Valentine's Day

Cluttered, sloppy romantic comedy would have benefited from the elimination of a few of its many stories. Mixed bag of performances, both Julia and Emma Roberts, Cooper, Dane are charismatic and do what they can to flesh out thin characters. Anne Hathaway and Topher Grace have a great chemistry and really could have supported their own independent romantic comedy. MacLaine and Elizondo are wasted in a throwaway story that does contain a nice twist. Several of the quality performers, like Queen Latifah and Kathy Bates are shoved in small parts strictly for marquee value. Most of the others range from adequate to vapid. Taylor Swift stands out for giving the most annoying performance. Let's hope that this is the beginning and the end of her acting career. One last thought, with all the talent available they chose to focus the largest portion of the film's story on someone as bland as Kutcher? Bad idea.

Oh dear, oh dear. This 2010 effort by the Americans to emulate the formula and the success of the British 2003 "Love Actually" produces a confused and limp offering. It must have looked such a great idea when pitched to the studio: a huge cast of stars, multiple story lines with cross connections, different takes on romance, lots of songs about love, and - even better than the Anglo film they would claim - Los Angeles (instead of London) and Valentine's Day (instead of Christmas).

But it just doesn't work and only underlines how subtle and clever was the original version. There are just too many relationships going on with too much confusion in the tales and, above all, a really weak and saccharine script from Katherine Fugate.

The best performance comes from Anne Hathaway but, if you just want to spot the stars, there's plenty on show including Ashton Kutcher and Jamie Foxx, Julia Roberts and Jennifer Gardner, Hector Elizondo and Shirley MacLaine. That's right, someone for guys and gals, young and old, white and ethnic, straight and gay. Except for a couple of nice little twists at the end, it is all so formulaic and predictable - and a little moralistic.

I went into this movie thinking it was just a juggernaut of a cast brought together purely to throw together a film to capitalize on V-day but i ate my words after watching it.

The movie is lovey-dubby to say the least but keeps track of each story arch very well and the twists that weave them all together are a lot better than you'd expect. The ensemble cast really shines in this light romantic movie, especially Ashton Kutcher, whose been absent from the limelight for a bit, makes a pleasant return as the florist who is as much of romantic as they come, and George Lopez is also great in his role of the family man with all the right views on love.

This review would go on forever if I broke down the whole cast but they all play their parts very well and portray the many types of love you see, young love, mature love, new relationships, and the also the type of love for someone you didn't realize you had. Love story as it may be its very entertaining and greatly portrays the randomness of love and how in its truest form is more important than anything else.

I don't make a habit of seeing chick flicks and had this movie shot down before I even saw it and was joking the whole time before how it would be awful, but here Im willing to say I judged to soon. I give the movie 3 out of four stars

I was the classic husband dragged to see this on Valentine's Day weekend as a goodwill gesture. It was every bit as bad as could be possibly imagined. Half of Hollywood's A List star as vacuous stereotypes, moronically obsessed with the holiday in question. This despite the fact they are all living millionaire lifestyles, with perfect tans and the whitest of teeth. It's Love Actually, without a sense of humour or any depth whatsoever. No- one and nothing is remotely realistic - every storyline has a trite and convenient resolution and none is convincing or interesting. There is a perfect and unlikely ratio of ethnicities and sexualities. The sex trade is entirely trivialised and sanitised. No-one stays upset about relationship breakdowns for more than one scene. People break into spontaneous dance sequences in which everyone knows the pre-rehearsed moves but the film doesn't have the conviction to show it for more than 3 seconds... Just utter pointless and patronising bilge...

On the Valentine's Day in Los Angeles, the lives of several dwellers are entwined and affected somehow by love. The florist and owner of the Siena Bouquet Reed Bennett (Ashton Kutcher) proposes his insecure girlfriend Morley Clarkson (Jessica Alba) that says yes to him. His best friend Julia Fitzpatrick (Jennifer Garner) is in love with Dr. Harrison Copeland (Patrick Dempsey), but she does not know that he is married and celebrating his fifteenth wedding anniversary with his wife Pamela Copeland (Katherine LaNasa). The bitter TV sports reporter Kelvin Moore (Jamie Foxx) is assigned by his boss to cover stories of people in love in LA. The phone sex entertainer Liz (Anne Hathaway) hides her profession from her boyfriend Jason (Topher Grace). The grandson of the couple Edgar (Hector Elizondo) and Estelle (Shirley MacLaine), Edison (Bryce Robinson), has a secret unrequited love at school while his grandparents are facing a crisis in their marriage. The executive Holden Wilson (Bradley Cooper) befriends Captain Kate Hazeltine (Julia Roberts) that is eleven months away from home in the fourteen-hour flight back to LA. The contract of the veteran quarterback Sean Jackson (Eric Dane) is not renewed by his team and he schedules an interview to the press with his neurotic publisher Kara Monahan (Jessica Biel) that hates Valentine's Day. The teenagers Alex (Carter Jenkins) and Grace (Emma Roberts) are planning to have sex for the first time. The cheerleader Felicia (Taylor Swift) is in deep love with her boyfriend, the athlete Willy (Taylor Lautner). In the end of the day, revelations will fortify or end loves.

"Valentine's Day" is a sweet movie of director Gary Marshall with a constellation of stars in the cast. The concise screenplay succeeds in developing characters and entwined stories along 125 minutes running time. There are some excellent lines, with jokes (Taylor Lautner telling that he feels uncomfortable taking his shirt off in public is hilarious) and surprises (the revelation of Holden and Kate loves are among the best). I was surprised with the bad reviews in IMDb. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Idas e Vindas do Amor" ("Comings and Goings of the Love")