Side Effects

I'm still in shocked, wondering how come a movie can be so horrible done. This movie has good intentions. Trying to open people's eyes is always a good thing. But that's about it. Good intentions.

The movie follows the story about a young woman who finds herself into the world of the pharmaceutical industry, while trying to maintain her ideals and integrity.

20 minutes into the film, and you'll be already laughing at how bad is this movie. Sub plots coming out of nowhere, bad acting performances, lack of rhythm, no direction whatsoever, painfully edited, sometimes shots are even out of focus …. I can go on forever. Katherine Heigl tries to put something out of nothing, but that's just not enough.

I've rated a 3/10, only because of the good intentions of the film and a plus point for Katherine Heigl.

Side Effects is a movie that really suffers because of its budget. I think with more money there could have been more done to make this movie better. It basically ends up being an OK movie with a good heart and brain.

The movie plays up the ridiculousness of the American pharmaceutical business and does a good job of it. The story is really alright and I only have minor qualms with the script. The acting (aside from Heigl, who was great aside from her strange tantrum scene) is poor at best and some of the shots had me shaking my head. There seemed to be an inordinate amount of closeup shots of actor's faces in this film. I started realizing about halfway through the film how everything felt like it was zoomed in when it was just one person on screen.

The movie's got a good moral to it and I enjoyed the Madison backdrops, but with a little better funding and maybe some better editing and camera work, it really could have been a better film.

5 out of 10.

The screenplay is beyond clunky and obvious, and sounds as though it were written by a high school freshman. The supporting actors are painfully hammy. The film quality was lacking- out of focus half the time, and it seemed as though it were shot in full screen but being shown wide screen. The concept is there, it's just the execution that kills it all. Katherine Heigel had cute moments, but overall could not overcome the bad material. This is a movie that needed to be made, but should have been made well. The pacing drags, and the "wacky" jokes fall through. Don't waste your money. There are some indies that should never see the light of day, and this is one of them.

"Side Effects" has a great story but unfortunately it has its problems that some people won't be able to get past. It stars Katherine Heigl as a young woman working for a pharmaceutical sales company, trying to figure out her professional life and love life. Although its not an original idea, they told the main story very well as they focused on the pharmaceutical sales industry and the moral dilemmas that come with the job.

Trying to run alongside the main story we had a few sub-plots, but these were really poorly done. These side story lines had no end, or if they did, they had no beginning. They really detracted from the film. Adding to this problem were technical issues with poor editing and sound.

I say you should see it if you are looking for a great story. But if you are going to get frustrated by some poorly written scenes and sloppy editing and sound, then skip it.

This film tells an important story in an entertaining and humorous way. There are several ways the film could have been structured, but blending the drama with humor maximized the entertainment value for me. Katherine Heigl plays the role of Karly Hert fabulously and has good chemistry with the other actors. I thought the sub-plots were good, but I would've enjoyed even more drug rep training/selling/boardroom-type scenes.

I laughed out loud and was amazed (appalled?) at the drug industry's tactics at the same time. It's an important topic highlighted in an entertaining film.