Is Love a drug?

And why did I capitalise it?

Saw Love and Other Drugs yesterday. It begins as: boy finds his ideal job as a rep for a drug company, then meets a girl who rejects him, then she accepts him (but only for sex), then she makes him leave her when her Parkinson’s symptoms worsen. I won’t say how it ends but there’s was some formula involved.

My friend thought it was definitely a ‘chick flick’, though with the amount of time Annie H spends out of her clothes I think straight boys will be well and truly rewarded.
I’m unsure about this movie. There’s a Hollywood smarminess to it, that’s probably reinforced by Jake G’s expression and large eyebrows. At other times it’s excruciatingly authentic (except with the use of an actor to play Jakey G’s brother who looks nothing like him in any way, shape or form in this universe or any parallel universe)

Having said that, there were two moments that had the biggest impact on me. One is when Annie H’s character, Maggie, attends a convention and listens to others with Parkinson’s describe their condition. These people weren’t actors and brought some funny, pathos-filled realism to the scene. The other scene worth mentioning is Jake G’s pseudo-panic attack when he tries to confess something to Annie H – original!

So, is love a drug? Does it need to be addictive to qualify? I think I need to see Love Story with Ryan O’Neal and Ali McGraw again. Maybe that film will answer my title question…