Let
me start off by saying that "Valentine's Day" was better than I
expected it to be. There were more laughs and tears than than I thought
I would hear/see and, yet, it is neither a 'must see',  a classic or a
stand out as a romantic story though that is what it is all about.
There are too many 'stars'--more about that later--so juggling time for
all of them take away from in depth story telling.

Would you consider Topher Grace, Taylor Lautner,
Taylor Swift and Emma Roberts as stars or young folks on their way up,
maybe? I would consider Jennifer Garner, Eric Dane and Patrick Dempsy as TV stars versus Kathy Bates, Shirley McClaine, Queen Latifah and Julia Roberts as movie STARS. In spite of winning an Oscar Jamie
Fox just doesn't scream 'star' to me and Bradly Cooper, as is Anne
Hathaway, are on the verge of being A listed in Hollywood. George Lopez
is  a star on TV but hardly known in the movies.

Hector Elizondo is a recognizable character actor and is always in Garry Marshall's movie while I
probably wouldn't be able to tell who Jessica Alba and  Jessica Biel are or even tell them apart! And then there is Ashton Kutcher! Okay, he is Demi Moore's husband, has produced TV shows and has more face time in this
movie than anyone else but is he an actor? On the B list? As big a name
as Demi, who hasn't done anything in awhile, or her ex, Willis is still playing leads?

Having
to give all these people screen time leads to many intersecting
stories, most easy to follow, while some could have been cut out
completely like the Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner storyline and their time given to bring more depth to a few plots that are trimmed.

There
is a child actor whose name I didn't catch that does a very good job in
a sweet/funny storyline and though Julia Roberts has about a total of
15 minutes she has one of the most effective and surprising endings in
the film, plus an easy laugh in reference to one of her other Gary
Marshall movies, "Pretty Woman". Another story line with a surprising
twist is the gay one that I did not see coming and surprised the
audience with who played the roles.

Gary Marshall, who makes a quick cameo, is a director who gives his audience what they want and appeals to young, old, gay, nongay, Black, Hispanic and everyone in between. The movie, written by Katherine Fugate, covers a lot of territory in an easy to follow screenplay but that is a little too long.

Should you see "Valentine's Day" you will enjoy it but, if you don't, you won't be missing that much except seeing how movie stars like McClaine, Bates, Latifah and Roberts can do their magic on the silver screen!