Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Movie Review: Valentine's Day

So, to continue the belated Valentine's Day theme from yesterday, I saw the movie Valentine's Day in the theaters this past weekend. When the commercials for this movie first came out, I was super excited. I love ensemble-cast movies. Some of my favorite movies ever are Love Actually and He's Just Not That Into You (both must-sees IMO). So, I figured this would be along the same lines. The movie also features one of my favorite actors - Bradley Cooper! ::swoon::

But, after the reviews came out, all I read were scathing and/or mediocre reviews and I got kinda bummed out. I decided to wait until after my vacation to see it, so that's why I didn't get around to it until this past weekend.

I must say that I really liked the movie. It definitely is not as good as Love Actually or HJNTIY, but it moved at a good pace and reminded me a lot of both movies. I was engaged the whole time -- trying to figure out who was going to have a happy ending, and who was going to have a sad ending. Like with any other movie, it is not all happy and full of heartwarming stories. It tries to be as "realistic" as possible with relationships. You see the couples who stay together through thick and thin and truly love each other. Then, you see those who just can't make it work no matter how hard they try (or don't try), and your heart kind of aches a little. I do have to say that the movie is highly predictable. There are several "twists," but I managed to figure out every one of them. The cast is amazing, but the one who really stood out to me and stole the show was Anne Hathaway. She plays a temporary secretary/struggling actress who moonlights as an "adult phone entertainer." She is absolutely HILARIOUS and I always looked forward to when she came on the screen.

One other thing I noticed in the movie that I thought was cute - in one scene, Jessica Biel's character is in her office having a mental breakdown. She ends up on the couch in her office, and in the background behind her head, I saw a stuffed elephant wearing a navy blue t-shirt that said "Tufts" on it. I instantly smiled :-) I'm not sure how many people know this, but Jessica Biel spent a few years at Tufts for college and that's where I went for undergrad. We actually overlapped one year and I used to see her around campus and in the gym a lot. During one gym session, we were actually doing crunches side-by-side on the stretching mats. I think that's the closest I've ever gotten to a celebrity in a random run-in situation. Anyway, I thought it was cute that she included a memento of her almost-alma mater in the movie.

If you have two hours to kill and want to see a cute, lighthearted movie, I highly suggest this one. Oh, and stay to watch the closing credits. They have some funny extra scenes at the end.

My rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

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