Funny Valentine (2005)

Brilliant and touching

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Josh (Anthony Michael Hall) is a single gentleman looking for the right gal. Alas, he has trouble approaching women in bars and other typical meet-up places. Therefore, his "swinger" pals Sean and Tim try to give him advice on the different kinds of women out there and how to secure a date. They even create a profile for him on a dating site and insist they will pick the three finalists for Josh to review. However, as a shy magician, mime and book seller, Josh meets a beautiful woman, Doreen (Marlo Marron) when he performs at a child's birthday party and likes what he sees. But, once he is out of his mime make-up, will she look his way? Or, as Sean and Tim insist, is she way out of his league? For her part, Doreen is a working single mother and graduate student who truly doesn't want to give her heart to another jerk. Is this really a match made by Cupid's sure arrow? This is a sweet romcom, for the most part, but there are some rather risque scenes involving the two "love em and leave em" friends of the main star, Hall. Therefore, Doris Day lovers may not like it. But, the scenes involving Hall and Marron are sweet and touching. Especially nice are the movies Hall imagines in his mind, with him starring as Chaplin and Bogart, and Marron as his leading lady. Also darling is Marron's son. The movie does not have any spectacular scenery, costumes, lines, or direction but, even so, romantic comedy fans will be glad they chose it. If that's you, add it to the list.

This is quite a hidden little gem of a romance, and one you should try to discover.The story revolves around Street Performer, Magician and part-time Book store worker, Josh (Anthony Michael Hall) and his two more worldly wise (??) friends Tim and Sean. Josh is looking for love where as his two friends are looking for lust (with varying degrees of success and quality).The story is gentle and more than a little believable (if you overlook the usual "Friends" faux pas that a lowly worker/performer can live in a nice large apartment without starving to pay the rent and in this case dine out regularly). The stand point of both Josh and Doreen (the love interest) will ring true with most singles the world over along with their insecurities and anxieties. The romance is slow but sweet without being cloying.The second plot line, the two friends helping to find love for Josh in the Lonely Hearts Ads is a little hit and miss, although the "Interview" sequence to find their top three is quite funny.The look of the clothes and the scenery gives the 80's impression which is hard to shake off. That and the carefree attitude to random sex seem out of place in a 21st century film but if you let your imagination take you back to the days of Dynasty and Robert Palmer videos you can excuse this.This is a good solid cast, the four main actors more than hold their own and provide a little escapism for 90 minutes or so. More believable than Pretty Woman for those of us still paddling in the singles pool.

First, let me start off by saying that I have never written a movie review before (I just never saw the point. There are tons of reviews out there). But after seeing this complete waste of time, I felt compelled to write something. My boyfriend works at a DVD distribution company and he brought home a box of unwanted DVD's for us to sift through. This is a BAD film (and not "good" bad like the campy "Showgirls" or the beyond belief "Waterworld"). It simply is a new "filmmaker" wasting natural resources because he can. (I cry inside a little for the environment when I think about the fuel used to produce the film stock, get the actors to the set, move the lighting, etc. What a waste.) The only redeeming quality to this film is Anthony Michael Hall doing his best to rise above the lame script. (I can only imagine the director had compromising pictures of him in order to get him to be in the movie). The dialogue is awkwardly written (it seems like the writer doesn't have a clue how human beings really interact), it's shot poorly, the female lead is hopelessly miscast. Really, it's not worth anybody's time. I wouldn't let the "writer/director" film a child's birthday party, let alone another movie. If I ever see another DVD by this person, I will avoid it all costs. I suggest you do the same.

The story is lame. The acting is terrible. It's one of those films that opens poorly and you sit and think that it just has to get better. Don't hold your breath. If someone forces you into a room to watch this film, run...do not walk...to the nearest exit. The film contains a string of unrelated cheesy shots of many women who I am sure are very beautiful in real life. But the photographer seems to have gone out of his way to make them appear ghastly. The marketing for this film promises a chick-flick for Valentines Day. What the director delivers is a poorly written concept about a guy who is tempted to take advice from his friends about finding a girl. He should have spent some time finding better friends first. These are people you do not want to visit. This is not "Sleepless in Seattle". It is more like "Brain-Dead in the Big City".