Valentine's Day

Any movie that features Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Jennifer Garner and Anne Hathaway is going to be high on my list of movies to see. Granted, this is not exactly the kind of movie I had in my mind when hearing this cast, but I will take what I can get. Piggy backing off of the success of He's Just not that into you, this movie was attempting to bring together scores of actors and putting them in a movie that serves the purpose of making single people miserable. Why would I subject myself to such a film, in my current single status? I honestly wish I could answer that question, but I can't. Perhaps I am glutton for punishment. Perhaps, as hopeless as I feel right now, I am deep down always hoping to be hopeful and cute or cheesy romantic comedies help me to feel hopeful? Or maybe, just maybe, I was still hoping a movie starring those four women would go the way it does when I close my eyes and imagine it.

Set on the day full of reds, pinks and flowers, Valentine's Day is a story about 16-20 different people in different states of romance maneuvering their way through this unholy day. The stories are loosely connected and it is all set in Los Angeles. Going through it all would be impossible and I am not going to bother with character names, so I will just kind of touch on the main stories. Ashton Kutcher owns a flower shop and he proposes to Jessica Alba who says "yes" but it might not be what it seems. Jennifer Garner is Kutcher's best friend and she is in love with McDreamy, who may or may not still be married. Garner is also friends with Jessica Biel, who hates Valentine's Day because she cannot find a man until Jaime Foxx enters the picture. Topher Grace and Anne Hathaway play an adorable couple who struggle through the early stages of a relationship which is not helped by her side job as a phone sex operator. Bradley Cooper and Julia Roberts are two people who meet on a plane and spend the movie talking, but it is never what it seems with them. I know I am forgetting people and characters and stories, but you get the idea.

One of the best and worst qualities about these Vignette style movies is we do not get a lot of time with characters. When it comes to annoying or boring characters like the Jessica Alba or Jessica Biel characters, that is a great thing, but when you want to actually spend more time with some of these people, like the coupling of Topher Grace and Anne Hathaway, you are left unfulfilled. Ashton Kutcher is essentially the heart of this movie and he is actually pretty good. As a guy who believes in the true power of love, Kutcher is charming and funny and he even does a good job when the movie breaks his heart. We know where he will end up about 25 minutes into the movie, but that is okay. There is something comforting about the familiar end of a romantic comedy.

Valentine's Day is a lot more serious than the commercials or the cast would lead you to believe. You have an adorable little boy who spends the entire movie trying to tell a girl he loves her and is consistently vanquished, then you have an elderly married couple played delightfully by Shirley McClaine and Hector Elizondo going through something serious and even the Bradley Cooper and Julia Roberts storyline is mostly serious. Most of the comedy is actually handled by the goofily charming Taylor Swift who plays a love sick teenager and while she is not a great actress and her line readings were a bit stiff, she is not afraid to go out there for a laugh and I admired her for that.

Heavy on the cheesy cliches of the Romantic Comedy genre, Valentine's Day is not a bad movie. It is not a great movie either. It is definitely cute, if a bit predictable, but who cares, when we go to these movies we want to see the best friends realize they are in love and we want to see the gay quarterback find love and we want the girl who hates Valentine's Day to find a guy to kiss at the end of the night. We complain about the conventions of movie genres, but we want them. They make us feel safe and comfortable and from a movie called Valentine's Day, released on Valentine's Day, I expect happy endings and we mostly get them. Also, props to George Lopez for not being at all annoying for the first time ever.

Final Grade: C+