Valentine's Day

I saw Valentine's Day this weekend and now I don't even know what to say about it. There was so much going on that it's hard to know where to start.

The plot consisted of several (at least eight) different plotlines, all running parallel and loosely connected in some way. Most were based on classic romantic cliches, such as the boy with a crush on his teacher, the jock and the ditz, and the good old married boyfiend. A couple unexpected twists kept it from being completely unoriginal, but they were nothing that hasn't been tried before. Predictible from the very start. The transition from story to story was intelligently done, but no amount of intelligence could keep the jumble from getting confusing. Two or three too many unique storylines.

The star power was a redeming factor here. A movie with 15+ big names can't be all bad, and the plethora a big talent kept it from being a snoozefest.There are too many characters to list here (or maybe I'm just too lazy), so go to imdb if you really need to know the names of all the stars you already know. If you think they are in it, they probably are. Notable performances include Taylor Swift (shockingly well done) and Ashton Kutcher. Great job by both of them.

It's hard to leave Valentine's Day feeling unhappy, despite its cliche nature. Throwing money and stars at the holiday of love is bound to be a box office hit. The movie is a sucess in that regard, and definitely made money. It was a mess, but an upbeat mess with the people everyone loves. 2/5 stars