Valentine's Day is probably the most loved and hated holiday in existence. For Hallmark and Hershey's, it's their biggest season commercially. For couples, it's a special day to be hopelessly romantic with a loved one. For singles, it's a reminder that being single is still awful.
People do crazy things for love, and the new romantic comedy "Valentine's Day" shows that, best of all, this is a holiday when anything can happen. In the pantheon of ensemble romantic comedies, "Valentine's Day" is more charming than last year's lackluster "He's Just Not That Into You," but not nearly as original, heartwarming or fun to watch as "Love Actually" (2003). While the new film boasts an enormous cast of A−list actors, "Valentine's Day" falters in its overabundance of clichéd plotlines and underdeveloped characters.
From director Garry Marshall, "Valentine's Day" portrays interconnected characters at different stages of their love lives as they learn to cope with the uncertainty of Feb. 14. While its playful characters are fun to watch, the film lacks originality and substance. The underlying problem with "Valentine's Day" is its attempt to be an American version of "Love Actually," which forces audiences to compare the two films. And while "Love Actually" is without a doubt one of the best romantic comedies that has hit the silver screen in years, this rom−com just can't hold a candle to it.
Consequently, the film ends up coming across as a cheap American imitation. It's as if the writers of "Valentine's Day" took a few love stories from "Love Actually," stripped them of their originality and British charm (their accents, for example) and spit them back out with a notable American cast, expecting audiences not to notice. But we did.
One can't help but weigh the precocious little boy of this film, Edison (Bryce Robinson), against the adorable, wide−eyed Sam (Thomas Sangster) in "Love Actually." In the absence of his mother, Edison — like Sam — finds himself head−over−heels in love with someone from his school. Of course, the only problem is that the girl in question doesn't have a clue. At first, it's cute watching Edison waltz into Reed's (Ashton Kutcher) flower shop, expecting to buy a dozen roses with $13, but soon it's clear that the charismatic Sangster definitely outshines Robinson in his performance as a love−struck schoolboy.
Though "Valentine's Day" does have a few interesting plot twists that keep audiences entertained, overall, many of the relationships portrayed have neither the sincerity nor the authenticity of emotion needed to truly make these love stories feel real.
Take, for instance, the relationship between Reed, the film's lead character, and his best friend, Julia (Jennifer Garner), as they begin to realize that they might be more than just friends. Since their relationship soon becomes the main thread of the film, tying all of the other characters together, it's upsetting to see that two of Hollywood's biggest stars have no chemistry whatsoever.
But chemistry aside, the real drawback of the film is that Valentine's Day is only one day. Unfortunately, this time limitation makes any major changes to the characters' relationships in a mere 24 hours come off as insincere and completely unrealistic.
At the start of the film, Reed asks his girlfriend Morley (Jessica Alba) to marry him, while Julia has finally found herself the perfect guy in Harrison (Patrick Dempsey). Without giving too much away, by the end of the night, things don't go exactly as planned for the two friends. With the erratic ups and downs of these relationships, it's as if the film is "When Harry Met Sally" (1989) in overdrive, and instead of 11 years, they have a single day to make something happen.
The film's star−studded cast also includes Jessica Biel, Topher Grace, Anne Hathaway, Bradley Cooper and Taylor Lautner, just to name a few. Having so many celebrities in one film is exciting because of all of the potential eye−candy, but it's also entirely overwhelming. "Valentine's Day" is overly ambitious as it tries to take on way too many plotlines.
With so many loose threads, the film is forced to choose breadth over depth of character. Because Marshall does not flesh out any of the characters and plotlines enough to give them each the airtime they deserve, many of the love stories feel contrived and one−dimensional.
Ultimately, "Valentine's Day" is just another cute, predictable romantic comedy. As a "Love Actually" knock−off, "Valentine's Day" is a good date movie at best.
