Normally when you think about a movie that focuses on the life of a drug dealer you'd probably expect a lot of gangster rap, guns, and fun stuff like that. Ironically though, Side Effects is a film that has nothing of the kind because the drug dealer featured in this one is peddling wears from the pharmaceutical community. The events that take place here are based upon some of the real-life experiences of Kathleen Slattery-Moschlkau, who wrote and directed the movie. Don't get confused though, this isn't a documentary; and that's a big part of the problem.

Going into Side Effects I was expecting a poignant look at the pharmaceutical industry and how it impacts today's society. What I got was a romantic comedy with a message that didn't really succeed on any of the notes it tried to hit. It's not that the overall story doesn't carry weight, because it does. The problem with this movie is that it never feels like it knows what it wants to be.

The plot starts out with a light bubbly attitude and focuses on Karly Hert (Katherine Heigl) going through the routines of being a rep for a big company. No matter how hard she tries she can't seem to get things right and finds herself trapped in an industry she hates. In fact, she's thinking of quitting. That's a thought that becomes more and more prevalent as she hooks up with a boring as dirty guy named Zach. I don't understand what she sees in him, but for some strange and twisted reason he helps her to let out her inner Karly while she's on the job.

With her new confidence and exuberance for life Karly actually begins to do well with her job (yay!). Her sales profits keep going up and with a new drug on the horizon known as Vivexx her potential seems to be limitless. Karly and Zach go through the motions of having a relationship, despite having absolutely no chemistry, but as Karly starts raking in the dough she becomes enveloped by her work. She turns from the fun, happy-go-lucky girl into a work-a-holic once she gets her first Vivexx check for 15 big ones.

Needless to say with all work and no play Karly and Zach's relationship begins to crumble. Karly goes off to work while Zach stays home and watches the linoleum peel I suppose, but he does have time to check the internet for information about Vivexx. He alludes to his estranged lover that the drug she is peddling is bad, which is something she never seemed to consider thanks to company propaganda. Well, she sets out on a mission to uncover what's the matter with the drug and expose the company for covering up information. Like I said earlier, it's not the story that's the problem here. It has all of the right elements and dramatic highlights to succeed; it's just the little things that kill.

The tone of the picture starts out as a lighthearted comedy, which turns into a dull romantic comedy, and then takes a random turn for out of the blue drama. The movie eventually wraps up with no real climax and frankly, all of the pieces fall into place a little too quickly compared to the slow pace for the rest of the film. To top it all off there are random acts of character development that happen for secondary characters that confuse the issue.

Do I really care that Karly's bosses seem to have a thing for each other? Not really. Why show a random guy getting fired at home in front of his kids? What's the point of introducing Karly's deadbeat dad into the story? His best contribution to the movie is "Had I boinked your mother 3 days earlier, you'd have been an Easter baby!" Yeah, way to go dad! Each of these events leads me to my next gripe: the acting. Katherine Heigl is great as Karly and really brings home a lot of the bigger moments in this film. She's the only actor of caliber that you'll find in Side Effects and it's quite evident that the support roles (and some of the bigger ones) were spots filled by first time film "stars." There were times that some of the lesser characters even looked at the camera (or in direction of) as if they were reading from a cue-card.

As a comedy Side Effects only offers a few funny jokes, and some of those are even rehashed throughout the movie. Heigl is charming enough to make it enjoyable in many parts, but the terrible acting of everyone around her really brings the tone down. The featured relationship here as absolutely no chemistry and the dramatic bits (which are supposed to be the center of the story) lose their impact due to the distraction of everything else. I can't help but feel that this tale would have been served better as a documentary instead of a cloudy, poorly acted, and unorganized movie. The message would have carried much more weight that way.

Side Effects featured a relatively low budget (under $200k) so as you'd expect the video quality isn't quite as technically sound as one would hope. The film is presented with a non-anamorphic widescreen ratio and a transfer that isn't without its share of flaws. The video is soft and almost burry at times, with a lot of grain and artifacts in the image. Outdoor shots look much better than indoor ones, though colors appear natural and vibrant.

There are two English tracks featured on the disc for your viewing. The stereo is obviously the lesser of the two while the 5.1 surround offers a little more technical prowess. Don't expect your system to be rocked though. I found that the rear channels were mostly set up for music and sparse amounts of dialogue, of which there is a lot. Subtitles are included for French, Spanish, and English.

For starters there's a trailer for Side Effects and introduction to the project by the writer. There is also a making of featurette on the disc with a lot of information about the production of the film and behind the scene shots. It was interesting to learn how Kathleen Slattery-Moschlkau took her inexperience and shot the film in 16 days with the budget that they had.

About a minute's worth of outtakes and bloopers is available along with four minutes of deleted scenes. Let's just be glad that these bits were kept out of the film. What was up with the bird falling on her window? Anyways…a funny little collection of Vivexx commercials from a contest is also included on the disc. An excerpt from the documentary, Money Talks is featured on the disc as well, though it's little more than an eight minute preview. Kathleen Slattery-Moschlkau also provides a pair of commentaries for Side Effects. One focuses on the film while the other takes a look at the medical tidbits, since there are many.

On paper Side Effects seems like a fairly decent idea, but in reality it is an awkward movie. The core plot is fine and the message is there, but both become convoluted once the blah romance, spotty comedy, and terrible acting takes hold. This movie could have been so much more if the ideas were presented in a more focused fashion. Unless you have an interest in the subject matter here (or Katherine Heigl) then you can pretty much skip this one and go on living.

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