Valentine's Day = Love Actually but not >

This weekend, I, unlike many other members of the single male species, ventured to the movies to see… Valentine’s Day. I know, strange. Now, don’t get me wrong, I too really wanted to see the much awaited Shutter Island or even the new Wolfman movie like most testosterone fueled homosapiens; however, I had my mother with me and since she’s not a fan of anything creepy, gothic, thrilling, or unsightly I decided a safe romantic comedy would be best.

The movie was everything I expected it to be. It was cute and clean and featured an all star cast consisting of everyone from Julia Roberts to Jessica Alba and their family members (literally in Robert’s case – Director Gary Marshall gave Robert’s niece a part in the movie).

Jennifer Garner and Ashton Kutcher are well matched as a cute couple in 2010’s Valentine’s day. Their storyline parallels that of Keira Knightly and Andrew Lincoln’s in 2003’s Love Actually. Both couples feature a woman who has fallen for the wrong man and a love stricken “best friend” left on the sidelines.

Valentine’s Day is very much like 2003’s smash hit Love Actually in format, look, and even the pairing of couples. Each film featured a successful, cheating man; a young man in love with a woman who’s heart was falling for the wrong man; and even a cute, bright-eyed, dimpled boy who claimed to be lovesick for an older woman.

Eric Dane and Bradley Cooper co-star as a homosexual couple struggling with relationship issues.

One thing that did surprise me was the storyline included a homosexual couple! This is defiantly a progressive move on the movie studios part; never before have I seen two gay men featured as a leading couple in a major romantic comedy. Although this movie focused on several couples throughout the course of one day leaving very little time for any of the storylines to truly take center stage; it was refreshing to see that the movie studios are finally beginning to realize that there is a market for films focused around gay characters. Maybe, we’ll soon see a major romantic comedy featuring a single gay man as the protagonist! Think about it, homosexuals are asked to endure romantic comedies featuring heterosexual couples, why not the other way around?

All in all, this movie was good for what it was made for – a fun, easy going date night movie with a few laughs and a lot of “awwwww” moments.