Valentine’s Day (2010) proved to be a very successful romantic comedy commercially, taking in more than $100 million during the first weekend of its release, which happened to be Valentine’s Day weekend, which is a natural target for romantic films. Although the critics were not as kind to this movie as the customers, the box office receipts are the main indicator for the producers, and based on a budget of $52 million, the popularity of the movie justified the faith in their product.
Clearly influenced in its style and structure by the earlier successful British film Love Actually (2003), which took in $247 million worldwide, and the earlier French film La Ronde (1950), Valentine’s Day owes much to these love story films but has a modern American slant and some big-name American actors.
This version of “Vertigo” features Julia Roberts as Kate, an army captain who meets newly minted Holden (Bradley Cooper) while he is flying to Los Angeles.
In Los Angeles, Reid (Ashton Kutcher) works as a florist and is excited at the idea of proposing to his girlfriend, Morley (Jessica Alba), who accepts and later changes her mind. Reed’s best friends are Alfonso (George Lopez) and Julia (Jennifer Garner), who didn’t think Reed and Morley were a good match.
Meanwhile, Julia is in love with Dr. Harrison (Patrick Dempsey) without realizing he is already married. Red discovers Harrison has been deceiving her when the doctor orders flowers for both Julia and his wife. Julia plans to secretly surprise Harrison by flying in to meet him where he is staying on what he says is a business trip.
An elementary school student of Julia’s, a young boy named Edison, also orders flowers for his Valentine’s Day and insists they be delivered – to Julia.
Edison has a babysitter named Grace (Emma Roberts) who has a boyfriend, Alex (Carter Jenkins). They were planning a sexual encounter but things go awry when Grace’s mother sees Alex naked.
Edison’s grandparents, Edgar and Estelle (Hector Elizondo and Shirley MacLaine), reflect on their long marriage and Estelle admits that she wasn’t always faithful to Edgar.
Grace has two friends, Willie and Felicia (Taylor Lautner and Taylor Swift), who are in love.
A professional soccer player, Sean (Eric Dane), is a closet gay and is considering retiring from the sport. His publicist is Kara (Jessica Biel), Julia’s friend. Sean recently broke up with Holden.
Valentine has many intertwined relationships, and many of them are involved or romantically involved. Of course, the story does not end there, and the final stages of the film are all about solving difficulties and determining who is really important to the characters involved. The main characters are easily recognizable to viewers and their plights are followed with keen interest.