Valentine's DayMovie Reviews

No
Avg. Critic Score: 34 out of 100 Generally unfavorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
14 Iffy for 14+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 75
    Philadelphia Inquirer | Carrie Rickey

    It is a pleasant, undemanding movie that takes place over 18 hours on V-Day and considers Very Attractive People whose romantic destinies converge, diverge, and cloverleaf like the interstates threading through California's Southland. Read full review

  • 75
    NPR | Ella Taylor

    If Marshall is an unrepentant Tory on some issues -- Valentine's Day stumps for teen abstinence and marrying your best friend, and warns that career women may end up alone -- he is open-hearted and generously conciliatory on gay rights, and he implies quite casually that multi-culti coupling may be the surest way to dispose of racism. Read full review

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    There are lots of cameos, as well, too many to count. However, it is worth mentioning that singer Taylor Swift shows up in a couple of scenes, playing a vapid Valley girl, and she's very funny. Read full review

  • 75
    New Orleans Times-Picayune | Mike Scott

    Manages to overcome its flaws and become a charming love letter to love itself -- and a pitch-perfect V-Day date film to boot. Read full review

  • 50
    New York Daily News | Elizabeth Weitzman

    Valentine's Day is sugary, sappy and totally predictable. It's also what a whole lot of women are likely to want. Read full review

  • 50
    The Hollywood Reporter | Sheri Linden

    Yet another Hollywood romantic comedy that's all but devoid of romance and laughs. Read full review

  • 38
    Boston Globe | Wesley Morris

    This is many lousy movies for the price of one. Read full review

  • 38
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    The film feels as calculatedly sentimental as one of those bland pink candy hearts. Read full review

  • 25
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Valentine's Day is a date movie from hell. Read full review

  • 0
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    How you feel about Valentine's Day may depend on how you feel when someone really, really cute -- and someone you're really, really fond of -- gives you a nasty box of cheap chocolate on Valentine's Day, picked up at the corner Rite Aid and delivered with the price tag still attached. Read full review

View more reviews for Valentine's Day on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 14+ Mushy ensemble romcom sticks to formula; some sexy stuff.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this ensemble romantic comedy from director Garry Marshall -- which stars everyone from Julia Roberts, Jennifer Garner, and Anne Hathaway to teen faves Taylor Lautner and Taylor Swift -- features relationships in various stages, from sweet childhood crushes and hormone-driven teen matchups to confusing adult connections and mature, enduring love. Characters kiss, teens talk about having sex, unmarried couples are seen in bed together, and a man cheats on his wife. There’s a sense that you're incomplete without a partner, and that finding true love isn’t easy – and yet everything has a fairy-tale feel in the end. Expect some swearing (including "s--t") and a few raunchy conversations.
  • Families can talk about what Valentine’s Day means, if anything. Is it really manufactured, and does it make people who aren’t with someone on that day feel bad? Can it be a chance to focus on a relationship for a day, or does it just breed consumerism?
  • Does the film approach the topic of love any differently from other romantic comedies? Are all the pairings and their subsequent conclusions believable?
  • How does the film portray dating and romance? Ask your teens if this is what they think adult relationships are really like.
The good stuff
  • message true1 Positive messages: Though the film portrays many kinds of love, there's a particular emphasis on romantic love, and those who lack it seem bereft. One portrayal of mature love, though needing exploration, is surprisingly complex.
  • rolemodels true2 Positive role models: There’s a liar in the mix, but for the most part, the characters here are decent people striving for love and connectedness.
What to watch for
  • violence false0 Violence: Not an issue
  • sex false3 Sexy stuff: Two teens discuss their plans to meet at lunch and have sex for the first time. The teenage boy is shown naked, with a guitar hiding his genitals. Couples kiss, sometimes in bed wearing little clothing; women’s legs peek out from beneath bedcovers. One character works as a phone-sex attendant, and viewers hear her raunchy conversations. A married man cheats on his wife, and his girlfriend has no clue that he’s "taken." A man is shown getting out of the shower and walking around in a towel.
  • language false3 Language: A sprinkling of “bitch,” “ass,” “moron,” and “hell,” and the occasional “s--t.” Several uses of "God" as an exclamation.
  • consumerism false2 Consumerism: It’s hard not to notice that many characters are toting BlackBerrys. ESPN is name-dropped.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false1 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Social drinking by adult characters.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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The cast tells all! Watch Our Interviews with Ashton, Jessica(s), Jamie and More! Jennifer Garner, Ashton Kutcher, Anne Hathaway, Topher Grace, Jessica Biel, Jamie Foxx and Jessica Alba talk up their director, the do-s and don'ts of V-Day, and a scene of 'partial nudity.' Valentine's Day - The Top 10 Romantic Movie Gestures! Loveaholic alert! From The Notebook to Titanic to Slumdog Millionaire - here are the best of the best romantic gestures in recent films.