VALENTINE'S DAY - A Guilty Pleasure

VALENTINE'S DAY (romantic comedy')
Cast: Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, Eric Dane, Patrick Dempsey, Hector Elizondo, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Topher Grace, Anne Hathaway, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Latifah, Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner
Director: Garry Marshall
Screenplay: Katherine Fugate
Time: 120 mins
Rating: * * * (out of 4)

BEST FRIENDS: Jennifer Garner and Ashton Kutcher

PREAMBLE: Those who get all soft and fluffy about Valentine's Day can rejoice, this film will reinforce the belief that everyone, even the top Hollywood stars, need to celebrate love. And for those who HATE Valentine's Day and the pressure it brings on them, they too can rejoice because there is something here to reinforce their beliefs also.

So there, a win-win flick about Feb 14 which incidentally also happens to be the First Day of the Lunar Year of the Tiger. Well, we will never know what the Tiger Year brings but Valentine's Day the film is so predictable, contrived and cliched that it probably describes all about the day itself.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT? Valentine's Day is set in Los Angeles where romance and heartbreaks are intertwined all within those 24 hours. Florist Reed Bennett (Ashton Kutcher) proposes to his girlfriend Morley (Jessica Alba) and he is all excited about it. His best friend Julia (Jennifer Garner) is having an affair with Dr Harrison Copeland (Patrick Dempsey), while talent agent in training Josh Morris (Topher Grace) has just met the receptionist Liz (Anne Hathaway), who moonlights on a phone sex line.

Meanwhile 10-year-old Edison (Bryce Robinson) who is one of Julia's pupils, wants to send flowers to his Valentine; his grandparents Estelle (Shirley MacLaine) and Edgar (Hector Elizondo) also have a surprise after being married for so long. And up in the air, an off-duty soldier (Julia Roberts) travels from afar just to spend one day with someone she loves...

HITS & MISSES: Watching this film is like spending Valentine's Day with the 'Who's Who' of Hollywood. There are so many big-name performers here that you will be struggling to name them - unless you are a star-gazer yourself. However, instead of being distracting, it is kinda fun - especially if you are fans of say, Grey's Anatomy, and get thrilled by seeing its famous doctors onscreen. (Pictured left: Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner as love birds)

And while the script may be predictable, it is only fair to say that writer Katherine Fugate has a few nice surprises up her sleeves too.

THE LOWDOWN: Aw, come on, Valentine's Day is all about flowers, candy and fluff. And this see-and-forget movie is a guilty pleasure.