As much as I wanted to say that all these stars couldn’t save a movie, I can’t. Much to my surprise, “Valentine’s Day” was a relatively charming and very entertaining look at just about every kind of love that might exist. And given the day it is set on, all the love stories are as pumped up on steroids as the size of the cast.
The line-up is like a romantic comedy all-star team, and to top it off, they’ve even peppered in some serious actors. Oscar winners Kathy Bates, Jamie Foxx, Julia Roberts (who falls into the rom-com category as well), and Shirley MacLaine all make appearances. “Grey’s Anatomy” fans can rejoice at getting McDreamy AND McSteamy together outside of Seattle Grace hospital. Teen idols for both boys and girls are represented through Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner. In case you had any doubt, you can find at least one star to make your valentine in the cast.
And there’s every kind of love story you can imagine. The movie rounds all the bases and covers all the definitions of the L word that keeps the world spinning. There’s young love and old love, pure love and cheating love, parental love and physical love. And of course, because you can’t have love without it, there’s heartbreak.
Now, just because it tells all these stories doesn’t mean that they are all told well. There are plenty that are just plain boring to watch or so horrifyingly predictable that the movie would have done well to shuck it and lose a few minutes off a pretty bloated running time. At over two hours, it’s a marathon romantic comedy. You can feel the fatigue starting to set in as it crosses the hour mark, dragging along under the weight of too many characters and storylines. Most are wrapped up with class, albeit in a fairly typical and predictable fashion. Be sure to stay tuned until the very end because there are some nice and touching twists up its sleeve. Turning it off would be a big mistake. Huge. B / 
