Garry Marshall’s “Valentine’s Day” is a big, loud, sprawling mess of a movie. It wants to be a love story, but it keeps breaking it up, and then making it again, across a dozen separate couples whose lives barely touch each other. The 2010 romantic comedy runs 125 minutes and casts Jessica Alba, Kathy Bates, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, Eric Dane, Patrick Dempsey, Héctor Elizondo, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Topher Grace, Anne Hathaway, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Latifah, Taylor Lautner, George Lopez, Shirley MacLaine, Emma Roberts, Julia Roberts, and Taylor Swift, a list so long it reads like a phonebook. That cast, and the sheer number of stories it tries to juggle, is the film’s biggest problem.
This is not a story about Valentine’s Day. It is a story about a dozen stories, each with its own plot, its own stakes, and its own ending, none of which connect except by sharing one calendar date. The film opens with Reed Bennett proposing to Morley Clarkson, and the rest of the movie keeps chasing him. Kate Hazeltine, a captain in the U.S. Army on a one-day leave, travels a long distance to get back home only for a short time. Julia Fitzpatrick, an elementary school teacher, falls for cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Harrison Copeland, who is married to Pamela. The film offers no central figure, no spine, only a list of people who happen to be in Los Angeles on February 14.
Trailer, via Warner Bros..
Reed, Morley, and the Broken Engagement
The story of Reed Bennett and Morley Clarkson is the engine that should drive the whole film. On Valentine’s Day, Reed wakes up and proposes. Morley accepts. Then she changes her mind, leaves him a few hours later, and the film’s central question is what she said yes to in the first place. The answer is never answered. Her friends, Alfonso Rodriguez and Julia, are not surprised when Morley leaves, and the movie never gives them a reason to be otherwise. The proposal is a setup, and the film never pays it off.
The other stories circle around this one without touching it. Reed’s friend Julia has her own story about Harrison, who is married to Pamela, and when Julia shows up at the hospital to confirm Harrison’s marriage, she winds up dressed as a waitress to make a scene at the restaurant where he is dining. That story is about jealousy, not about Morley’s broken engagement.
Julia, Harrison, and the Surprise Trip
Julia’s story is the closest the film comes to having a character arc. She books a flight to surprise Harrison on his business trip to San Francisco, but Reed stops her at the gate and tells her Harrison is still married. She decides not to fly, and instead she visits Harrison’s L.A. hospital, where the staff confirm he is married. She then dresses as a waitress to make a scene at the restaurant where Harrison is dining, making his wife Pamela suspicious.
It is a clever plot, but it is also a trap. Julia’s actions make sense in the moment — she wants to know the truth — but the film does nothing with the aftermath. The scene ends, Harrison’s wife is suspicious, and the movie moves on to Edison, Julia’s student, who orders flowers from Reed to be sent to his teacher.
Edison, Rani, and the Flowers
Edison’s story is a small one, a thread tied to Julia’s. He asks her for advice about a girl in his class named Rani, who has a crush on him. Julia tells him the meaning of love and suggests he give the flowers to Rani instead. The flower shop runs through the film as a connecting line, since Reed is the one who sends the flowers and Julia is the one who orders them, but the connection is thin. Edison’s babysitter, Grace Smart, is planning to lose her virginity to her boyfriend Alex Franklin, and when Grace’s mother discovers Alex naked, the film cuts away, leaving the scene unfinished.
The Cast and the Cameos
The cast is the film’s biggest draw, and the biggest disappointment. Marshall directs himself as a violinist, his usual family crew of wife, son, daughter, grandchildren and niece also appear, singer Paul Williams provides opening and closing dialogue as a radio DJ, and ESPN sports journalist Hannah Storm appears as herself. Those cameos are fine, but they do not make up for the fact that the film’s two lead actresses, Julia Roberts and Anne Hathaway, barely get to share a scene. Hathaway plays Liz, a single woman, and Roberts plays Julia, the married woman whose husband is having an affair with the single woman played by Hathaway. The film never brings those two women together, and the plot never gives them a reason to meet.
“A love story. More or less.”
That tagline is accurate. The film is more about the mechanics of relationships — proposals, surprises, secrets — than about love itself. It is a collection of scenes, not a story.
The Box Office and the Reviews
“Valentine’s Day” was released by Warner Bros. Pictures on February 12, 2010. It grossed $216.5 million against a $52 million budget, which made it a box office success. The film’s reviews were negative. Its score reflects the critical judgment of a film that is more spectacle than story.
- A cast that is too large to follow
- A plot that is too scattered to hold together
- A tagline that is too honest to be flattering
The film’s best moments are its worst. The proposal fails, the surprise trip never happens, the restaurant scene is a mess, and the movie has nothing left to say after the credits roll.
“Valentine’s Day” is a failure of focus. It has a cast, a date, and a premise, but it has no reason to exist. The film’s score is 3.4 out of 10.
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