Frenzied Sex, Prescriptions Drugs & Jake Gyllenhaal Warm The Cinematic Bed in "Love and Other Drugs"

Edward Zwick"s "Love and Other Drugs" mirrors the cutthroat peddling of prescription drugs among drug reps (drug agents), and the way rival drug companies proceed with overboard tactics to win over difficult physicians' favors! But at the heart of this competitive environment is an unusual affection between serial womanizer Jamie Randall (Jake Gyllenhaal) and early-onset Parkinsons patient Maggie Murdock (Anne Hathaway) who both pretend that what they have is just exceptional sexual chemistry and none else in matters of affection.

The flick is set at the advent of the blue pill Sildenafil (Viagra) and the rise of Zoloft as an anti-depressant and effectively takes us into the world of Jamie who badly needs to succeed (he's the blacksheep in a family of over-achievers). With lots of eye-popping nudity buoying up the cinematic canvas, the story almost wavers its focus on the more pertinent issue on relationship investments which was readily dealt with at the latter part of the story. From a very flaky, albeit charming start, Jamie and Maggie's romantic chronology soon turns into "Lorenzo's Oil" territory before briskly shifting into something hopeful and inspiring. Yes, med reps in the real world can become physicians. LOL

Gyllenhaal and Hathaway boil, crackle, fizzle and conflagrate the screen with their charm and chemistry. And if the peekaboo nudities won't have you palpitating until you're blue, you better get those beta-blockers ready. Don't say we didn't warn you!

Gyllenhaal conflagrates the screen with so much nudity, my screen had singes at the fringes.

Jake Gyllenhaal Simmers as the Prince of Persia

Prince Dastan

I admit not expecting much from Mike Newell's "Prince of Persia". Another video game turns into another Hollywood blockbuster. Don't we just know the intelligence quotient of such films?

But I didn't wanna miss it for several reasons: foremost of which is Jake Gyllenhaal who plays Dastan - our Prince of Persia.

When orphan boy Dastan valiantly stands up against a brutal Persian soldier, the King decides to adopt him, duly making him "prince" alongside his 2 other royal brothers. He grows up happy, content, albeit a wee bit impulsive, but nevertheless loved by his royal family. When they get word that a neighboring kingdom is mass producing weapons of mass destruction (America, are you watching?) and selling them to an enemy kingdom, Persia decides to invade the aforementioned kingdom, ruled by a mystical princess "whose beauty is beyond compare" - Princess Tamina, played by current "it" girl, Gemma Arteron.

A magical dagger with the power to turn back time soon becomes everyone's raison d'etre as it allows manipulation of events - in the process, can even bring back the dead. When Dastan becomes a suspect for the death of the King, the prince turns to Princess Tamina (Arterton) for an alliance to somehow clear him off the dartardly accusation. Will they save the fate of mankind from total annihilation? Will they find love under the sun-soaked exoticism of royal Persia (Iran)? Will they be able to overpower the slithery Hassansin?

Though Dastan and Tamina's cat-and-mouse banters seem perfunctory, we soon found these flirtations quite fetching, to be honest. And who wouldn't flirt with a prince whose smile could melt an iceberg? The action scenes felt laborious, but the fluid dynamics of Dastan and Tamina's relationship is a joy to behold. I also find the endearing sibling relationship inspiring. Gyllenhaal seems eons away from the lovable boy-next-door Homer in his breakout film "October Sky" (1999) but we are tickled pink of his success. He deserves no less.

Despite the limitations of its story, "Prince of Persia" is far from being an apathetic Hollywood fare. It is an entertaining work altogether.

Jake checks his abs. He'll appear next in "Nailed" (with Jessica Biel and James Marsden) and "Love and Other Drugs" (with Anne Hathaway).

Brothers - Spoils of War, Crumbs on a Family

In the scorching drama "Brothers", directed by the always reliable Jim Sheridan ("My Left Foot", "In The Name of the Father" & "The Field"), a sibling rivalry comes to the fore when a missing marine Sam (intensely scary Tobey Maguire) is rescued from the clutches of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Sam comes home scarred from the inside out, and his family is feeling all the scraps of his shriveled sanity. Meanwhile, Tommy (dangerously sexy Jake Gyllenhaal) - the family's blacksheep - had been mending his ways and taking care of Sam's family - wife Grace (the endearing Natalie Portman) and their 2 daughters.

The film examines the family dynamics of jealousy and the limits of human frailty. How much can one take without exploding personal shrapnels of grief on your family?

This movie boasts of searing performances all around. Maguire ("Spider-man") is uncharacteristically intense, it was almost unbearable watching him simmer. He had absolute control to a role that could have easily gone ballistic. Gyllenhaal is easily sympathetic, taking on a role that he lived out with rich nuances making Tommy "real". Natalie Portman is charismatic from start to finish.

This is an excellent remake from 2004's "Brother" - a Danish production directed by Susan Bier ("Things We Lost in the Fire", "After the Wedding"). This was also a superior work - which became one of the 100 Favorite Movies of the Decade by "Film Experience".

Doing a Bruce Lee.

"Is this smile good enough?" asks Jake.

Spidery pose.

The Danish original "Brothers" (2004) by Susan Bier.