With all of the famous faces in 'Valentine's Day,' you'd think moviegoers would be in for a big treat. Guess again.
Directed by Garry Marshall and starring a bevy of talent, including Julia Roberts, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Jennifer Garner, Shirley MacLaine, Jamie Foxx, Bradley Cooper, Ashton Kutcher, Topher Grace, Emma Roberts, Hector Elizondo, Bryce Robinson, Patrick Dempsey, Eric Dane, Carter Jenkins and Queen Latifah, 'Valentine's Day' is one of the worst romantic comedies assembled. It does a serious injustice to the holiday.
From one scene to the next, the audience is trapped, waiting for for the movie to pick up the pace. Unfortunately, it flatlines almost from the beginning.
Set in Los Angeles, florist Reed Bennett (Kutcher) is anxious to propose to his girlfriend, Morley (Alba). Waiting to take him to work and hear the news is his trusted buddy Alphonso (Lopez). Meanwhile, his best friend, schoolteacher Julia (Garner) is happily involved with doctor Harrison (Dempsey), unaware that his secret life will break her heart when she wants to get closer to home.
On another side of town, TV sportscaster Kevin (Foxx) reluctantly takes an assignment covering Valentine's Day, when all he wants to do is follow up on a rumor that NFL quarterback Sean (Dane) is set to retire. In covering both leads, he meets up with both Reed for one piece and pursues Sean's agent, Kara (Biel) for the other. Kara, coincidentally, happens to be best friends with Julia.
Sean's publicist (Queen Latifah) has to deal with her secretary Liz (Hathaway), who spends half her time as a phone-sex specialist. Her current boyfriend Jason (Grace) is totally clueless to her weird behavior when she's on the cell.
If you are still wondering what the film is about, in a nutshell, it's about 10 people in Los Angeles whose lives intersect on the romantic holiday. It's not worth mentioning what roles both Twilight's Taylor Lautner and Grammy award winner Taylor Swift have in the film because they are merely props to bring in the young people and fans. For someone who is high demand, Lautner certainly wasted no time in saying yes to the film, but he added no substance.
If you go into the film thinking this will be the American version of the popular British film 'Love Actually,' you'll be disappointed. It's more like a bad episode of the '70s TV show 'Love, American Style.' There is very little chemistry among the actors.
Garry Marshall is a great director who has worked with several of the cast members, but all this film really reveals is that Oscar winners, Oscar nominees and famous names don't make a good film. This is supposed to be a romantic comedy, but, unfortunately, there are no jokes to laugh at.
February 2010
