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Valentine's Day
Stars: Ashton Kutcher, Jennifer Garner, Anne Hathaway, Julia Roberts, Jamie Foxx, Queen Latifah, Eric Dane, Shirley MacLaine, Hector Elizondo, Jessica Biel, Jessica Alba, Taylor Lautner, Taylor Swift, Patrick Dempsey, Topher Grace, Carter Jenkins, Emma Roberts, Bradley Cooper
Director: Garry Marshall
Crucially lacking in wit and sparkle and with a bewildering array of characters - many of the men seem interchangeable - Valentine's Day is defeated by its own format, the seldom-successful multi-star movie.
The only personality here is provided by: Kutcher, as a florist whose girlfriend (Alba) walks out when he proposes, Hathaway, as a receptionist with nice boyfriend and a sideline in phone sex and - injecting much-needed star quality - Julia Roberts as an army captain who, heading home on leave, is chatted up on the plane by the guy (Cooper) in the next seat.
Kutcher is the only character with whom you're likely to empathise, as most of the others listlessly go through the motions with a lacklustre script; you wonder what such performers as Foxx and Biel, who seem almost awkward with their contrived romance, ever saw in this. It's for soft-centred romantics only.
David Quinlan
USA 2010. UK Distributor: Warner Brothers. Technicolor.
124 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 12A.
Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 0, Swearing 0.
Review date: 11 Feb 2010