A Big Box o' ROTTEN Chocolates?!?

Originally posted by Vits

WHAT IS THE TRUE MEANING OF "VALENTINE'S DAY"?THE MOVIE SAYS "BROKEN HEARTS AND MONEY YOU SPEND WHEN IT'S UNNECESSARY"(***/*****):

Romantic Comedy is one of the weakest genres because it's always the same thing.Recently we've seen good ones because they have some redeeming quality,something that makes them stand on their own.Making one that shows several stories isn't the solution.It has worked with movies like LOVE,ACTUALLY because it says new things about it's subjects,not the several stories fact itself.

This movie takes not every plot used since the genre started,but the most common plots,and stuff them together.They're focusing on the wrong aspect,because it's safer to spend money on a movie with a new premise and the same formula,than to spend it on a recap of the last...what?90 years?

With so many stories it's easy to rank them from better to worse:
1)The main stories are the ones with EDISON,and ALEX & GRACE,and MORLEY & REED & JULIA & HARRISON.Not because they have more screen time,but because they add charm,sweetness and a little humour to stories we've already seen before,making them interesting(not necessarily good).
2)The one with LIZ & JASON had what the ones from above had plus it was funnier.It would've been the best story if hadn't felt written for a sitcom episode.
3)ALPHONSO and PAULA are filler characters.They help advance the plot,but that's it.The same can be said about SEAN who only depends on the twist ending of his story.
4)EDGAR & ESTELLE,and KARA & KELVIN have pointless subplots,because they're practically 100% how we've seen them before.The same can be said about HOLDEN and CPT. HAZELTINE who,once again,only depend on the twist ending to their stories.
5)SUSAN is sort of a mix:a pointless character.That can be said of any extra in the movie,but when it's played by an a-list actor who's billed as part of the main cast,you don't expect her to be an actual extra.
6)And if you combine all,we get filler pointless characters with a pointless subplot.That would be FELICIA & WILLY.I don't think I need to explain why.

I've defended Kutcher for years because I really think he has talent,but in this he didn't seem to know what he was doing.And I felt MacLaine picked up the leftovers from her performances in TERMS OF ENDEARMENT and THE EVENING STAR.The only decent performances came from Elizondo and Hathaway.Also,I was glad Lopez kept his self-satire jokes against latinos to the minimum.

Grades: C- in the U.S. and 4,5 in Chile.