Movie Review of Valentine's Day (2010)

This movie is the American version of Love, Actually. Except it does not center around Christmas, but, who would have guessed, it plays out on Valentine’s Day. It consists of many different stories of many different people, but whose lives all cross each other during the day. It’s got love-sick kids, a marriage proposal, happily married seniors, first time sex high-schoolers, lying husbands, desperate singles, happy gays, an Indian restaurant, and above all, lots of love and hope. And an all-star cast to make it work.

Even though it is very much a copy of Love, Actually in the way the movie is set up, you will soon forgive writer Garry Marshall for that, as it is still good. My absolute favourite character in the movie is Liz, who has just started dating her boyfriend Jason. But what she did not tell him is that she also works as a telephone operator for lonely guys. Anne Hathaway does the most hilarious phone sex with a Russian accent I have ever seen. She does it believable and even gets Queen Latifah, her boss, into it.

But there is also Ashton Kutcher as a romantic florist, his best friend Jennifer Garner and her love-interest Dr McDreamy Patrick Dempsey, and valentine haters Jamie Fox and Jessica Biel, and more. There is a story for everyone, and also an actor to drool over for everyone, with this very pretty cast. I don’t want to give away too much, as each storyline is rather short and by describing each one, I would ruin the film.

This movie is a rather exact, but a lot more cliché copy of Love, Actually. If you like that sort of thing, this is totally for you. If you’re not a big fan of sappy love stories, leave this film alone. Or take your girlfriend to score some major points with her.