‘Valentine’s Day’
Back in September, I went to bat for Valentine’s Day as an underrated rom-com, and there’s no better day than today — actual Valentine’s Day — to watch it. Valentine’s Day (directed by the late, great Garry Marshall) is basically the Avengers: Endgame of rom-coms, with 19 (!!!) named main characters (played by A-listers and rom-com vets like Julia Roberts, Jennifer Garner, and Patrick Dempsey, to name just a few) whose paths cross as at least six rom-coms worth of plot unfold in just over two hours. At the office, home, school, local florists, and even on cross-country flights, the characters of Valentine’s Day meet each other, get together, fall apart, connect with old friends, reignite old flames, and more. The movie has one job — to give us all the warm, fuzzy V-day feelings by showing us beautiful people in love — and for the most part, it succeeds in that, hitting some of the most popular rom-com tropes along the way.