Review: Valentine's Day

Grade: C

Valentine's Day is a big day to some people, even though it's not a national holiday. It means different things to different people. Some love the holiday and chose to cherish the ones they love on this day, others despise it and only feel alone and unloved. This movie follows several different couples as their lives, and stories, intertwine in Los Angeles on February 14th. From a couple that's been together for over 50 years to couples that have only been together for two weeks. From couples that are sure they are in love to couples that are still trying to figure things out. It's simply a story of people trying to discover true love.

This movie is kind of a mess. There are far too many characters in it. Some of those characters, you barely know their names by the end of the movie. I understand why they had so many characters, they were trying to show every aspect of love/valentine's day that they could think of. Problem is, to be able to do that well, the movie should have been 4 hours long. Instead they try to cram like thirty characters stories, and try to develop those characters, in just two hours. I will admit, some of the characters were great, like George Lopez's character and Jessica Biel's character. Some were just downright awful, and I mean just terrible writing, like the 10 year old kid who acts and talks like he's 40 and Anne Hathaway's phone sex operator, just awkward. There is also a pretty big plot hole/goof the movie made, see if you can catch it.

Now, I would like to say that I did find the movie pretty funny. Some of the conversations that people have in the movie are hilarious. My favorite scene involved Jennifer Garner and Patrick Dempsy after Garner's character discovers her boyfriend, Dempsy, is married. She finds him and his wife at a restaurant and pretends to be a waitress and tells them the special is "Filthy Lying Pig" and the details of said special had me laughing hysterically.

The cast is, as I mentioned before, massive. The only person I would consider the "lead" of this movie is Ashton Kutcher and that's simply because he has the most screen time and his character kind of ties it all together as he is a florist delivering flowers to most of the characters. The rest of the cast includes Jessica Alba, Kathy Bates, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, George Lopez, Topher Grace, Eric Dane, Patrick Dempsey, Jennifer Garner, Hector Elizondo, Shirley MacLaine, Jamie Foxx, Anne Hathaway, Queen Latifah, Julia Roberts, Emma Roberts, Larry Miller, Taylor Lautner, Taylor Swift and Carter Jenkins.

This movie is at least pretty decent. It's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be but it did still feel like a mediocre script that they tried to cover up by casting everyone they could think of. It is a great date movie, even though sometimes it's views on love and relationships is a little messed up. I will admit, overall, it is a great satire on the ridiculousness that is Valentine's Day.

Great quote: "Some people don't believe love exists unless it's expressed in front of many other people."