Valentine's Day may be cliché to some, but the movie "Valentine's Day" reminds even the cynics that Valentine's Day can be full of real things too-love lost, gained or maybe just remembered.
The movie follows a slew of intertwining singles and couples, whose stories grow or unravel over the course of Valentine's Day amid all the pressures and expectations that Cupid's day comes with.
As a romantic comedy "Valentine's Day" dishes more comedy than romance, which is a nice change and should make the movie more appealing the men 'dragged' to see it by their Valentine's Day dates. The movie doesn't slight love by any means, but it reminds the audience that not all sides of look attractive, and all the different forms of love certainly don't look the same.
While "Valentine's Day" mixes enough harsh reality with the giddiness of being in love well enough, what it captured best to me was the element of surprise. The film had had tactful twists too (a nice change for any movie, since most have become quite predictable), but what I mean to say is at the heart of everyone's story was the element of surprise and even borderline epiphany.
Isn't falling in love the greatest surprise of all? Of course, all the consecutive revelations surrounding love aren't always so sweet.
"Valentine's Day" captured that essence of love, the unknown factor, which causes heartbreak but also sometimes sparks true love. Quite hit or miss really, but nevertheless irresistible. The stories in this movie may push those teetering on the edge to stop resisting and accept the surprise, for better or for worse. After all, like Alphonso (George Lopez) says, "we don't step into love, we fall."
Though the movie escapes being cliché and too sappy, the network of story lines was a bit much to follow at times. A couple stories lacked depth, but even that downside was recovered in entertainment value. The loaded cast, from Julia Roberts, Anne Hathaway and Queen Latifah to Patrick Dempsey, Bradley Cooper and Jamie Foxx make this movie work and keep the laughs going.
At the same time, the abundance of stories was a part of what the film was trying to do-show all the different levels of love and heartbreak. Young and old, fake and real, lost and found...there's something to be said for a Valentine's Day movie that doesn't just show the good happy side of love.
It's not at the same level as "Love, Actually," "Definitely, Maybe," or "He's Just Not That Into You," but "Valentine's Day" should be on the radar for a night of love and laughter.[[In-content Ad]]
