It is Valentine’s Day in May this year with the new Blu-ray release from New Line Home Entertainment on May 18th, 2010.
Naturally released in theaters in February, this ensemble cast movie appears to have had a fairly rapid transition to the sell through market.
In many ways the film is modeled after a British romantic comedy named Love Actually, which similarly features a large cast and a number of relationship stories.
Unfortunately though, this Hollywood production somehow fails to do justice to the concept that worked so well in the British film.
The film starts with the main character getting engaged, and his friend enjoying a new relationship of her own.
But that is only the beginning - a huge variety of relationships, situations and conversations that seem to be random are tied together slowly as the film continues.
The day is filled with ups and downs however as relationships become strained by the circumstances of the most romantic of days.
But never fear - after all it is a Hollywood movie.
While the story lines that tie together was a clever piece of writing, for me at least it to the point where it became somewhat contrived.
One amazing aspect to this film though is the large ensemble cast of rather famous and popular actors, including Julia Roberts, Ashton Kutcher, Kathy Bates, Shirley MacLaine, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Garner, Queen Latifah, Patrick Dempsey, Jamie Foxx, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Topher Grace, Emma Roberts and Taylor Swift.
Apparently only one man could get all these stars to work on the same film - Valentine’s Day was directed by Garry Marshall, the man behind Pretty Woman, The Princess Diaries and Beaches.
The movie got a pretty rough reception from the critics - it earned a Rotten Tomatoes score of only 18% and IMDb score of 5.7/10.
Valentine’s Day defied the critics at the cinema however, reaching $110.5M at the US box office.
The video on the disc is a VC-1 1080p encode at 16.5 Mbps, and is presented at 1.78:1 aspect ratio, filling the HDTV screen.
You will find full resolution PNG screen captures taken directly from the disc at the details page for Valentine’s Day.
The main audio is lossless DTS-HD Master Audio with 5.1 channels - 24 bits resolution at 48 kHz.
The disc is a dual layer BD50, with 28.0 GB used and is coded for All Regions.
This release includes a Digital Copy for both Windows Media and iTunes, and a DVD copy for legacy players.
The disc also contains a selection of supplements, including a commentary by director Garry Marshall.
Additional footage is also presented in a large collection of deleted and extended scenes, with optional introduction from the director, and there is also a gag reel.
The casts’ thoughts and feelings about Valentines Day are presented in The Stars Confess Their Valentine’s Day Stories.
The Garry Factor featurette presents interviews with the movie’s large ensemble of big stars about the director and what motivated them to work in this film with him.
A music video for the Jewel song Stay Here Forever is included, as is an exclusive ’sneak peak’ at the upcoming Sex And The City 2 movie.
While from my personal perspective Valentine’s Day is not a strong film, it was certainly a popular one with the women folk and the Blu-ray release from New Line Home Entertainment is perfectly sufficient for this kind of film.
The retail price is $35.99, or order it right now at Amazon for $27.49, saving 24%!
Extras:
- The Stars Confess Their Valentine’s Day Stories
- Commentary By Director Garry Marshall
- The Garry Factor
- Jewel Stay Here Forever music video
- Blooper Reel
- Exclusive Sex And The City 2 Sneak Peak Trailer
- Additional Scenes
Synopsis:
An all-star cast sparkles in this hilarious and heartwarming romantic comedy from the director of Pretty Women and The Princess Diaries. Stories crisscross, collide and boomerang in this look at a day in the life of love. There’s a proposal. Flowers that didn’t get sent. A big fat secret that’s finally told. The “I’ll show up and surprise him” that ended up surprising her. Fights, kisses, wrong turns, right moves and more. Whether new to or through with love, you’ll fall in love with this 19-star, funny-side-up celebration of romance.