Side Effects

A satirical but not quite scathing indictment of the pharmaceutical industry
At the very beginning of "Side Effects," our heroine, Karly Hert (Katherine Heigl), tells us that she sells drugs for a living, quickly adding that she does it legally. Karly is not a drug pusher; she is a sales rep for a pharmaceutical company. Writer/director/producer Kathleen Slatery-Moschkau worked several years in just such a job, so her objective here is to air the industry's dirty laundry and possibly convince you that drug pushers might not be that bad in comparison for the simple reason that the drug companies do not take as much of your money.

Katy is hired by the company, not because she knows anything about pharmaceuticals, but because she is a babe. However, Katy is not really comfortable in a corporate world where making money is the bottom line and her boss prefers that she wear panty hose is she is gong to wear a skirt. On the other hand, when they hired her they gave Katy a company car and that is nothing to sneeze at. Then Katy meets Zach Danner...

So bad, it's good
This movie has a lot of strikes against it - the different "locations" are frequently the same room with furniture rearranged. Narrative devices like text on screen or interlude interviews are picked up and abandoned at random. Subplots (in particular, those involving Karly's best friend and the rest of her family) are never resolved, and the dialogue is frequently clunky exposition of company rhetoric. Many of the supporting actors are obviously not in the same league as the main players, and it's not hard to predict the plot points of the film.

But the movie has heart and a winning lead actress in Katherine Heigl, and this movie has become one of my guilty pleasures. As a medical professional, I have heard all of the arguments for and against drug reps as depicted in this film, but the scenes where Karly shows how hard it is to do her job were particularly convicting. Corporate ethics aside, these are personal issues, and most of these people are just trying to pay...

Izzie vs. Big Pharma
I enjoyed this film for two reasons:

First, Katherine Heigl. Being a huge fan of Grey's Anatomy and of Katherine Heigl I had a hunch I would enjoy this movie, but her performance was even better than I expected. This is a bigger film role than normal for her, but she tackles it with ease and shows much more of her range than she does on Grey's. She gets the driven, determined quality of the character perfectly, and gives all of her frustrations a great comic quality. She's a very talented dramatic actress and this film suggests that she's an even better comic actress. Her timing is near perfect. And yes, she's devastatingly attractive and charming (was there any doubt there?). I hope this opens doors for her...

Second, the message. I happen to be a veteran of the pharmaceutical industry. I hope everyone can see this film and get a glimpse of the marketing practices of big pharma. It's fictional, obviously, but however hilariously absurd and gross the...

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