Valentine’s Day
Garry Marshall
Warner Brothers Pictures
New lines Cinema
3 stars
Director Garry Marshall (Pretty Woman, Princess Diaries) has taken the joy and heartbreak of the holiday to the big screen in this year’s romantic comedy Valentine’s Day.
On the most affectionate day of the year, couples set in Los Angeles express happiness, disappointment and even hostility towards the holiday. A long list of top-notch actors provides a Love Actually-esque story of seemingly independent, yet intertwining character relationships.
The film starts with Reed Bennett (Ashton Kutcher) who is engaged to Morley Clarkson (Jessica Alba). However, Bennett ends up alone as Clarkson decides she wants to concentrate on her career — a shame to even think about.
The tone goes from exciting to unbelievable in under 30 minutes — but with their close friends constantly questioning the engagement, it makes sense that the relationship was not meant to be. Figures there was some sort of heartbreak right off the bat to keep the audience entertained. Bennett’s best friend Julia Fitzpatrick (Jennifer Garner) is left in denial as secrets from her boyfriend, Dr. Harrison Copeland (Patrick Dempsey), are revealed.
While coming home for the holiday, Kate Hazeltine (Julia Roberts), a United States soldier, meets a handsome stranger (Bradley Cooper), who is hiding something about himself during the 14-hour flight. Marshall keeps the secret fairly well right until the end.
The Taylors (Swift and Lautner) show their affection through young love, but they don’t do enough acting throughout the movie. Swift received mixed reviews for the “hyperactive teen” she portrayed but overall tried her best to play the typical teen overly excited about love.
Another couple, Grace (Emma Roberts) and Alex (Carter Jenkins), are ready to have sex before leaving for college but soon realize the importance of waiting — this making their relationship stronger.
The old birds Estelle (Shirley MacLaine) and Edgar (Hector Elizondo) are happily married until another hidden truth is revealed. Incorporating these two was interesting and allowed viewers to see how wonderful but tough love is.
Liz (Anne Hathaway) and new boyfriend Jason (Topher Grace) hit it off until she gets caught as an adult phone entertainer, after numerous calls and Hathaway putting on a Russian accent.
Kara Monahan (Jessica Biel), a depressed young publicist for football superstar Sean Jackson (Eric Dane), shares the hate of the holiday with sports reporter Kelvin Moore (Jamie Foxx).
It is understandable if one cannot keep up since the film is quite full. Plots are well-written and well-played, but Marshall should have noticed too many actors were pushed together with parts only seen for about 10 minutes each — except for Kutcher and Garner. He could have taken some actors out and made some plots longer. However, we do get to see Kutcher and Garner as a couple and Cooper and Dane a gay couple. Marshall intends to create a story line that people relate to but falls short to a degree.
Overall, the film was good, but if you don’t like seeing too many plots, wait until the movie reaches DVD and then decide if it was worth it.Melissa Novacaska