This was the perfect movie to see on my Valentine's date with my husband. I know what you're thinking: duh. But I say this because the movie is so 100% about Valentine's Day, I can't say I would have liked it as much if I saw it, say, next weekend. It would somehow seem irrelevant. But maybe that's just me.
Either way, I did see it last weekend, and I did enjoy it. While it wasn't the best movie I've ever seen, it was definitely worth seeing, even if only for the all-star cast. There are no less than 20 top billed actors and one can't help feeling a little star-struck as scene after scene revealed yet another celebrity. I kept thinking "they had to have shown them all by now," and then another one that I had forgotten about would suddenly appear.
With so many stars, the movie obviously has multiple, interweaving story lines, in the vein of He's Just Not That Into You. You know, the kind where you have to keep notes throughout to remember how each person is connected. Some roles were bigger than others, with Ashton Kutcher (in a refreshingly subdued, heartfelt role) and Jennifer Garner taking the most screen time. Others (Kathy Bates?) made me wonder why they agreed to sign on for all of four lines.
In case it's not glaringly obvious, the theme of the movie is love, love and more love, examined from every angle possible. Teenage love, love that ends in heartbreak, love that began as friendship, love that endured the test of time, motherly love, new love, unconditional love, and of course, (because this is the 21st century) same-sex love.
Like Garry Marshall's other films (Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride, Princess Diaries), the best way to describe Valentine's Day is to picture a woman sighing at the end and dabbing at her mascara-streaked eyes with kleenex. He is also one of "those" movie-makers that recycles actors, something I can't decide if I like or find annoying. It's like playing Where's Waldo every time you watch one of his films, wondering where his sister will pop up, and who Hector Elizondo will play this time. (Adam Sandler would be proud.)
The movie is comical (I use that word when I'm trying to say there were a few chuckles throughout, but that the theater was spared from hearing my boisterous, let-it-all-out guffaw) and entertaining, but overall is sweet and has some great messages about fidelity, teenage sex and the true meaning of love. Oh, and the two Taylors add some great humor as a high school couple who understand love about as much as...well, a high school couple.
All in all, worth the watch, definitely, preferably with your significant other, but a gal pal would suffice. As a warning, there are MANY sexual references and scenes containing sexual content, but no actual love scenes (that I can think of!).
Movie Queen Rating: PG (pretty good)
5 comments:
Can't wait to see it, if just to see all the big-ticket stars. I'm surprised it wasn't more funny, they made it out to seem like more of a comedy than it apparently was.
The funny thing is that my bff and I were talking about this early this morning, and now I see that you have done a neat little wrap-up of everything she said. Since she's seen it and I haven't, she promised not to give me any extreme details, but she did tell me that it was definitely worth watching. She also agreed with you about the fact that it was relevant to Valentine's Day, but that they should've pushed it earlier (kind of like they do with Christmas-themed movies). That way, it wouldn't seem outdated in the coming weeks. Other than that, she had nothing but positives. I'm looking forward to seeing it.
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LOVE THE NEW LOOK!
I havenot seen this but want to soo bad!
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