A Quick Tip by Count_Orlok_22

There's a general problem I have with Hollywood's so-called "romantic comedies". They tend to try to hard to make audiences laugh by being juvenile and predictably raunchy thus failing to be truly comedic. Then they seem to confuse lust with love and figure that in order for two people to be romantic on screen they have to be physically attractive and preferably white and upper middle class. Where the problem sets in is that white upper middle class people are boring and they are a very small sampling of America's cultural and economic diversity. Lust is generated by the selfish need for sexual gratification whereas love is a condition in which one person is utterly affected by and devoted to another unconditionally and for selfless reasons. Raunchy humor and predictability may be popular with puerile teenagers who are so flooded with hormones that they can't think straight except for about sex and... mainly more sex.

Is the film titillating? Perhaps a little. Is it humorous? Rarely. Is it romantic? Not in the least.

We've reached a point in the romantic comedy genre where yuppies seem to be again the primary characters in the films. Not only are they white, upper middle class, and extremely selfish, they are also lacking in moral fiber, personal integrity, or a sense of societal equilibrium. A perfect example of this if the film Love and Other Drugs in which a yuppie played by Jake Gyllenhaal working for Pfizer lies, manipulates, and exploits the people around him (many of them sick or suffering from health conditions) for his own personal gain. The problem is that he is immediately a skirt-chasing jerk and so callous that he is essentially unsympathetic. Naturally, through the course of the film he miraculously becomes the hero of the romance and somehow comes to terms with his own insecurities and finds true love. Yeah, I didn't buy into that for a second.
The (un)lucky woman to win his heart is feisty bohemian artist played by Anne Hathaway who has Parkinson's disease and thus is afraid to have a seriously committed relationship. In many regards these two seem like the perfect match since they both want sex regardless of the fact that there isn't mutual respect or consideration between them. Even at the end of the film, you don't feel that this has changed, but it's okay because the yuppie always gets what he wants in movies.

What's worse is that this film is populated with unlikable, selfish, and not particularly smart characters. The yuppie has an obnoxious, fat, and creepy brother who does nothing but get high and lust after his girlfriends. The yuppie's friends are cardboard cut-out characters who are so painfully mundane and greedy that he is downright unlikable by association with them.
So, sorry, Hollywood... but you can place as many nude scenes in here, but I don't think any intelligent person will be swayed by the frequent site of either Gyllenhaal's pecs or Hathaway's bare buttocks and breasts. As nice as they may be to look at, they do not a true story make and are in no way substitutes for real characterization. Even the cast, which features some fine actors in rather flimsy performances, is limp. Maybe the film industry needs a little blue pill.

Even the inference that being in love is somehow the equivalent to being on drugs is offensive and stupid.

I'm sorry, but when did we go back to the moronic mentality of the '80s? When do we make light of drug use, prescription or otherwise, at the expense of the sick? When is it acceptable for a man to be so promiscuous and unapologetic in his misleading of women and then sleeping around behind their backs? And why is it that artistic and creative women in films are always shown as being sexually loose and commitment shy?
Frankly, I'm tired of these putrid cliches and I'm sick of the Hollywood machine that churns them out in lieu of either real comedy or real romance. It would appear that most studio execs, directors, and writers wouldn't know the difference and they assume audiences are as ignorant as they are.

Bah!