Valentine's Day

First a caveat - I am clearly not the intended target demographic for Valentine's Day (the movie).  Nonetheless, I can love me a romantic comedy, even a really sappy one at times.  So I don't feel completely unqualified to offer an opinion of this film.  I had at least a pocket of optimism given that rhere certainly seemed to be enough actors and actresses for me to like someone in it.  Given this huge ensemble production - so I figured I could overlook Ashton Kutcher and Jamie Foxx and maybe enjoy the ride.  I was somewhat nervous about hating it - but steeling myself with a pre-film cocktail I decided to try nonetheless.  The first trailer they showed before the film was for Sex in the City 2 - so it's not as if I didn't have advance warning if I wanted to flee the theater before the actual film began.  But I soldiered on...

What transpired isn't really anything bad.  But it didn't strike any significant chords with me.  There were a few laughs - though in my case far less than the general audience's reaction.  It occurred to me that perhaps they'd had more than the one pre-film drink - but a significant portion of the crowd truly seemed to like it.  Which I'm glad about - just because it didn't involve me in caring doesn't mean others should have a bad time.

The film is a large ensemble piece that follows multiple couples on Valentine's Day as they either break up, enjoy the "holiday" or get together.  Their lives intersect and enough coincidences abound to make Charles Dickens smile.  Amidst the relationships are two high school seniors whose stories seem to exist only to point out why they rightfully choose not to have sex.  Taken as a whole the entire exercise felt like an Abstinence Now version of Crash.  Individual performances range from cute to standard for the actor.  There's a fair amount of chest baring by the men (sorry except for Twilight's Taylor Lautner who stays fully clothed) - clearly the producer wanted to hedge their bets.  Sorry guys, besides a sleepy head Jessica Alba the biggest treat you're likely to find is Anne Hathaway talking dirty - well PG-13 dirty at least.  Apparently, smoking dope without negative consequences gets you an R rating - but constant references to sexual spanking you have to explain to your 14 year old is cool.  Well, one front at a time I suppose.  ;-) 

Several people have pointed out this is probably best viewed as a lightweight copy of Love, Actually.  My memory is a little hazy, but I'm pretty sure that's a far superior film.  Fairly recently I saw another ensemble relationships film from Italy called Ex.  Either of these probably should be on your list ahead of Valentine's Day.  But if you need a date movie for the big weekend and you haven't found your true soul-mate who'll sit through District 13: Ultimatum with you this is probably better than some alternatives.  It doesn't star Mel Gibson and it's pleasant enough, aka, I don't think you'll tear your hair out during the film.  Though can't promise the same for those forced to sit through that Sex in the City 2 trailer.  Yikes...



PS: I really was struck by the two abstinence is the right thing storylines. They just seemed so blatantly thrown in it made me long for the good old days where we expected the 18 year old lovers to actually hook up.  Or at least try to fuck a pie.  Guess I'm just old fashioned that way.