Valentine's Day (2010 film)
| Valentine's Day | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Garry Marshall |
| Written by | Katherine Fugate Story: Katherine Fugate Abby Kohn Marc Silverstein |
| Produced by | Samuel J. Brown Mike Karz Wayne Allan Rice Josie Rosen |
| Starring | Julia Roberts Jessica Alba Jessica Biel Kathy Bates Eric Dane Patrick Dempsey Hector Elizondo Jamie Foxx Jennifer Garner Topher Grace Taylor Swift Anne Hathaway Carter Jenkins Ashton Kutcher Queen Latifah Taylor Lautner George Lopez Shirley MacLaine Emma Roberts |
| Cinematography | Charles Minsky |
| Edited by | Bruce Green |
| Music by | John Debney |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. New Line Cinema |
Release date |
|
Running time | 124 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $52 million[1] |
| Box office | $213,009,598[2] |
Valentine's Day is a 2010 American romantic comedy film directed by Garry Marshall. The screenplay was written by Katherine Fugate from a story by Fugate, Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein.
The film features one of the largest ensemble casts in Hollywood history, starring Julia Roberts, Bradley Cooper, Ashton Kutcher, Jessica Alba, Patrick Dempsey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Biel, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, George Lopez, Hector Elizondo, Kathy Bates, Emma Roberts, Carter Jenkins, Bryce Robinson, Taylor Swift, Taylor Lautner, Eric Dane, Queen Latifah, Shirley MacLaine, and Topher Grace.
Plot
In Los Angeles, florist Reed Bennett (Ashton Kutcher) proposes to his girlfriend Morley (Jessica Alba) who accepts, much to the surprise of Reed’s closest friends Alphonso (George Lopez) and Julia Fitzpatrick (Jennifer Garner). Morley changes her mind and leaves Reed later in the day. Alphonso tells Reed he and Julia knew it would never work out between him and Morley, and Reed wishes they had told him. On an airplane to Los Angeles, Kate Hazeltine (Julia Roberts), a captain in the U.S. Army on a one-day leave, befriends newly single Holden Bristow (Bradley Cooper). Kate and Holden chat, play a backgammon, and tell jokes. When the plane lands, and Kate has to wait hours for the taxi, Holden offers his limousine, which Kate accepts, as she only has one day to spend with her family before she has to come back into the army.
Julia, an elementary school teacher has fallen in love with Dr. Harrison Copeland (Patrick Dempsey), but does not know that he is married to his wife Pamela (Katherine LaNasa). Reed finds out when Harrison orders flowers for his wife and girlfriend (Julia). Harrison tells her that he needs to go to San Francisco for a business trip. Wanting to surprise him and following Reed's advice from earlier on in the day, Julia buys a plane ticket to San Francisco. Reed quickly comes to the airport and warns Julia, and she refuses to believe it and gets on the plane. She goes to the hospital where he said he would be, and inquires after him. The nurses at the counter reveal to her that he is married and tell her the name of the restaurant where he and his wife will be dining that evening. As she teaches the owner's son, the owner allows her to dress as a waitress. Julia makes a scene at the restaurant, and gives back the toy Harrison gave her that morning. Harrison's wife, Pamela, becomes suspicious when Julia makes a comment referring to Harrison's ability to juggle, and Harrison is seen eating pizza alone in a condo later on that evening, implying that Pamela has left him right after Julia's scene. One of Julia’s students, Edison (Bryce Robinson), orders flowers from Reed, to be sent to his teacher. There is a delay in the delivery of flowers, but Edison insists that Reed delivers the flowers the same day. They are for Julia; however, she suggests to Edison to give the flowers to a lonely girl in the class who also has a crush on him, which he does.
