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Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Valentine's Day (2010)

Garry Marshall directs this omnibus on romance with decidedly mixed results, mostly negative. The films takes about 20 characters in various stages of romantic love and criss crosses their paths for two hours. The conceit is too slight to carry the burden placed on its shoulders. There’s no time to know everyone so everything is telegraphed for us, there are no surprises, no romance and very few laughs. Two characters, a florist (Ashton Kutcher) and his school teacher best friend (Jennifer Garner), anchor the story while everyone and everything else moves around them. Marshall simply tries to pack too much into a small container. The huge cast includes Jessica Alba, Kathy Bates, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper (in the film’s one surprise scene), Eric Dane, Patrick Dempsey, Hector Elizondo, Jamie Foxx, Topher Grace, Anne Hathaway, Queen Latifah (who has the film’s best lines), Taylor Lautner, George Lopez, Shirley MacLaine, Joe Mantegna, Emma Roberts, Julia Roberts and Taylor Swift.

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