Valentine's Day (2010)

Such thirties movies as STAGE DOOR CANTEEN featured cameo appearances by stars each doing his or her own thing strung together in this famous oldie by all making charity appearances the same day to support an honorable but thus far failing world war effort. In the 1970's creative directors recycles this movie theme in thrillers in which a star cast is together at the time of a catastrophe after which all go in separate directions the audience unsure of who will live and who will die. In the 19 remake90's the pioneer movie LOVE ACTUALLY turned this into a romantic comedy about unrelated people having simultaneous catharses about the London holiday season. VALENTINE's DAY recycles this plot in millennium Los Angeles where more than a dozen name stars do their own thing in unrelated plots on Valentine's day. Should one of these name stars be a favorite you will enjoy his or her individualized star turn. There seems no theme uniting the various stories as well as no parameters to how all could be squeezed successfully into the same two hour movie which drags and ultimately disappoints.

Don't listen to all the negative reviews for Garry Marshall's Valentine's Day. This film has all the right things! It has great actors (and a lot of them LOL) that give strong performances all around. It has good writing as far as the script goes. It also has really cute touching heartwarming story lines that intertwine very well together, which is the whole plot of the film. I absolutely adored Julia and Emma Roberts, Queen Latifah, Ashton kutcher (and I don't usually like him), Eric Dane and Bradley cooper in this movie! It was also hilarious at times, between Anne Hathaway's awkward phone sex moments and Queen Latifah's funny lines. Also Shirley MacLaine and her husband in the film has a super sweet heart warming storyline of their own. It tackles old romance, young high school romance, gay romance, and Middle Aged romance. And it also has a killer soundtrack that really works well with the movie itself. I just really loved this film, it was cute, entertaining, and it was just harmless fun! 10/10!!

I remember, I haven't seen this movie for years. Garry Marshall is an awful director, but I'm unable to dislike him since I've grown up through his films. This film has a great cast. All of them are talented, or at least famous celebrities which can attract every generation. Shirley Maclaine and Hector Elizondo for elderly people, Julia Robert, Bradley Cooper, Queen Latifah for middle-aged people and starts like Taylor Swift (who is a great singer but a terrible actress), Jessica Alba, Taylor Lautner for teenagers. But its horrible. Jessica Alba is one of the most overrated actresses nowadays, Taylor Swift danced on my nerves with her disgusting Teddy-bear. I feel sorry for Shirley Maclaine, who was great as Mrs Levinson in Downton Abbey or the lesbian teacher in The Children's Hour. However I would have felt delighted if I had been casted in this movie, because there are a lot of actors and actresses I adore.

Garry Marshall has proved time and time again that he knows his way around a romantic comedy but even for him telling 8 or 9 is a big ask. And it's the task he sets himself with this Valentine's Day themed film.The comparisons with Love Actually are inevitable and well deserved. The formula is the same. However, Marshall does try to tell some interesting and varied stories and in many cases succeeds. However I felt that too many of them didn't work and too much /too little time was dedicated to them.It has its moments but for me (and I'm aware it's not a popular opinion) I prefer Marshall's sort of follow up 'New Years Eve'.