Predictable and Sappy

“Hotshots” looks at a movie!

Valentine's Day - Movie PosterVALENTINE’S DAY is stuffed with stars, filled with stories, overflowing with romance, and you don’t have to be in love to enjoy it.

But it couldn’t hurt, because chances are you can probably spot one of your own love stories.

Here are the stars: Jessica Alba, Kathy Bates, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, Eric Dane, Patrick Dempsey, Hector Elizondo, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Topher Grace, Anne Hathaway, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Latifah, Taylor Lautner, George Lopez, Shirley MacLaine, Emma Roberts, Julia Roberts, and Taylor Swift.

And here are just some of the stories, which all pretty much intersect because of the characters and which all come full circle at the end of the day, which of course is Valentine’s Day.

Kutcher plays Reed Bennett, who owns a flower business, and as he tells Alphonso, one of his employees, when they are out making a delivery, “Everyone is romantic on Valentine’s Day.”

And Reed should know, not just because of his business and all the deliveries that he and Alphonso will make during the course of the day, but also because that morning Reed proposed to his girlfriend, and she said yes.

However, the results do not turn out the way that he expected, as we shall see.

Then there is Kelvin, a TV sportscaster, who is ordered by his producer to take a camera crew out onto the streets and interview people about Valentine’s Day, because the station wants more “fluff.”

The new boyfriend of a charming elementary school teacher is a doctor and can’t be with her on this day because he has to fly to San Francisco and perform an operation, but he has a secret that he is keeping from his girlfriend.

A wealthy businessman sits next to a woman captain in the Army for a 14-hour flight from overseas. She is going to be able to spend just one day with her special “Valentine” before she has to fly back to duty.

A couple of high-school sweethearts are planning to make this a very special day in their relationship.

A professional football player who might be retiring holds a press conference to reveal his own secret.

And the characters and stories just go on and on.

VALENTINE’S DAY is predictable and sappy, and the ending is completely heart-wrenching, but not in the way you would think.

I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”