Asia Mission (1985)

Asia Mission: Directed by Robert Clouse. With Kurt Thomas, Tetchie Agbayani, Richard Norton, Edward Michael Bell. An American gymnast travels to a foreign country to compete in a deadly game not won by anyone other than a native in more than 900 years.

“Love stories are essentially the same — itu0026#39;s a matter of how you dress them up. Many will see through u0026quot;Love and Other Drugsu0026quot; and count the romance clichés and formulaic characters, others will find the 1996 setting and the pharmaceutical angle refreshing. Both forces are hard at work in this film, but the tipping point goes in favor thanks to the leads, Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway. Thereu0026#39;s a reason most romantic films are judged based on the chemistry of their lead actors. When it comes to romance, itu0026#39;s not about how cleverly written the two characters are and how unique and special they feel to us. What counts is whether they can convince you of their attraction/love and get you to — without blunt coercion — invest in what happens to them. Gyllenhaal and Hathaway have what it takes to do just that in spite of a script that sometimes tries to lean too hard on conventional tactics of boys meets girl. Gyllenhaal plays Jamie, an expert salesman who lands a gig as a pharmaceutical sales rep for Pfizer, right before Viagra hit the market. Heu0026#39;s also adept at landing any woman he desires. He epitomizes a Don Juan and heu0026#39;s plays the type well, but when you can predict that heu0026#39;ll end up in bed with the next attractive woman that shows up on screen, the writing has taken it a bit far. As good of a filmmaker as Edward Zwick is, his best credits include u0026quot;Glory,u0026quot; u0026quot;The Last Samuraiu0026quot; and u0026quot;The Blood Diamondu0026quot; — not exactly romance. He co-wrote the script (based on Jamie Reidyu0026#39;s memoir) with longtime collaborator Marshall Herskovitz and thriller writer Charles Randolph (u0026quot;The Interpreteru0026quot;), so no real romantic comedy prowess exists among them, hence the tendency to stick with genre conventions. One such convention is Jamieu0026#39;s brother (Josh Gad), who plays the little brother crashing on Jamieu0026#39;s couch who has a porn addiction and makes clueless statements, usually to the tune of no laughs, but he does help break the tension. Enter girl. Jamie meets Maggie, a bit of a free-spirited cynic who (in a unique twist) has way early onset Parkinsonu0026#39;s. Many will be quick to jump on the u0026quot;diseased girlu0026quot; archetype, but donu0026#39;t judge Hathawayu0026#39;s prowess that quickly. As completely pathetic as Maggieu0026#39;s self-esteem might be and how strictly anti-commitment she is, when her character caves in to the romance as they all do, Hathaway gives Maggie a believable fragility rather than a melodramatic tone. Jamieu0026#39;s motives for wanting to spend more time with Maggie and not simply continuing his streak of banging all who possess lady parts are reduced to the reason of u0026quot;sheu0026#39;s playing hard to get,u0026quot; which is not the best of reasons. The same can be said about Maggie constantly accusing Jamie of having pity sex with the diseased girl. However, watching these two charm each other and overcome the cliché has a definite appeal. The two spend a lot of naked time together, making u0026quot;Love and Other Drugsu0026quot; the best date movie this holiday season. But on a serious note, the drug angle and the u0026quot;recent pastu0026quot; setting give us something else to chew on, which is nice. Zwick never truly marries that story line with the romance except u0026quot;Jamie sells drugs and Maggie has a disease that lacks an effective one.u0026quot; The thematic ties are not quite there despite the plot coincidences and the fitting title. u0026quot;Love and Other Drugsu0026quot; is hardly the cure for the common romantic comedy, but the consistent dosage of its two stars by and large pushes away those symptoms. ~Steven C”