Valentine's Day (2010)
Directed by Garry Marshall
Intertwining couples and singles in Los Angeles break-up and make-up based on the pressures and expectations of Valentine's Day.
4 connections found
View:
4 films that influenced Valentine's Day
What critics say influenced Valentine's Day
From Robert Altman's groundbreaking oeuvre to 2003's cheerful " Love Actually " to 2009's wiser, altogether stronger " He's Just Not That Into You ," tossing big ensembles together to represent some particular microcosm within the world has become a subgenre in and of itself.
But still, in terms of sheer quantity ... well, "Love, Actually" was a lot better.
She not only steals with shameless abandon from Love Actually (set pieces and plot devices alike), but she seems to think that all the prefab sentiment found in Valentine’s Day is surprising and fresh.
Fortunately, like Love Actually , Valentines Day -- from a story and witty screenplay by Katherine Fugate ( Carolina ) -- manages to hold our interest despite skipping around to so many characters.
It’s a sitcom script, with every role given a singular emotional beat; the writing seems more attracted to caricature than realism, which is precisely why the film it’s blatantly ripping off, 2003’s “Love Actually,” was a tonal whirlwind marvel.
Several short stories about love, and expectations of the most romantic day of the year come together in the end in a very "Love, Actually " way.
Like Love Actually or He's Just Not That Into You (both vastly superior films and that's coming from someone who thinks they're both a little flawed ... although they look like Short Cuts compared to this mess), Valentine's Day tells interlocking stories of love and loss, this time all taking place on the signature Hallmark holiday.
Delivering the most rounded characterone who doesn't just get lost in the sea of pretty facesis Anne Hathaway (2008's " Rachel Getting Married ").
Good thing his manager is Paula Thomas (Queen Latifah, "Chicago," "What Happens in Vegas"), a tough professional who knows how to have fun with the errant calls to her fill-in secretary Liz (Anne Hathaway, "The Princess Diaries," "Rachel Getting Married") who moonlights as a 'adult phone entertainer,' a job that goes over like a lead balloon with her new buttoned up boyfriend Jason (Topher Grace, "In Good Company," "Spider Man 3").
And the director is Garry Marshall, of "Pretty Woman" and "Runaway Bride" and "The Other Sister" and "The Princess Diaries" and "Raising Helen" and "Georgia Rule" and "Dear God" and wow Garry Marshall has made a lot of bad movies.
Good thing his manager is Paula Thomas (Queen Latifah, "Chicago," "What Happens in Vegas"), a tough professional who knows how to have fun with the errant calls to her fill-in secretary Liz (Anne Hathaway, "The Princess Diaries," "Rachel Getting Married") who moonlights as a 'adult phone entertainer,' a job that goes over like a lead balloon with her new buttoned up boyfriend Jason (Topher Grace, "In Good Company," "Spider Man 3").
(She's come a long way since Marshall discovered her for "The Princess Diaries"!)