Valentine's Day

Review by Sean Lynch

If I were Richard Curtis, I would be heading straight over to the Court - O - Law and demanding some of that sweet "Copyright Infringement" cash owed to him, because Valentine's Day has well and truly stolen more than just the concept of Love... Actually, a whole lot more.

It's a pretty flawless concept : stitch together a bunch of vaguely connected short stories, insert multiple big name stars (who only need to show up for a few days of filming), edit, release, count cash.

It worked with Love Actually (but when has ANYTHING by Richard Curtis not worked? The guy is the king of the rom-com genre) and to an extent it worked with He's Just Not That Into You.

But goodwill and big names can only get you so far - and the limit seems to be Valentine's Day.

While the A-List names fly thick and fast (Taylor Lautner, Bradley Cooper, Anne Hathaway, Taylor Swift, Jessica Biel, Jessica Alba, Jamie Foxx, Ashton Kutcher, Julia Roberts, Jennifer Garner, Emma Roberts, Patrick Dempsey and Joe Jonas to name just a few), so do the story lines, and that's where Valentine's Day falls flat.

Believe it or not, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing (just like how using one of those "Orgasmotron" wire head-scratchers is amazing at first, but if you over-use it, it starts to get irritating on the scalp) and Valentine's Day tries to pack in so much that it's audience is bound to give up trying to invest in 50+ characters in a 90 minute time period.

The amount of "setting up" of each tale is truly exhausting, so by the time Valentine's Day heads into it's final 20 minutes (in which it actually hits an "enjoyable" stride) you're just glad that it's all over.

That said, there are some fun moments (as well as a couple of genuinely unpredictable twists, two words that aren't often associated with romantic comedies). Taylor Swift proves to be quite the comedic find, as does Jessica Biel, while the unusual number of newcomer cast members from Aliens In The Attic also manage to hold their own against the bigger names.

Ultimately Valentine's Day has it's heart in the right place, but in order to be the "pick of the bunch" needs a strong bit of Don Burke style pruning (with at least two stories that could have easily been given the chop).

At the end of the day, the Box Office results are the real winners - which probably explains why a sequel has already been given the greenlight - New Years Eve. 

Take a wild guess as to when that will hit cinemas....

2.5 out of 5

Valentine's Day
Australian release: 11th February, 2010
Official Site: Valentine's Day
Cast: Taylor Lautner, Bradley Cooper, Anne Hathaway
Director: Garry Marshall