Side Effects
by Lucian McAfee
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Katherine HeiglDirector: Lucian McAfee
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Full length, Letterboxed, NTSC, Subtitled, Surround Sound, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-05-16
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Hummingbird Pictures
Movie Reviews of Side Effects
Movie Review: Bares Big Pharma Excesses
Summary: 4 Stars
Seemingly too simple at first, this film about the disillusionment of a 23 year old drug detail woman says it all about overselling of dangerous drugs. The huge rewards for all out drug pushing finally lost out to a woman with conscience who found out about fatal side effects in a soon-to-be-introduced antianxiety drug she would have to sell to doctors. Reactions of doctors to detail women are given across the spectrum quite accurately. The mishandling of honest researchers is very well presented. The only reason for 4 stars not 5 is saggy directing at times.
To see exactly the same plot, an actual true story is novelized in "Pawn of Pharma" by Evan Jacobs, 2005, to which I gave 5 stars. Equally simple, yet all the corporate slime is there too.
For a more intellectual treatment of the same subject, which gets into falifying results of clinical trials of drugs and tests, see "Let Them Eat Prozac" by David Healy, MD; "The Cult of Pharmacology" by Richard de Grandpre, Ph. D.; "Overdo$ed America" by John Abramson, MD, "Prescription for Disaster" by Thomas J. Moore, Ph. D.; "Politics in Healing" by Daniel Haley.
Summary of Side Effects
Karly Hert (Katherine Heigl) has spent the last ten years selling drugs... legally, that is. She's works for one of corporate America's darlings, the pharmaceutical industry. Karly has it all - a big salary, a company car, a closet full of hot business suits and a growing pit in her stomach... Everything changes when she meets sexy Zach Danner (Lucian McAfee), a down-to-earth guy. Sparks fly! As their relationship heats up, he encourages Karly to walk her talk and leave her empty job. Karly devises a plan to get out.But somehow leaving is never quite as easy as it seems... SIDE EFFECTS is based on the writer/director's decade working for the pharmaceutical industry and stars Grey's Anatomy's hottest intern Katherine Heigl.
It's the perfect prescription for a new comedy!
A well-intentioned film about a young pharmaceutical rep who is torn between earning a good living and living a good life, Side Effects tells the story of Karly Hert, portrayed by Katherine Heigl (Grey's Anatomy, Roswell), who also executive produced the project. Karly works for a company whose motto is "To protect and prolong life." But what they really mean is prolong their own) lives by making as much money as possible. Based on writer-director Kathleen Slattery-Moschkau's previous career as a legal pill pusher, Side Effects is a comedy with an agenda. Its goal is to educate viewers about the dangers of an uneducated sales force telling doctors which drugs to prescribe--regardless of the side effects. While Slattery-Moschkau is heavy handed in her delineation of who is good (the patients) and evil (the drug reps), her semi-autobiographical Karly is relatable. When we meet her, Karly has no patience with her pod-like boss. When her employer rhetorically asks, "How do you think I ended up in management?" Karly zings back, "There are rumors." But as she herself moves up in the company and earns expensive perks, Karly is seduced. Heigl gives an earnest, likable performance, especially during scenes with Lucian McAfee, who plays her boyfriend Zach. While her Norma Rae moment at the end of the film doesn't ring quite true, it gives the movie a fitting ending that ties together all the loose ends. --Jae-Ha Kim
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