Valentine’s Day 2010

     More than a dozen people who live in Los Angeles navigate Valentine's Day from early morning until midnight.  Three couples awake together but each relationship will sputter in different ways? Are any worth saving?  A grade-school boy wants to get flowers for his first true love; two high school seniors plan first-time sex at noon; a TV sports reporter gets the assignment to find romance in LA; a star quarterback contemplates his future; two strangers meet on a plane; grandparents, together for years, face a crisis; an "I Hate Valentine's Day" dinner beckons the lonely and the lied to.  Can Cupid finish his work by midnight?

     The structure of this film involves a large number of couples and additional characters who are not in couples.  They wake up on the morning of February 14 and all of their stories are completed by midnight?  In reality, there’s a lot of explaining needed?  Several formulas are used:  (1) Best friends who don't realize they're really in love.  (2) Guy who thinks she loves him but she doesn't.  (3) Girl who thinks he loves her but he's married.  (4) People sitting next to each other on an airplane strike up a conversation.  (5) Guy misunderstands phone call and draws wrong conclusion.  (6) Fifth grader's first crush.

     This film is an ensemble romantic comedy that features relationships in various stages, from sweet childhood crushes and hormone-driven teen match-ups to confusing adult connections and mature enduring love.  Characters kiss, teens talk about having sex, unmarried couples are seen in bed together and a man cheats on his wife.  There’s a sense that you're incomplete without a partner and that finding true love isn’t easy?  Yet everything has a fairy-tale feel in the end.  Expect some swearing and a few raunchy conversations.  3* (This movie is OK)

125 min, Comedy directed by Garry Marshall and writer my Katherine Fugate with Julia Roberts, Jamie Foxx, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Alba, Kathy Bates, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, Eric Dane, Patrick Dempsey, Hector Rlizondo,, Jennifer Garner, Topher Grace, Carter Jenkins, Ashton Kutcher.

Note:  Imdb 5.7* out of 10* with 114,977 reviews, Metacritic 34 out of 100 with 33 critic reviews 5.1* out of 10* with 135 user scores, Roger Ebert 2*, Rotten Tomatoes 18% with 190 critic reviews 47% with 250,000+ audience scores, Common Sense Media S. Jhoanna Robledo, age 15+, 2* out of 5*, 1* positive messages, drinking, drugs &  smoking, 2* role models, consumerism, 3* sex, language, The Independent Critic grade C 2* Richard Propes, Amazon 4,6* out of 5* with 2609 reviews.

Special Note:  Julia Roberts turned down a role from David Tyler in order to appear in this movie.  Ironically, Sandra Bullock turned down Roberts' role in this film and then stared in The Blind Side.  Julia Roberts was paid $11,952 for each word she says in this film: 251 words in return for reportedly a $3 million paycheck?  During the credits, the chauffeur mentioned to Kate they are passing Rodeo Drive asking her if she had ever shopped there.  This refers to Julia Roberts’ role in Pretty Woman (1990) and she says "I did once.  It was a big mistake!! "Big and Huge."  In Pretty Woman (1990), Roberts' Vivian tells the shop assistants, "big mistake."  Big. Huge." In the same tone.

Mistakes:  At the flower market, when Reed meets Kelvin and at the agents office when Paula initially speaks to Liz, the characters speak and we distinctly see their mouths move but it is very clear that they are not saying the words that we hear?  At the beginning of the movie, Reed puts the ring on the middle finger of Morley's right hand.  He should have put it on the ring finger of her left hand.     Julia does get on the plane to San Francisco but when she goes to the hospital to ask about Dr. Copeland, the nurse answering the phone says "LA Hospital”?