Love Is in the Air

Some like to think of Valentine’s Day as the loverliest of days, while others prefer to think of it as the most aggroying, but Hollywood...good ol’ Hollywood loooves to think of it as a another way to make big bank.

I’m actually quite surprised that it took this long for a movie called Valentine’s Day to come out (one titled so that we’ve heard of and acknowledged with this much fanfare). Y’ know, considering just how much the powers that be like to throw romantic fare at audiences around this time of year.

It figures, though, that when the time came and inspiration stuck they turned to Mr. Romantic Comedy himself, Garry Marshall, to oversee the project.

Marshall has directed a constellation of stars that includes American Sweetheart Julia Roberts, Bradley Cooper, Ashton Kutcher, Jennifer Garner, Jessica Biel, Patrick Dempsey, Anne Hathaway, Topher Grace, Eric Dane, Jamie Foxx and Queen Latifah, Hector Elizondo, Shirley MacLaine, Emma Roberts, George Lopez, and Taylors Lautner and Swift, among others, and the results are – to paraphrase a couple of people also saw previews of the movie – a lot better than expected.

It is an irresistible cast, right. All Marshall had to do was mix but good, and serve. And for the most part, Valentine’s Day is a tasty confection. That is just like undercooked, flat, charmless cinematic dishes.

The movie follows a diverse group of Los Angelenos navigating their way through romance and heartbreak over the course of one Valentine’s Day. Couples and singles experience the pinnacles and pitfalls of finding, keeping, or ending relationships in a day in the life of love.

That’s the company line, and I’m sticking to it.

There are so many stories going on I won’t even attempt to describe the plot in detail. However, I will say that had there been fewer plotlines included in the production, that perhaps some of them, which could be fleshed out into rom-coms of their own (in theory), would’ve benefited a bit. Like the Hathaway-Grace section, which....

Oh, you’re going to see the movie, anyway – so I’m sooo not even going to bother telling what’s wrong with any of the sections because that’s about the only way you’ll be surprised at all by this gun-shy, OK offering.

The problem with Valentine’s Day is just that: it’s just OK. And it could’ve been so much better. I think all these A-Listers (and we!) deserved that much.

My Rating **1/2

Photo: Warner Bros.