Review of Valentine's Day (2010) by ● Nate & — 22 Mar 2012

An all-star ensemble cast comes together in "Valentine's Day," which follows the intertwining storylines of a diverse group of Los Angelenos as they navigate their way through romance and... An all-star ensemble cast comes together in "Valentine's Day," which follows the intertwining storylines of a diverse group of Los Angelenos as they navigate their way through romance and heartbreak over the course of one Valentine's Day. Couples and singles experience the pinnacles and pitfalls of finding, keeping or ending relationships in a day in the life of love. Directed by veteran filmmaker Garry Marshall, the film stars Jessica Alba ("Fantastic Four"), Academy Award® winner Kathy Bates ("Misery"), Jessica Biel ("I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry"), Bradley Cooper ("The Hangover"), Eric Dane (TV's "Grey's Anatomy"), Patrick Dempsey ("Enchanted"), Hector Elizondo (the "Princess Diaries" films), Academy Award® winner Jamie Foxx ("Ray"), Jennifer Garner ("Juno"), Topher Grace ("Spider-Man 3"), Academy Award® nominee Anne Hathaway ("Rachel Getting Married"), Ashton Kutcher ("What Happens in Vegas"), Academy Award® nominee Queen Latifah ("Chicago"), Taylor Lautner ("The Twilight Saga: New Moon"), George Lopez ("Beverly Hills Chihuahua"), Academy Award® winner Shirley MacLaine ("Terms of Endearment"), Emma Roberts ("Hotel for Dogs"), Academy Award® winner Julia Roberts ("Erin Brockovich") and award-winning singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, in her feature film debut. - Warner Bros.

The story for Valentine's Day isn't exactly your standard romantic comedy, it's about all of then smashed up together in one, as the star studded cast can clearly tell you. It's about a lot of couples falling in and out of love, not exactly original but it is funny nonetheless. You get Ashton Kutcher's story of him getting married to Jessica Alba and running a flower shop in all it's craziness. It has a ten year old boy trying to find young love. It has Bradley Cooper seemingly trying to woo Julia Roberts. There's Jennifer Garner who falls for a cheating boyfriends. Anne Hathaway who falls for Topher Grace, and the list goes on and on. It is indeed a frantic story as you could guess, there's so much going on that you can't capture everything in the amount of time each scene gives as it has to follow so many different stories. There's plenty of good ol' romantic cliches that will either have your eyes rolling or your heart throbbing. I enjoy a solid romantic comedy, and this was has plenty to offer in regards to laughs. I found myself laughing at the appropriate times and feeling sad when needed be. The humor is funny and a little raunchy so it plays out nicely, it's pretty much the ideal date movie.

Acting, characters, huge cast, oh my! This movie delivers the stars, it has every big name comedy star you can possibly think of. If I were to go through all of them I wouldn't be done typing until tomorrow morning. So I'll do three I liked and three I didn't like so much. I really enjoyed Ashton Kutcher's performance, it just felt real. I haven't seen many movies with Ashton but this one was a nice touch to his mild career. He was funny and he seemed human, what I mean by that is that you can easily relate to him and some of his struggles he's going through. He's a great actor and just an overall funny guy. Jessica Biel's character is a riot, you can also relate to her as well. We all know what it's like to be alone on Valentine's Day but she takes it to the top, she makes a party that's only for hating Valentine's Day, she's funny and she knows how to act her part. One small line that I found hilarious personally was when her hands are full and the escort guy is trying to find a place to put a piece of paper, she says "just stick it where you're looking" and he places the paper in her breast area, I thought that was pretty darn funny. I really liked Anne Hathaway's character, as she kind of played a double role towards Topher Grace, she has two jobs, one is a secretary and the other is something I will not spoil. But she keeps the other job secret so Topher doesn't find out. She like the rest of the cast does her role very well, and she is hilarious, I still see her as the Disney girl in "Princess Diaries" but this is quite a role than that, and I like it. One of the characters I didn't really care much about was Taylor Lautner and Taylor Swift (I'll put them together because they're always together), I felt they were kind of pointless and just provided more comic relief, I did like the fact that they made Swift the stereotypical blonde, that was pretty funny. It's not that they were bad actor, they did just fine it's just they felt a little useless and didn't do much for the story. Jessica Alba's character really didn't do it for me either, I was never a big fan of her, only "Sin City" and this movie didn't help my liking towards her. There's not really enough explanation of why she dumps Ashton, she kind of mentions it as if she doesn't have enough time or something, but never really goes into detail, plus it makes me feel bad for Ashton. I felt like there was going to be some build up that Jessica was going to come back to Ashton, because there ar a few scenes of just Jessica, but they never really go anywhere. Last but not least, I gotta say it, Queen Latifah, I'm sorry. She was funny at her very last scene, I will give her that. Otherwise like the Taylor's she felt kind of pointless, her acting was good but there was no love story behind her. She says they call her bipolar Debra (I think that was her name) but she never really shows us that she's truly bipolar. I realize I've taken up all my space but some honorable mentions go to George Lopez who did a great job, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Garner and Julia Roberts. Sorry I didn't get to them but they did do a great job. Especially the last scene with Bradley Cooper, that will throw everyone off guard.

I know this is only a four paragraph review, but that third paragraph pretty much covers everything. So, overall I really did enjoy this movie, it's a great date movie that provides many laughs. While the story is a bit flawed, and pretty frantic at time, it's fun and brings good times. The whole time you'll enjoy yourself watching this movie, there's laughter, there's emotion, and there's a few actor strewn about in there, no one big though. I'm kidding, the cast is what brings this movie to life and gives it its charm and sense of humor. The whole cast is great and does a great job making it great. Although there are some actors that feel just sort of thrown in there and needed some more explanation, but I realize that with such a frantic story the director couldn't really do anything about real depth and explanation. If you're looking for a good romantic comedy to see with that "special someone" then this is the movie for you. You won't be disappointed, you will laugh, and have a good time.