Edison's babysitter Grace (Emma Roberts) is planning to lose her virginity with her boyfriend Alex (Carter Jenkins). The planned encounter goes awry when Grace's mom discovers a naked Alex in Grace's room rehearsing a song he wrote for Grace on his guitar. Meanwhile Edison’s grandparents, Edgar (Hector Elizondo) and Estelle (Shirley MacLaine) are facing the troubles of a long marriage. Grace explains to them that she wants to have sex with Alex, and says, "It's not like I am going to sleep with one person for the rest of my life." This upsets Estelle and leads to her telling Edgar about an affair she had with one of his business partners. The affair was while he was away, and it didn't last long. Although she is deeply sorry for what she did, Edgar is deeply upset. Grace’s high-school friends, Willy (Taylor Lautner) and Felicia (Taylor Swift), are experiencing the freshness of new love, and have agreed to wait to have sex. On Valentine's Day, Willy gives Felicia a large white bear that she carries around with her everywhere and Felicia gets him a gray running t-shirt (which was his) and ironed the number 13 on the back for "good luck". They are interviewed on the news and advertise their love and support for each other.
Sean Jackson (Eric Dane), a closeted gay professional football player, is contemplating the end of his career together with his publicist Kara (Jessica Biel) and his agent Paula (Queen Latifah). Kara, a close friend of Julia’s, is organizing her annual ‘I Hate Valentine’s Day’ party, but is becoming interested in sports reporter Kelvin Moore (Jamie Foxx) who has been sent out by his producer Susan (Kathy Bates) to cover Valentine’s Day because of a lack of sports news, and they share their mutual hatred of Valentine's Day. Paula has hired a new receptionist named Liz (Anne Hathaway) who has started dating mailroom clerk Jason (Topher Grace). Jason is first shocked when Liz turns out to be moonlighting as a phone sex operator. Liz explains that she is only doing this because she has a $100,000 student loan to pay off, has no health insurance, and is completely broke. Jason decides that her job is too much for him to handle, but eventually comes back to the relationship after seeing Edgar forgive his wife, Estelle.
Sean comes out on national television, and Holden (who is Sean's lover) goes back to him. Kate goes home to greet her son Edison. Willy drops Felicia off at home after a date and they kiss goodnight. Kelvin and Kara hang out at Kelvin's news station where they later kiss, Alphonso dines with his wife, Grace and Alex agree to wait to have sex, Edgar and Estelle retell each other their marriage vows and kiss in the theater, Jason goes back to Liz and they decide to keep a bond together but to also "keep it simple", Morley is shown walking her Border collie while trying to call Reed and the movie closes with Julia and Reed beginning a relationship.
Cast
- Main Roles
- Julia Roberts as Cpt. Kate Hazeltine
- Bradley Cooper as Holden Bristow
- Jennifer Garner as Julia Fitzpatrick
- Ashton Kutcher as Reed Bennett
- Jessica Alba as Morley Clarkson
- George Lopez as Alphonso Rodriguez
- Bryce Robinson as Edison Hazeltine
- Patrick Dempsey as Dr. Harrison Copeland
- Hector Elizondo as Edgar Paddington
- Shirley MacLaine as Estelle Paddington
- Emma Roberts as Grace Smart
- Carter Jenkins as Alex Franklin
- Taylor Lautner as Willy Harrington
- Taylor Swift as Felicia Miller
- Eric Dane as Sean Jackson
- Jessica Biel as Kara Monahan
- Jamie Foxx as Kelvin Moore
- Queen Latifah as Paula Thomas
- Anne Hathaway as Liz Corynn
- Topher Grace as Jason Morris
- Katherine LaNasa as Pamela Copeland
- Kathy Bates as Susan Moralez
- Minor Roles
- Brooklynn Proulx as Madison Copeland
- Jonathan Morgan Heit as Tough Franklin
- Beth Kennedy as Mrs. Claudia Smart
- Joe Mantegna as Man driving a car
- Nigel Quashie as Personal Trainer
Music
The score to Valentine's Day was composed by John Debney, who recorded his score with the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Sony Scoring Stage. He also wrote a song for the film, "Every Time You Smiled", with award-winning lyricist Glen Ballard which was performed by Carina Round.[3]
The movie's official soundtrack was released on February 9, 2010 via Big Machine Records. It features the movie's leading song, Jewel's "Stay Here Forever," which was released as a single on January 19, 2010 and has charted on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. The soundtrack also includes "Today Was a Fairytale" by Taylor Swift, which debuted at #2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, breaking a record for highest first-week sales by a female artist. Taylor Swift's song Jump Then Fall from her album Fearless Platinum Edition also featured on the soundtrack. Debney's score album (including "Every Time You Smiled," not included on the song CD) was released digitally on April 7, 2010 by Watertower Music.
