A friend of mine has a theory about star-studded movies. She feels that too much talent can overload a movie, sort of like too many cooks in the kitchen. It could be that these movies can never live up to their potential. (Just look at all of the movies from the 70s which had the stars faces in little boxes at the bottom of the movie poster.) This isn't a hard and fast rule, but there are plenty of examples to prove this theory, the latest of which is Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day is set on, believe it or not, Valentine's Day, and it follows a group of people in Los Angeles who celebrate or avoid the day in their own unique way. Reed (Ashton Kutcher) owns a flower store, so Valentine's Day is the busiest day of the year for him, but he still takes time to propose to his girlfriend, Morley (Jessica Alba). Reed's friend, Julia (Jennifer Garner), is seeing the recently divorced Dr. Copeland (Patrick Dempsey). Quarterback Sean (Eric Dane) has just been released by his team, so he turns to his manger, Paula (Queen Latifah), and his publicists, Kara (Jessica Biel), for help. Jason (Topher Grace) is very anxious, because he's forgotten about Valentine's Day, and he doesn't want to let down his new girlfriend, Liz (Anne Hathaway). High school student Grace's (Emma Roberts) plans to lose her virginity fall through, and she finds herself looking after her young Edison (Bryce Robinson). Sports reporter Kelvin (Jamie Foxx) finds himself assigned to interviewing people for their views on Valentine's Day. Holden (Bradley Cooper) meets Kate (Julia Roberts) on a plane. As the day wears on, these people will cross paths and fall in and out of love.

It would also be very easy to see that Valentine's Day bites off more than it can chew, and this would be accurate as well. Obviously the entire point of the movie is to throw all of these stories at us, but it's simply too much. During the first 20 minutes, we keep meeting character after character and it reaches a "Are you serious?" saturation point very quickly. The issue with all of this is that it never feels the least bit organic. We are just meeting one random person after another and we're introduced to their banal storylines. (The fact that two of the characters are on a plane (and not in L.A.) should really serve as an example of the film's desperation.) The movie then asks us to follow the plotlines, which isn't all that challenging, and actually care about these people, which is. The script then attempts to tie it all together with "twist" endings, as the relationships between certain characters are revealed. While one did catch me off-guard, the others are very transparent, and if you can't guess the ending of the Julia Roberts storyline...well, you may need to be held back a grade.

The obvious issue here is that a good cast goes to waste. There's no doubt that the sheer amount of familiar faces in Valentine's Day makes the movie appealing, but keep in mind that they are all sharing the screen with multiple storylines. Ashton Kutcher gets the most screentime here, but I don't know if I can say that anyone is the "star", as this is a true ensemble piece. The movie comes from veteran director Garry Marshall, who infuses some of his trademark silly humor into the film, often at odd times. Also, a movie with this many stories has to rely on editing, and this film is oddly cut. There are times when the jumping between stories can be jarring and strangely timed, and the second-unit director must have blackmailed Marshall, as there are some really strange shots of random objects.

It would be unfair to call Valentine's Day a disaster, but it is certainly a disappointment. The law of averages says that a movie with this many known actors would produce some entertainment value, but there's only one true laugh in the movie and the drama is never moving. Do yourself a favor and break up with Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day wears way too much pink for a man on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Warner Home Video. The movie has been letterboxed at 1.85:1 and the Disc contains a VC-1 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 20 Mbps. The image is very sharp and clear, showing no grain or defects from the source material. The colors look very good, especially pastels and bright shades, and the image is never overly dark or bright. The picture shows a nice level of detail and we can make out specific features on the actors' faces. The depth is fairly good. The Disc offers a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 3.8 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The stereo effects are nicely detailed and show good separation. The track provides some nice surround sound effects, mostly from crowd noises and musical cues. Other than in-film music, we don't get much in the way of subwoofer action.

The Valentine's Day Blu-ray Disc contains several extras. We begin with an AUDIO COMMENTARY from Director Garry Marshall. There is a 6-minute BLOOPER REEL. The Disc contains fourteen DELETED SCENES which run about 15 minutes. These can be viewed with optional introductions from Marhsall. This is an odd mixture of very incidental scenes and moments which could have slightly re-defined some of the characters. And there was a cut cameo from Penny Marshall. "The Stars Confess Their Valentine's Day Stories" (6 minutes) is exactly what it sounds like, as the actors from the film give their impressions of the holiday. In "The Garry Factor" (5 minutes), the cast talk about what it was like to work with Garry Marshall. The final extra is the MUSIC VIDEO for the song "Stay Here Forever" by Jewel.