Besides From Paris With Love, I also watched Valentine's Day yesterday. It's not because of the all-star actors, but I was more curious because all the critics hate it. I read an article about Taylor Swift's bad performance in the movie and was like "Wow! Even all-star movie doesn't guarantee!". But before judging of course I had to see it myself, and seems like I agree with those critics.
With the same concept as Love, Actually, Paris je t'aime, and New York I Love You, this movie revolves around a bunch of couples who have their own love problems in the Valentine's day, and that those people are related. Reed Bennet (Ashton Kutcher), a flowerist who proposes his oh-so-busy-and-work-oriented girlfriend Morley (Jessica Alba); a school teacher Julia Fitzpatrick (Jennifer Garner) who fell for a douche-bag doctor Harrison Copeland (Patrick Dempsey - no, this isn't McDreamy); Jason (the always looking handsome Topher Grace), a naive and conservative man from Indiana fell in love with Los Angeles beauty with Liz (Anne Hathaway), who turns to be a phone-sex operator (ouch!); the always bickering old couple Edgar (Hector Elizondo) and Estelle (Shirley MacLaine); Kara (Jessica Biel), a publicist who doesn't have time for herself and always hates Valentine's Day, turns out to love it because of her own pal Kelvin Moore (Jamie Foxx), a man who seems skeptic about the whole V-Day thing is actually a romantic one; a football superstar Sean Jackson (Eric Dane) who's too afraid to reveal who he really is; a rich man Holden (Bradley Cooper) meets an American solider Captain Kate Hazeltin (Julia Roberts) and have a really nice conversation inside a 14 hours flight; a young school boy, Edison (Bryce Robinson) who seems like he needs a love of a mother and falls in love for the first time; and the finally the high school lovebirds whose love is 'on fire', Willy (Taylor Lautner - he looks really good throughout the movie, seriously!) and Felicia (Taylor Swift), and Alex (Carter Jenkins - who's also handsome!) and Grace (Emma Roberts) who are trying to 'seal the deal' during school's lunch break.
I must admit that this is one of the emotionless and flat romantic movies I've ever seen. I did feel the vibe of the Valentine, and yes there were a lot of 'sweetness' came up, but I just couldn't feel the 'love' and 'emotions'. There was no sparks. The stories are mostly predictable - and I think they tried too hard to compile and combine those love stories in a day. And what happened to the actors? They seemed really 'flat' and 'not-into-the-characters'. I can say that they played it safe, because most of the characters are just plain, nothing special. Some of them are overrated I must say, including the Taylor Swift part. Well I love Taylor but she looks like she's trying too hard for to be funny and turns out to be... weird. Jessica Biel acted a bit weird too, I couldn't see her devastated because she doesn't have a date, but she's more like devastated because she is a mess. Jessica Alba was just an eye-candy, nothing more.
But of course there are good stuffs. I love Julia Robert's performance, even though her part was just a few. Anne Hathaway & Topher Grace's story was also nice - it's about accepting the one you love as a whole, even the worst part (that's kind of my problem right now, so yes it's something personal). The kid's lovestory is always cute and sweet, I like it too. I also love the "I marry my bestfriend" part, it's a straight and quick answer but it shoots you right to the heart - I was like "aww..." (it's not that I fall for my bestfriend -eww- but to consider your boyfriend/girlfriend as your bestfriend is just...wonderful!).
So overall, I think it's not fair for me to compare this movie to Love Actually and Paris Je T'aime - because I don't really like it. I cried like a baby when I watch Love Actually, and I can feel the Paris-hype in Paris Je T'aime, but this V-Day movie is just emotionless. There was a part that I feel like I wanted to cry, but it didn't happen because it wasn't worth to cry for. But if you have some spare time in the weekend and want to watch movie with your boyfriend/girlfriend (or even alone like I did), it's quite nice to watch - it's entertaining. 2 stars out of 5. Period.
