Not just a dollar fuelled copycat tirade of a sterling British export. 

“It’s just like Love Actually,” I was told. “Great, another cheap, pathetic emulation of a British national treasure that the Yanks want to put their stamp on,” I said. 

I stood in line at a time when all the kids were out of school. It was just after I had entered my PIN number for the cinema ticket that I realised the grave error that I had made. I was seeing a romcom at the same time as hordes of youngsters. The cinema would be a great big teenage orgy, with constant yapping and projectile popcorn. 

Still, I didn’t expect that a little noise would diminish Ashton Kutcher’s acting. Face it, it’s never been up to much. His marriage to Demi Moore was probably in the aim of supplementing his own income with her presumably massive pension pot.

The film did have high hopes in terms of other talent. Jessica Alba, Julia Roberts, Hector Elizondo and Jamie Foxx are, by contrast, not adversed to punctuating their careers with high-profile performances. However, elation turned to deflation upon seeing Anne Hathaway on the bill. 

In a tempo similar to Love Actually¸ the film introduces the multitude of characters each with their individual love trials. Indeed, in keeping with the Richard Curtis classic, these people all tend to be related in some way. And yes, the film takes place on Valentine’s Day. 

The setting is a charming, not at all garish, Beverly Hills. The atmosphere is light hearted, yet engaging. 

The first two stars to appear on screen are Kutcher and Hathaway. Although I would love nothing more than to say that I immediately groaned, the first emotion was surprisingly admiration. Kutcher plays a role totally in keeping with his own character, which he worked well, and Hathaway pushes her own boundaries in a way that puts her over and above the rest of the cast.

 Hathaway plays an adult phone entertainer, both convincingly and hilariously. I confess that by the end of the film, my attitude towards both Kutcher and Hathaway had totally changed. 

A third of the way into the film, you kind of expect the film to lose its energy. Where Love Actually stays fresh to the very end, in typical Richard Curtis style, Valentine’s Day does tend to lull. However, it picks up pace throughout and keeps the audience engaged.  

Unlike Love Actually, there are numerous surprises when you finally see the family tree of the characters come in to play.  

The relationship between Valentine’s Day and Love Actually is not that of an “original” and a “remake”, they are two completely discernable movies. Whilst the latter may have a longer shelf life under the rank of “classic”, the former is still a hugely enjoyable film. The performances are all dedicated and top class, which is a credit to the actors who did not receive much screen time.

 The best part of the entire film is that it ends on a laugh. Personally, I walked away feeling that I hadn’t wasted a penny, and that those pesky kids weren’t so bad after all.