So Max and 99 gallivant through Moscow to ensure the world remains safely intact. Something funny and exciting happens to them over here and then something more or less amusing happens to them over there. Still, though the action does not always tie together well enough to avoid disorientation, Carrell and Hathaway’s scenes are always welcome considering their quick and infectious chemistry. It is exciting to see Hathaway keep up with Carrell and the film moves so much faster when they’re on screen together compared with when Segal subjects us to a handful of supporting players (excluding Johnson and Alan Arkin, who is delightful as the chief) whose scenes stall the pace and kill the laughs.


When Carrell is awkward and uncomfortable, the results are hilarious. When the movie he’s in tries to mirror that same delicately achieved vibe, it is just sloppy and unwieldy. Sadly, he ends up in these movies far more often than he should. GET SMART comes together entirely on Carrell’s shoulders with no help whatsoever from the people who are supposed to be steering the whole thing. And while he keeps the laughs coming as hard as he can, even Steve can only do so much. In order for GET SMART to have filled out the spots Carrell couldn’t reach, it should have heeded the advice that was right there all along in the title itself.

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

Written by Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana
Directed by Ang Lee

Before the accolades began falling around Ang Lee’s modern western, hype had already planted its spurs into the public’s anticipation. It was becoming known as “The Gay Cowboy Movie.” Yes, it’s gay and yes, the leads are cowboys but that title doesn’t do justice to the love that grows between these two men throughout the span of a twenty-year period. A love that lasts that long despite every challenge is the foundation of a good home. It cannot be explained or defined; it merely is. The fact that it is between two men is not relevant. All that matters is that the love itself lives on and the two affected by that pull are man enough to face it.

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN is a quiet film that takes place in a simpler time. Conversations don’t run long or deep; the buildings in town are no more than two stories high; and work involves using your hands when you can find it. And if you were a man, you made sure you found that work to ensure having enough money to raise the family you were about to create. There was no time to waste wondering about where your life could take you as the life that you had brought with it certain responsibilities. If that meant herding sheep up on Brokeback Mountain all summer, then you made sure you were the first in line to get that job. The first two in line for the job here are Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist (Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, respectively).

Ennis and Jack meet each other in silence outside an office where they await work orders. And though they say nothing until they both have the job and are sharing a drink in celebration, they sneak glances when the other isn’t looking. It isn’t long before they’re on the mountain, a mountain of immense beauty with lively rivers and protective forestry. The sheep they are herding move up the mountain in waves and flow like the river they walk alongside. And once the two men, their dog and the hundreds of sheep have reached their camp, the foundation of love begins to be laid down. Amidst the purity of the nature that surrounds them, something innately natural begins to emerge, tying these two men together in a way they had never expected. They build themselves a home without even realizing as one tends to the camp all day while the other goes out to labour with the sheep. When Jack no longer wants to eat beans, Ennis makes sure to get soup despite his distaste for it. When Ennis cuts his head after being thrown from his horse, Jack is there with a wet towel to wipe away the blood. Their caring is shown through actions that come without thinking. They may not be able to verbalize the compassion one has for the other but the words aren’t necessary anyway. The trust they build opens the door for the men to share about their past lives and future hopes, neither having felt this safe with someone else before. And as their intimacy deepens, they are seen wearing less clothing, lingering longer before looking away until, on one cold night, Ennis joins Jack in the tent for a night that changes their lives forever.


It is one thing to walk around all day after you’ve had sex the night before when you weren’t expecting to. It is a whole other thing when you’ve had that sex with someone of the same sex when you didn’t think that was who you were. And it is yet another thing entirely when that someone is someone you care about. This turmoil can be read all over the face of Ennis, played with a fierce stoicism by Ledger whose silence screams how deeply he internalizes his confusion. Jack on the other hand, will not say how much he loves Ennis but will sing loud and proud about his happiness. And though the two will reach an understanding that their lives are not complete without each other, the complicated nature of their relationship creates a direct contrast to the simplicity that surrounds them. Consequently, this complexity seeps into their regular every day lives, threatening everything they’ve worked for.

The women of BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN give varied perspectives on how it was to be married to Ennis & Jack throughout all those years. As Ennis’ wife, Alma, Michelle Williams, in a revelatory and eruptive performance, looks used and defeated as the years press on. She is introduced as boisterous and as a lover who might actually have a chance of getting into Ennis’ heart. In time, the obvious nature of Ennis’ relationship with Jack becomes as impossible to ignore as her disgust is to put into words. In drastic contrast, Jack’s marriage to Lureen (Anne Hathaway) is transactional. Neither feigns any love for the other and both are content with their arrangement. In fact, Jack has found a woman man enough to rationalize being married to a woman. Lureen’s lack of interest in her husband leaves Hathaway with a cold, distant performance while Williams’ performance is fueled by so many inner conflicts – love for her husband, hatred for his infidelity, disgust over his homosexuality, fear for her future and her children’s future – that she always looks unsettled, tense and desperate.

Outside world left outside, Lee’s love story is both tender and tragic. Gustavo Santaolalla’s somber acoustic guitar score carries you gently along for the journey as it exposes all the trappings life has to offer. Ennis himself says it best when he says, “If you can’t fix it, you gotta stand it.” And this certainly applies to his career of unsteady work or loveless marriage. Jack knows better though. Jack knows that Ennis and him have what it takes to have the good life, that they’re love is the kind that everyone wishes they had. Theirs is a love is that helps you through your problems if you let it grow but it is also a love that brings you nothing but trouble if you keep it all boxed up.

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN is an important film and one that I’ve been looking forward to all year. It is a film that transcends its homosexual imagery allowing for the communication of the basic elements of the story to reach the viewer, any viewer. I took a deep breath before watching in an attempt to remove some of my expectations but I’m glad to say that it was everything I had hoped for it to be. Lee has created a benchmark film about how love can take hold of any two people at any time. I cried three times before the credits ran and was barely able to speak after the lights came up. My big, tall cowboy hat is off to you, Mr. Lee.