Jamie Foxx also recorded a song for the film which is called "Quit Your Job". It appears in the film but not on the soundtrack, however because of profanity in the verses.
Reception
Box office
The film debuted with $52.4 million its opening weekend, grabbing the No. 1 spot over the holiday that shares its name.[4] The film ousted two other high-profile openings; 20th Century Fox's action fantasy Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, which debuted at No. 2 with $31.1 million over three days, and Universal's werewolf film The Wolfman, with $30.6 million.[5] It is currently the 3rd Highest opening weekend in February.[6] With that record, it is the second biggest opening for a romantic comedy film behind Sex and the City with $57 million. The film's negative reviews later had its box office results quickly declining with a domestic total of $110 million and an additional $100 million overseas with a grand total of $210 million worldwide.
Critical response
The film received largely negative reviews from critics and received average reviews from the community.[7] Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a rating of 18% based on 163 reviews, with an average score of 3.8/10.[8] Among Rotten Tomatoes' selected top critics the film holds an overall approval rating of 16% based on 32 reviews.[9] Its consensus states: Eager to please and stuffed with stars, Valentine's Day squanders its promise with a frantic, episodic plot and an abundance of rom-com cliches.[8] Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 34%, based on 33 reviews.[7] Yahoo movies critics averaged the flim's grade as a C- and the Yahoo users gave it a B.[10]
Giving the film 3/4 stars, the overall opinion of Carrie Rickey's review for The Philadelphia Inquirer is that "It is a pleasant, undemanding movie that takes place over 18 hours on V-Day and considers Very Attractive People whose romantic destinies converge, diverge, and cloverleaf like the interstates threading through California's Southland".[11] Betsy Sharkey of The Los Angeles Times commented that "The effect of all those spinning songs, stars and scenarios is merry-go-round-like, producing a sort of dizzying collage that no doubt some will adore, while others will just get nauseous...".[12]
Mark Kermode called the film a 'greeting card full of sick'. Rene Rodriguez for the Miami Herald gave the film 2/4 stars, describing the film as "surfing through the channels of an all-chick-flick cable service."[13] Rodriguez also criticized the film's blandness, stating the film should have "shed some of its blander plotlines[…]and spent a little more time exploring the thrill and elation of being in love – or at least just being horny".[13] Slate movie critic Dana Stevens wrote that the film "lacks in charm, humor, and intelligence...".[14] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film one star out of four.[15] Travers' analysis of the film simply states that "Valentine's Day is a date movie from hell".[15] Jonathan Ross was not complimentary either on his Film 2010 show. He said "I thought the film was just awful".[16]
Viewers that took part in surveys after the showing of the film had a generally positive reaction with some viewers agreeing it was full of cliches but that was what they expected from the movie with all storylines ending in happily ever afters.
