The Love and Other Drugs poster in full glory - and Brokeback Mountain on our minds

Fox may have delayed the release of Love and Other Drugs in the UK to Valentines Day 2011 (demonstrating remarkable lack of knowledge about their own movie), but it is a consolation of sorts that the US date of release - 24 November 2010 - is fixed. A good way to tell is through the posters that are now being framed in pride of place in American theatres. We've had a glimpse already but now here is the poster in all its splendour, giving us a close look at the bedlinen, the chrome on the lamp, the weave of the carpet. You'll find this attention to 90s detail much easier to appreciate if you ignore the fact that Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway are naked. Look at that wood panelling. Source.


Talking of Jake and Anne, one film that will always be a part not only of their career but of all of our lives here is Brokeback Mountain. As time goes by (can you believe it's almost five years?), references to it continue in the media. Sometimes, it can't be denied, it's not always positive, but nevertheless it's because Brokeback Mountain has become a part of our culture and it embodies powerful feelings and suggestions. Take the Take That and Robbie Williams reunification Shame video. For me, this did nothing but make me squirm because my tolerance levels for Robbie Williams have been mined out from under me over the last couple of years. But while some have said that this video doesn't evoke Brokeback at all, others have said that it is a compliment and a tribute. This is because Brokeback Mountain evokes such personal feelings for us all, we're never going to embrace it (if we're fans of it) in the same way.


Recently in the UK, the new Coalition government has been labelled the 'Brokeback Coalition' due to words spoken by a backbencher in a pub, although the politician in question, David Davis, may not actually have seen it: 'I'm going to have to get the DVD'. Let's hope he does. It's a film that people draw conclusions about, or make judgements about, without feeling it necessary to see it. Until their bluff is called. Nevertheless David Cameron - one half of the Brokeback Coalition - took the comparison to heart enough to state that the Coalition was more True Grit than Brokeback Mountain. Does that mean he thinks John Wayne is a better role model? Or that guns at dawn is a better style of government?


Jeremy Hunt, the Minister of Culture who abolished the UK Film Council, dismissed the comparison as 'a very catchy phrase', insisting that the process of government was much more about rolling up sleeves and getting on with it. Nick Clegg, the other half of the Coalition, also dismissed the analogy, saying he'd seen the film 'too long ago' to be able to comment.


It's all just words but it has been interesting to watch the discussions in the media of how relevant, or not, the lesson of Brokeback Mountain is to an uneasy Coalition. And not all ministers have dismissed the comparison out of hand.


It's not just politicians who are compared to Jack and Ennis. The Dallas Cowboys have recently been described as 'more ‘Brokeback’ than they were ‘Eastwood’.' Again, it is deemed as 'better' to be compared to Clint Eastwood or John Wayne than to Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger. Less surprisingly, cowboys get compared to the Brokeback cowboys: One particular cowboy 'exclaimed: "Do I look like Jake Gyllenhaal? I get that about six times a day! I get sick of that. I have seen it though. It's kind of different, I mean it ain't really ranching, all they were doing is sheep."'


I would argue that being compared to Jake Gyllenhaal six times a day is rather a compliment. But, to be fair, this cowboy has seen the film and he focuses on the sheep and so one wonders if the 'negative' attitude of the article belongs more to the journalist than the cowboy.


Brokeback continues to be just as important to gay communities and I loved the idea of Georgetown University's GU 'Brokeback Georgetown Ice Cream Social'. Brokeback Mountain, Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger and ice cream is a mix one can only dream of.



Includes pictures from links and IHJ.