Valentine's Day

I disliked this film immensely when I saw the trailer - I don't know what it was but it just looked really cheesy and cheap. The vast amount of characters in it just made me think that it was a rip off of Love Actually so I put Valentine's Day down as a film that I had no intention to see. However my interest was piqued by all the tweets raving on about how great the film was. Had I misjudged Valentine's Day? I decided today was the time to find out. Valentine's Day is a homage to love seen through a variety of relationships in very different stages. First dates, long term relationships, marriages, teenage love and even pre-teen love - it is depicted here in this fabulous film. The film is directed by Garry Marshall who is no stranger to chick flick having given us the ultimate chick flick, Pretty Woman in 1990 which went on to smash box office records. Since then he has directed films such as The Runaway Bride, The Princess Diaries and Raising Helen.

There are 20 characters involved but I guess you can say that Reed Bennett played by Ashton Kutcher is the main character. As the owner of Siena Bouquet which is a flower shop, his job is integral to all the characters in the film. Similar to Love Actually, the characters in the film are all connected to each other. The film starts off with Reed proposing to his long time girlfriend, Morley played by Jessica Alba. However his employee and friend, Alphonso played by George Lopez and his best friend, Julia Fitzpatrick played by Jennifer Garner do not think that Morley is right for him. Julia meanwhile is head over heels with the dishy Dr Harrison Copeland played by Patrick Dempsey. She is a school teacher to a bunch of lively 10 year olds whom include Edison played by Bryce Robinson who is determined to show his Valentine how he feels about her. Meanwhile Edison's grandparents, Estelle and Edgar played by Shirley MacLaine and Hector Elizondo who have been happily married for over 50 years face a crisis of their own. From mature love to teenage first love we have Grace played by Emma Roberts who is Edison's babysitter. She is dating Alex played by Carter Jenkins and the two of them plan to lose their virginity on Valentine's Day but alas nothing seems to go to plan. On the oyther hand, Grace's best friend, Felicia played by Taylor Swift is dating Willy played by Taylor Lautner and have decided to wait before they take the plunge.

Meanwhile sports reporter, Kelvin Johnson played by Jamie Foxx is given an assignment by his boss, Susan played by Kathy Bates to find juicy Valentine's Day stories around the city. Rather ironic considering that Kelvin hates Valentine's - the real story that he wants is about superstar quarterback, Sean Johnson played by Eric Dane. Sean's career is in crisis and the question on everyone's lips is will he or won't he retire. Therefore he really needs the help of his sports agent, Paula Thomas played by Queen Latifah and his PR, Kara Monaham played by Jessica Biel. Valentine's Day is a day that fills Kara with dread so she decides to tackle it head on by organising a 'I Hate Valentine's Day' party, the problem is that not one person has RSVPed. Kara is also close friends with Julia but sadly she is going to be out of town visiting her gorgeous Dr so will not be able to make the party. Liz Curran played by Anne Hathaway is Paula Thomas's assistant but moonlights on the side as a phone sex operator to pay off her huge debts. However things get a bit prickly when she meets Jason played by Topher Green who is a small town guy from Indiana. Meanwhile thousands of feet up in the air is US. Army Captain Katie Hazeltine who is on a long haul flight to visit her loved one. Sitting next to her is Holden played by Bradley Cooper, a dashing gentleman who Katie strikes up a bond with.

Los Angeles plays a perfect backdrop for the vibrant scenes in Valentine's Day with locations such as downtown LA, Malibu, Hollywood, Venice, Beverly Hills and San Fernando Valley looking very lush. There may be over 20 main characters in this movie but Los Angeles is definately the 21st. Remember last year when I was raving on about He's Just Not That Into You which contained a list of movie stars as long as your arm yet managed to pull it off with a great dialogue? Well Valentine's Day achieves this implicity with a cracking storyline along with a laugh out loud script. Garry Marshall, really got the balance just right and we are given enough time to get to know the characters and really root for them. Everyone from Taylor Swift to Jessica Biel to Julia Roberts are convincing in their roles and I really loved Ashton Kutcher and Jennifer Garner's characters. Valentine's Day may indeed be Garry Marshall's love letter to LA but it has made me fall head over heels with it.