Movie: Valentine’s Day

• Director: Garry Marshall
• Release Date:
• Writers: Katherine Fugate
• Run Time: 125
• Genre: Comedy, Romance

Tagline: A Love Story. More or Less.

Review: THOSE who get all soft and fluffy about Valentines Day can rejoice, this film will reinforce the belief that everyone, even the top Hollywood stars, need to celebrate love. And for those who HATE Valentines Day and the pressure it brings on them, they too can rejoice because there is something here to reinforce their beliefs also.

So there, a win-win flick about Feb 14 which incidentally also happens to be the First Day of the Lunar Year of the Tiger 2010. Well, we will never know what the Tiger Year brings but “Valentines Day” the film is so predictable, contrived and clichéd that it probably describes the celebration itself.

“Valentines Day” is set in Los Angeles where love and heartbreaks are intertwined all within those 24 hours. Florist Reed Bennett (Ashton Kutcher) proposes to his girlfriend Morley (Jessica Alba) and he is all excited about it. His best friend Julia (Jennifer Garner) is having an affair with Dr Harrison Copeland (Patrick Dempsey), while talent agent in training Josh Morris (Topher Grace) has just met the receptionist Liz (Anne Hathaway), who moonlights as a phone sex entertainer.

Meanwhile 10-year-old Edison (Bryce Robinson) who is one of Julias pupils, wants to send flowers to his Valentine; his grandparents Estelle (Shirley MacLaine) and Edgar (Hector Elizondo) also have a surprise after being married for so long. And up in the air, an off-duty soldier (Julia Roberts) travels from afar just to spend one day with someone she loves…

Watching this film is like spending Valentines Day with the Whos Who of Hollywood. There are so many big-name performers here that you will be struggling to name them – unless you are a star-gazer yourself. However, instead of being distracting, it is kinda fun – especially if you are fans of say, Greys Anatomy, and get thrilled by seeing its famous doctors on screen.

And while the script may be predictable, it is only fair to say that writer Katherine Fugate has a few nice surprises up her sleeves too. Overall, Valentines Day is about flowers, candy and fluff. And this see-and-forget movie is a guilty pleasure