With its bevy of A-list stars and gimmicky premise, "Valentine's Day" seems intent on one thing and one thing only: making money. While it performed well enough at the box office to almost guarantee more holiday-themed romantic comedies, it wasn't due to the quality of the film. I would put this movie in the "just barely squeaks by as enjoyable" category. Starring Jennifer Garner, Ashton Kutcher, Julia Roberts, and Bradley Cooper (among others), the story centers around several couples in various stages of hooking up, making up, and breaking up on February 14th. The intertwining plotlines range from schmaltzy (an older couple, played by Hector Elizondo and Shirley MacLaine, celebrating 40+ years of marriage) to the pathetic (Ashton Kutcher and Jessica Alba get engaged on Valentine's Day only to be broken up later that day) to the touching (Julia Roberts plays a soldier on leave who is willing to travel over 16 hours each way just to spend 1 day with her valentine). Much of the acting is pretty bad - Jessica Alba needs to be told to retire from acting altogether, and Jessica Biel was shrill and one-note - but some of it was surprisingly good. I was prepared to hate the Taylor Lautner/Taylor Swift combo, but they were actually pretty adorable playing the annoyingly in-love high school couple. As a whole, the movie was not the greatest to say the least, but luckily I was able to enjoy more parts than not.
3 out of 5 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment