Side Effects (2005)

Don't listen to the negative reviews

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I saw this film at the Wisconsin Film Festival a few years back and I thought it was pretty good. It was a little rough around the edges, if I remember correctly, but all in all, a good film. I thought Lucian did very well with his character. I was a little unclear about their relationship, but only after thinking about it once the film was done. During the film it didn't seem to be an issue for me, which is perfectly fine, since that's a huge part of what a director is supposed to do - suspend disbelief. When my girlfriend and I left the screening, there was a lot of excited energy around and a lot of people seemed to enjoy it. I did. I'm surprised that people could say such bad things about this film. I've thought about buying the DVD but just haven't gotten around to it. Good luck with your next film and I hope to see more stuff from Lucian. KH was pretty good too.

I was a Pharmaceutical Rep for one of the largest companies in the world. This movie is very truthful in showing how they work. We were taught EXACTLY what to say to the doctors and we even had a canned answer for everything they could say. I found this film to be very funny and I thought the acting was great! Katherine Heigl is very good in her role and a very beautiful woman. I liked the way the movie took you through her thought process and followed her to the right choice. I never looked at my job from this point of view but I did sell a drug that was pulled by the FDA for liver problems. Also, many of the doctors that I met were not the sharpest tools in the shed so it was easy to get them to write my drugs! It is a must see for any one in this field!

Erin Brokovich, Norma Rae, Karen Silkwood... These names conjure fear in Corporate America. Karly Hart could walk along these stately women belting out their own rendition of Whitney Houston's "I'm every Woman." Katherine Heigel of ABC's recent hit "Grey's Anatomy" plays the part of the impressionable; "legal" drug dealing, Karly. Heigel brings a vulnerability and bewitching beauty to a story seeded in ugliness.A story, in fact, so ugly that, by the end, has reared its ugly head and transformed itself into a swan. Rarely, does a story leap off the screen and force you to pay attention to the veracity, not masquerading behind special effects, not big glitzy endings, but, instead,focusing on truth. In this case, the truth is the sobering enlightenment of the pharmaceutical industry, a truth that writer/director, Kathleen Slattery-Moschkau, knows all to well. For ten years, she saw the world Karly Hart views through her exploited eyes, witnessing for herself the corruption and deceit of the pharmaceutical industry. Side Effects is a film that is important in a time when we are consumed by the instant fix; it's a wake up call when a slow down is needed to open the eyes of a country engulfed by convenience. Make my potato in 30 seconds, get me there faster, and please Doc, get rid of my heartburn as quickly as possible. "Side Effects" gives you the reason to stop and ask, why? While the acting is on par and the filming, at times, does have an unfinished feel to it, it adds to the rawness, unpolished, and green world of Karly Hart. Make sure you check out "Side Effects," now playing in Milwaukee and Madison, and check out our Feature story on Kathleen and Holly Mosher in the January issue of Wisconsin on the Reel.I can sleep better now thanks to Kathleen... well, Kathleen and Ambien.Ryan Ripp- WOR

Kathleen Slattery-Moschkau's indie film, Side Effects, is a funny but accurate and intelligent portrayal of what it's like to work as a pharmaceutical sales rep. It was shot in Madison, Wisconsin, in 18 days on a budget of $190,000, and it's better than most of the Hollywood blockbusters I've seen so far this year. Writer/director Kathleen Slattery-Moschkau was a pharmaceutical sales rep for 10 years for two of the biggest companies (Bristol-Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson) before becoming thoroughly disillusioned and leaving the industry to write this fictional script based on her experiences as a rep.The movie stars Katherine Heigl (of the TV series, Grey's Anatomy) as Karly Hert, a young woman struggling to reconcile her values with the slick requirements and lack of ethics in her job as a pharmaceutical rep. Lucien McAfee plays Karly's boyfriend, Zach Danner. The rest of the cast and crew consists of local Wisconsinites, including the film's Hollywood producer, Holly Mosher, a Milwaukee native.This is heavy subject matter, but it's successfully presented as a comedy/romance. Side Effects is informative and thoroughly entertaining.