Gary Marshall’s cast list for his US Love Actually film Valentine’s Day should have guaranteed it rampant box office success.

Reuniting with Pretty Woman Julia Roberts, Marshall gathers a dozen or so strands of love of all kinds and attempts to weave them into a coherent web leaving us with the lasting impression that Love Will Conquer All™.

Andy reviewed the film for HeyUGuys, and you can read her review here, and I’m in agreement with what she says, only I’d go further and compare the experience to being rocketed through Madame Tussuads being force fed sugar coated sugar cubes.

The Blu-ray does look great and has a ton (seriously – a ton) of special features including numerous deleted scenes and out-takes which begs the question that while the cast clearly had a lot of fun, there was obviously too much going on and a cull of the storylines and episodes would have served this movie well. In fact, there’s about five or six standard Hollywood romances which could have been made from this one.

The one crucial element the film lacks is charm, well there’s also wit. It doesn’t have much of that either. What it has is a lot of Hollywood faces and pauses for the audience to laugh, which are very noticeable, and this is by no means the worst rom-com on offer this year, but it is the biggest waste of talent.

Blu-ray Special Features

  • Outtakes:
    • Blooper Reel
  • Additional Footage
    • Deleted Scenes with Optional Introductions by Gary Marshall
  • Extras:
    • The Stars Confess Their Valentine’s Day Stories
    • Commentary by Director Gary Marshall
    • The Garry Factor – Find out from the star-studded cast why Garry Marshall was the only reason they agreed to do the film.
    • “Stay Here Forever” Music Video by Jewel

Valentine’s Day is out on Blu-ray and DVD on the 12th of July in the UK.