Genre: Romantic Comedy/Drama
Directed by: Garry Marshall
Staring: Jessica Alba, Kathy Bates, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper , Eric Dane, Patrick Dempsey, Hector Elizondo, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Topher Grace, Anne Hathaway, Carter Jenkins, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Latifah, Taylor Lautner, George Lopez, Shirley MacLaine, Emma Roberts, Julia Roberts, Bryce Robinson, Taylor Swift
Released:February 12, 2010

THE GENERAL IDEA

February 14th, Valentines Day, is not a national holiday, but it is one of those days that must be celebrated. Valentines Day follows the lives of several couples during this day celebrating and cursing the day in their own way. Their stories are told through the interconnections they have with each other. Some will find romance in their relationship, and others will feel the heartbreak of ending a relationship. In this Russian roulette world of finding love, everyone in the film is asking for advice on how to find and keep true love.

THE GOOD

The variety and pacing of the film is a tricky thing to balance. Each of these couples are all experiencing love in their own way. Some finding it, some not knowing they have it, some losing it. Even when you see developments coming a mile away they are still a pleasant reveal. The nice thing the film hits on about Valentines Day is that love has many different places for different people of all ages. From 8 to 80, there are love stories to be told here.

The movie does have fun with it, while not being too dramatic. Its a light look that will inspire a number of involuntary “Awww…”s some really funny moments that make sure you still have fun. Taylor Swift is not an actor, but she plays a vapid hormone driven teenager in this and she is a riot. I didn’t “like” her character and you really are not supposed to, but she plays it really well, and is so funny in it. She’s very minor in the film, but fun.

There is no one “star” of this film, so you can enjoy the snippets of every life we cross, and they do a great job editing and balancing all this chaos.

THE BAD

I didn’t find myself emotionally invested in all the characters so there was always a refreshing return to those I did care about. Some scenes pass along as filler that don’t matter much to the intertwining of the rest of the plots, but they are done well enough that they are not distracting. Not the worst part of the film, but I would have liked a film made of intertwining subplots to actually have all subplots matter.

One of the subplots is so carefully crafted that you wouldn’t see it coming (you see a lot coming), but they showed it in the trailer. That took a lot of the heartwarming surprise away. If you don’t know what I am talking about, I won’t tell you. Then you might like that part more than I did.

OVERALL

This film is forever going to be compared to Love Actually, for having a large ensemble cast and telling 8 different love stories of 8 different flavours. The nice thing about it is that it does it pretty well, and while still not quite on par with Love Actually, the movie holds its own. There are a few clever nods to some of the other actor’s parts, like when Taylor Lautner says “I am not comfortable taking my shirt off in public” and stay after the credits. In the limo there is a scene with Julia Roberts where as the driver passes Rodeo Drive asks her if she ever shopped there. She mentions “Once, but it was a big mistake… BIG mistake”