Valentine's Day is noted for sharing similarities with the British film Love Actually,[17][18][19][20][21] particularly the basic premise of multiple storylines occurring around a popular holiday, and sometimes identical subplots.[18]
Awards and nominations
| Award | Category/Recipients | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 MTV Movie Awards[22] | BEST KISS
Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner |
Nominated |
| 2010 Teen Choice Awards[23][24] | Choice Movie: Romantic Comedy
Film |
Won |
| Choice Movie Actor: Romantic Comedy
Ashton Kutcher |
Won | |
| Choice Movie Actress: Romantic Comedy
Queen Latifah |
Nominated | |
| Choice: Chemistry
Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner |
Nominated | |
| Choice: Breakout Female
Taylor Swift |
Won | |
| Choice: Liplock
Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner |
Nominated | |
| Choice: Scene Stealer - Female
Anne Hathaway |
Nominated | |
| Choice: Scene Stealer - Male
George Lopez |
Nominated | |
| Choice: Hissy Fit
Jessica Biel |
Nominated |
See also
Home Media
Valentine's Day was released on Region 1 DVD and Blu-ray on 18 May, 2010.
Sequel
A sequel announced by director Garry Marshall is in the works. It will be called New Year's Eve and will be set on December 31-January 1. Marshall is expected to return for the sequel and writer Katherine Fugate has already written the draft. Marshall also wants some of the original film's cast to return for the sequel. Filming will begin in New York City in late 2010. The sequel is scheduled for release on December 9, 2011.[25]
References
- ^ "'Valentine's Day,' 'Percy Jackson' and 'Wolfman': The more they cost, the less they made". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. February 15, 2010. Retrieved February 16, 2010.
Valentine's Day" cost Warner Bros.' New Line Cinema unit just $52 million to produce, making it a huge hit out of the gate.
- ^ "Valentine's Day (2010)". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved July 26, 2010.
- ^ Goldwasser, Dan (2010-02-02). "John Debney scores Valentine's Day". ScoringSessions.com. Retrieved 2010-02-02.
- ^ Germain, David (2010-02-14). "'Valentine's Day' courts $52.4M opening weekend". Associated Press. Miami Herald. Retrieved 2010-02-15.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35406897/ns/entertainment-movies/
- ^ "Top February Opening Weekends at the Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2010-02-15.
- ^ a b "Valentine's Day (2010): Reviews". Metacritic. CNET Networks. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ a b "Valentine's Day Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
- ^ "Valentine's Day (Cream of the Crop)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
- ^ Valentine's Day (2010)
- ^ Rickey, Carrie. "Bonbons for moviegoers of all ages and persuasions". philly.com. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help)
- ^ Sharkey, Betsy. "'Valentine's Day - latimes.com". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ a b Rodriguez, Rene (2010-02-11). "Review – Valentine's Day (PG-13) ** – Starry cast can't banish the blandness". Miami Herald. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help)
- ^ Stevens, Dana (2010-02-11). "Valentine's Day – Fine, mush your boring faces together already". Slate.com. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ a b Travers, Peter (2010-02-11). "Valentine's Day : Review :Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Film 2010". 10 Feb. 2010. 6 minutes in. BBC.
{{cite episode}}: Check date values in:|airdate=(help); Missing or empty|series=(help); Unknown parameter|episodelink=ignored (|episode-link=suggested) (help) - ^ http://www.screeninglog.com/journal/2010/2/12/movie-review-valentines-day.html
- ^ a b http://www.enzotoledo.com/movies/love-actually-and-valentines-day-there-were-things-that-i-noticed
- ^ http://brandonfibbs.com/2010/02/11/valentines-day/
- ^ Amelie Gillette (September 8, 2009). "Evidence That Valentine's Day Might Be The Worst Movie Of All Time. Or at least since Love, Actually".
- ^ http://silverchips.mbhs.edu/story/9872
- ^ "MTV Movie Awards: When Twilight & Betty White Collide!".
- ^ "First Wave of "Teen Choice 2010" Nominees Announced". The Futon Critic. June 14, 2010. Retrieved 2010-06-15.
- ^ "Winners of 'Teen Choice 2010' Awards Announced; Teens Cast More Than 85 Million Votes".
- ^ "Soderbergh's Contagion Contaminates 2011 in 3D!". May 15, 2010.
