Valentine's Day

A few years ago Richard Curtis made a film billed as the ultimate romantic comedy 'Love Actually'. Ever since then Hollywood has been trying to top it by making their own star studded ensemble romantic comedies. Last year it was 'He's Just Not That Into You' and this year they try to do better with 'Valentine's Day'.

I think they have gone too far with this film. Ensemble films can be great and I'm a big fan of 'Love Actually'. But Richard Curtis is a far better writer than Katherine Fugate. I'd be interested to know about the development of this film. Which came first, the star's participation or the story? Did they have a star sign on then develop a story to suit them. This is where the film fails cause it looks like a mish-mash of ideas. I do think the way they can connect the stories is good but some of them are so useless and have no purpose that they look like they have been designed just to get the star in the film. An example is Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner. I thought Julia Roberts and Bradley Coopers story is not all that good but their endings are excellent. I know this film is not perfect but it does have a certain charm. Most of the stories are terrible and so cliched but it has huge star power so makes it more acceptable. You would not have been as accepting of the film if it had a lesser known cast.

As mentioned above there is no real acting skill required in this film. With such a large ensemble none of them are given much material to work with. I was surprised at how much Ashton Kutcher had to do. If you could choose one star of the film he would be it and he is quite good. I liked Eric Dane and wish we had of seen more of him an his story. The rest of the cast are serviceable but none of them really stand out.

What you see is what you get. It does not try to be anything more than just a way to cram as many stars as they can in the one film. Story and character development take a backseat to the theme of love.