Review: Valentine’s Day
Posted by Tamara Zdravkovic on February 22, 2010 · Leave a Comment
My suspicions surrounding Valentine’s Day had to do with its cast. When a casting director crams as many big names into a movie as they possibly can, one has to wonder why. Is it a compensation for lack of substance? Is there any way this movie would have been produced had it not been for the all-star cast and the famous director, Garry Marshall? For these reasons, my expectations for Valentine’s Day were reasonably low and the movie itself only re-affirmed my predictions. However, through its blatant cliche, inexplicably useless scenes and over-characterization, this movie was surprisingly punctuated with points of sincerity which – dare I say – brought a tear to my eye at certain moments.
The movie starts out by following storylines with characters played by different A-List actors. These storylines eventually bleed into an interconnected whole by the movie’s end. It depicts the trials and tribulations that are associated with love and does so from the perspective of teenagers, young professionals and seniors. It is unfortunate that its attempts at humour have slightly racist implications. On two different occasions in the movie, a cultural barrier stops communication between the characters. One example is an incident where newscaster Kelvin Moore (Jamie Foxx) attempts to interview a Chinese-American flower shop owner. Luckily, Ashton Kutcher works at the flower shop and is able to intercept the cultural misunderstanding, providing a decent English interview. Obviously one cultural joke is not cause for awareness, but this same gag is repeated between a cashier at the flower shop and a female Bulgarian customer. The Latino cashier cannot understand the Bulgarian customer but fortunately - it’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Ashton Kutcher - who conveniently steps in to ask the entire store whether or not there’s another Bulgarian in the crowd who can help the lady find what she needs in her native tongue. Someone responds accordingly and the ethnic issue is solved. If this joke wasn’t so haphazard and out of place it might have been funny. Instead, it felt as if some one inserted it in a desperate attempt to bulk up the screenplay after realizing it was a few pages too short.
Let’s move on to the acting. I have to admit, Ashton Kutcher’s performance as Reed Bennett did not bother me. His naivety is endearing and his friendship with Jennifer Garner’s character seemed relatively genuine. Another standout character is Liz (Anne Hathaway). She does telephone sex operator pretty well and she actually makes you care for her relationship with Jason (Topher Grace). Though her sexual phone antics were amusing, I didn’t understand why her ringtone had to echo her occupation. Every time Liz’s cell phone rang, the raunchiest porno music would accompany one of her gentlemen’s calls. This stylistic choice was supposed to be humorous but it failed to hit the reality mark: if you want to keep your embarassing job a secret, you won’t pick a shady ring tone that proclaims your love of elevator porn music to the world.
I also enjoyed Jessica Biel as Kara Monahan, whose excessive neurosis was infused with light humour and whose cynicism reminded me of many lonely girlfriends struggling desperately to be in love with any one but themselves. A much more lovable figure was Edgar, played by Hector Elizondo, whose undying love for his aging wife was a reminder that love can endure the test of time. North America needs these kinds of cliches to warm our hearts, especially in a society with such an overwhelming divorce rate and overall skepticism towards the institution of marriage.
On the other hand, I wanted to slap my forehead in embarrassment for Felicia (Taylor Swift) every time she was on screen. Not only was her character completely useless to the story but she also seemed so unnatural in front of the camera. Her initial scene with Jennifer Garner set up a character that was so stylized, Swift couldn’t keep up the facade in her following scenes. In an attempt to be fair, I will say that she does a little dance that might make your nostrils flare or upper lip curl slightly. Not exactly a smile, but it’s getting there. To add insult to injury, one of the most irrelevant scenes is one in which the news program interviews Felicia and her boyfriend Willy (Taylor Lautner). This scene was clearly created to give the Taylors an opportunity to make out and ignite the pubescent hormones of any teenager in the audience. There is no plot progression and it wasn’t very funny. Sorry, Swift. As sweet as you are, you should stick to singing. However, Swift wasn’t the only useless character. As much as I love Kathy Bates, she was in two scenes with a total of little over ten lines. Why pay a Hollywood star big bucks for that? Using an average ACTRA member would be much cheaper.
The one thing that I found quite refreshing about Valentine’s Day is the fact that it was self-reflective. On a newscast, Jamie Foxx’s character says that Valentine’s Day isn’t about “…love, it’s about romance, it’s about commercialism”. That was the most honest part of the entire film and I appreciated that the movie was self-aware and commented on its own ability to feed into the commercialism with a blockbuster. If you’re looking for a night out with the girls or something tame to take Mom to, then Valentine’s Day is your thing. Be prepared for the good (Hector Elizondo), the bad (Taylor Swift), the lame (an ‘I Hate Valentine’s Day’ party) and the useless (Kathy Bates). Revel in the irrelevant moments designed to tug at your heart strings, such as a shot of two cute little kids landing a kiss on one another. Savour the beauty of Eric Dane running topless through a beach. Yup, if there’s one thing this movie knows how to do, it’s appeal to the masses. Valentine’s Day opened on February 12, 2010.
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