Valentine's Day

Impressions before seeing it
As soon as I saw the long list of familiar names in Valentine's Day, I immediately thought, "Oh, they're making another Love Actually and centering it around a different holiday." I enjoyed Love Actually so it made me want to see this. Plus big casts are kind of fun.

How was it?
First off I have to admit that of all the actors in this movie, I only like about half of them. It didn't really affect my viewing experience though, because this movie has so many characters that nobody really gets tons of screen time, except for maybe Ashton Kutcher. I don't know if it was just me, but it felt like he showed up a little more than everyone else. I would also like to point out the sly marketing ploy of excluding the faces of Shirley MacLaine and Hector Elizondo from the poster. I guess they weren't young and hot enough despite being just as recognizable as everyone else in the movie.

Anyway, Valentine's Day does play a lot like Love Actually. They even stole a couple of story arcs, like the little boy in love, the cheating married guy, and the couple who fall in love while at work. Where it differs is its attempt to throw in some surprise reveals to avoid being a predictable rom-com. While those surprises weren't mindblowing or even exciting, I do appreciate the effort. For example, there was one pair (I won't spoil which one) that I was hoping would not end up together because it would just be too easy and obvious, and thankfully it did not happen. But most of them did hook up simply because we expected them to. That is sometimes a problem with romance movies and sometimes not - I suppose it depends on how much we like the characters and how adorable of a couple they make. There were some cute moments in the movie, but some of the characters don't get enough screen time to be likable, and for a film called Valentine's Day it could have been more romantic. I still enjoyed it because I'm a sap sometimes, but I was hoping for better.

Recommendation
Love Actually is a better and sweeter movie, but if you've already seen it then Valentine's Day would be the closest thing to a sequel and you might want to look into it.