Movie Review (Dan’s Take): Valentine’s Day

With  no less than 20 billable stars and eight story lines, the humdrum Valentine’s Day is a marshmallow-fisted counter-attack against the cynical idea that “Love’s Day” is a corporate foisted, marketing driven excuse to steal money and inspire loveless singles feel bad about themselves. It’s a “one day where love conquers all and everyone gets their Valentine wish” movie. Or at least, that’s what the overly forced scripts tries to clobber home. Instead, Valentine’s Day offers a valentine box that’s not stuffed with homemade, handwritten tokens of affection, but their store-bought, shallow and emotionally truncated equivalent.

So here’s a moment of uncomfortable truth: I wanted to see this movie. Buoyed by the prospect of cozying up to a cloying, feel-good American companion to Love, Actually, Valentine’s Day felt like a chance to take in a round of filmic comfort food. But at the end of its two hours, even my Lady-Friend, who attended the screening with me, was disenfranchised. “It was OK” isn’t a blushing, melting endorsement from a core audience member.

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