Valentine's Day (I) (2010)

Intertwining couples and singles in Los Angeles break-up and make-up based on the pressures and expectations of Valentine's Day.

Director:

Garry Marshall

Writers:

Katherine Fugate (screenplay), Katherine Fugate (story),

Stars:

Jessica Alba, Jamie Foxx, Anne Hathaway

6 wins & 11 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jessica Alba	...	Morley Clarkson
Kathy Bates	...	Susan
Jessica Biel	...	Kara Monahan
Bradley Cooper	...	Holden Wilson
Eric Dane	...	Sean Jackson
Patrick Dempsey	...	Dr. Harrison Copeland
Hector Elizondo	...	Edgar
Jamie Foxx	...	Kelvin Moore
Jennifer Garner	...	Julia Fitzpatrick
Topher Grace	...	Jason
Anne Hathaway	...	Liz
Carter Jenkins	...	Alex
Ashton Kutcher	...	Reed Bennett
Queen Latifah	...	Paula Thomas
Taylor Lautner	...	Willy

Storyline

More than a dozen Angelenos navigate Valentine's Day from early morning until midnight. Three couples awake together, but each relationship will sputter; are any worth saving? A grade-school boy wants flowers for his first true love; two high school seniors plan first-time sex at noon; a TV sports reporter gets the assignment to find romance in LA; a star quarterback contemplates his future; two strangers meet on a plane; grandparents, together for years, face a crisis; and, an "I Hate Valentine's Day" dinner beckons the lonely and the lied to. Can Cupid finish his work by midnight?

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Plot Keywords:

valentine's day | valentine | love | break up | restaurant | 

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Taglines:

A Love Story. More or Less.

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some sexual material and brief partial nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [Germany]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 February 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Día de los enamorados

Filming Locations:

Beverly Hills, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$52,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£3,732,393 (UK) (12 February 2010)

Gross:

$110,476,776 (USA) (30 April 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Line Cinema, Rice Films, Karz Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

125 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Edgar is at the cemetery before the movie starts, on the movie screen is the title of the movie, Hot Spell, and pictures the two main characters. He mentions that the woman on the screen is his trifecta. When asked if he means literally the actress on the screen. He says "Yes, literally." The actress on the screen is Shirley MacLaine, who plays his wife in the movie.

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Goofs

At the flower market, when Reed meets Kelvin and at the agents office when Paula initially speaks to Liz, the characters speak, and we distinctly see their mouths move, but it is very clear that they are not saying the words that we hear.

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Quotes

Julia Fitzpatrick: What do you do with the flowers?
Reed Bennett: You know the ones that nobody wants?
Julia Fitzpatrick: So you're giving them a second life?
Reed Bennett: Yeah, most chaps throw them away. I like the idea that tomorrow somebody's going to see them floating by, wonder where they come from, behind the mystery of it all. I used to, actually, put them together and practice new designs with them and drop them off at a random doorstep with notes in it: "Somebody out there loves you". And they get to thinking, "What if they found out that somebody ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

Gag reel during the closing credits, and at the end of the closing credits cheerleaders form a heart on the football field.

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Connections

Featured in The Rotten Tomatoes Show: Shrek Forever After/Survival of the Dead/Holy Rollers (2010)

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Soundtracks

"Feels Like The First Time"
Written by Michael L. Jones
Performed by Foreigner
Courtesy of Atlantic Recording Corp.
By Arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing

User Reviews

Its a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Romantic Comedy

As a disgruntledly (not a word, shut up) unemployed film critic, I must take drastic measures in concealing my opinion towards a movie you are going to wind up seeing regardless. This time, I have taken my single self to see Valentine's Day, to see if it can measure up to last year's star-sprinkled surprise-surprise hit comedy He's Just Not That into You. I wanted to see that if despite without the lovey-dovey person by my side (which has been a vacant position for a while) the movie can still deliver, entertain, and touch the soul.

Also, I wanted to see if people working at the theater would dedicate a bit of time from their ordinary day to point out that it's strange that I am watching a movie called Valentine's Day by myself. I approached the ticket counter and asked for my ticket. After momentary laughter the man at the counter presented me with my ticket. I then enter through the doors and approach the lady ripping the tickets and sending me in the right direction. After her laughter subdued, she pointed me to theater #1.

Valentine's Day works in the tradition of last year's February romantic success story, and Love Actually, a British dramatic rom-com that jump-started the technique of applying multiple love stories in a film. That way, if one story doesn't work, you have multiple other chances to still enjoy the movie. To spice things up, the movie contains one of the biggest casts of stars since the never-duplicated insanity of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. What other movie can boast the collaboration of Jennifer Garner, Julia Roberts, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Biel, Jamie Foxx, and even Shirley MacLaine?

But of course, when you have this many stars, that means so many stories; and less time for character development. This is where the film mostly disappoints, very little developing or changing from anyone associated with the movie. Without revealing too much, there is literally 10 or 11 (lost count) plot lines mixing and intertwining together in a span of just two hours. This equals an average of 12 minutes per story. In actuality however, some stories are actually shorter than others. Katherine Fugate had the right idea when writing the screenplay, but the execution wasn't the best considering that some stories worked and some were just boring to the core. Poor Garry Marshall can only do so much, even though his best days (Pretty Woman, Happy Days) are long gone.

The limited time for acting also diminished the performances of almost every single star in the movie. However, the acting performances of the younger tots (Taylor Swift, Emma Roberts, Taylor Lautner, Carter Jenkins) were much weaker when compared to the veterans Julia Roberts, Jamie Foxx, Shirley MacLaine, and Héctor Elizondo. One other note: Ashton Kutcher, Topher Grace, and Bradley Cooper are three men that given the little time in this movie delivered swell performances that was undermined only by the writing. Their comic timing kept the movie afloat when the flick was threatening to totally flounder.

Like I said before, some stories worked, and other stories were absolutely dreadful to watch. The high school-based stories in Valentine's Day were the weakest, shortest, and the most pointless. In the meantime, the Anne Hathaway/Topher Grace story and the conflict involving Kutcher, Alba, Jennifer Garner, and Patrick Dempsey were the most entertaining to watch. Nearly all the stories had their share of clichés, with only one of them containing a surprise or two. The chemistry wasn't that intense, because there was no time for it to happen. The dialogue was never allowed to intensify or dwell deeper into the concept of love. A few good one-liners here and there, but nothing really worth remembering.

Bottom Line: The problem with Valentine's Day is very simple: we've seen it before and after 2009 being such a good year for romantic comedies, the expectations are higher. It takes more than just a bunch of big stars to propel a rom-com to quality heights; you need strong writing, good chemistry, strong direction, and a hintage of unpredictability. That's how The Proposal, He's Just Not That Into You, The Ugly Truth, and especially (500) Days of Summer made 2009 one of the greatest years for romance in a long time. This was also the issue with Couple's Retreat, the last blockbuster romantic comedy of 09. Valentine's Day has its moments indeed (Anne Hathaway is hilarious), but don't expect it to be anything better than mediocre. Simply there were too many stories and most of them with less depth than a puddle.

And none of this criticism has to do with the fact that I saw the movie by myself.

Honestly.