Size does matter.
Yes, I am talking that that outer appendage that seems to guide the hearts, souls and minds of the patriarchs of our society.
One such example of a hormone driven XY is Jamie Randall (played by the Jake Gyllenhaal) in the latest and greatest romantic comedy to hit the big screen, Love and Other Drugs.
Set in 1996, the movie takes viewers through the day-to-day life of a pharmaceutical rep in the earlier days of pill pushing, when Prozac was a new phenomenon and before Pfizer pens were in every desk drawer in America.
Gyllenhaal, a new rep on the force, works his way onto the prescription pads of his doctor clients, and into the pants of their secretaries by laying on the charm of those big blue eyes.
During an effort to woo a doctor into prescribing Zoloft, Gyllenhaal meets an early onset Parkinson's Disease patient, Maggie Murdock ( played by Anne Hathaway ). His efforts to woo are then directly focused on her, and he succeeds, falling for her (for real) in the process.
Gyllenhaal and Hathaway have undeniable chemistry, and it helps that they are half-naked for the better part of the movie. Their lust is temporarily put on hold when Jamie ( Gyllenhaal) drags Maggie all over the country trying to find her a cure, when really he is trying to soothe his own anxiety about her serious condition.
These days, I don't really love a love story, but there's something oddly real about Gyllenhaal and Hathaway. His underlying insecurity (always?) and her desperate fierceness to remain independent as her disease takes away her dignity feels less Enchanted ( Patrick Dempsey, Amy Adams) and more My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
Just two fairly ordinary people with ordinary jobs, who find themselves fighting a common battle: being in love.
The final scene shows Jamie chasing after Maggie, who is in a bus to Canada to get drugs ( a not-so-subtle jab at the pharmaceutical industry and the state of American health care), where he promptly orders her off the bus and claims he can't live without her.
The best part of the movie: when Maggie asks Jamie to tell her four things he likes about himself. I've started doing that.
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