Dear John and Valentine's Day: Battle of the Romantics

Honestly, I could not muster up enough words about either of these films individually, so I’m going to combine them into one review that will reveal which mushy movie you should see. Annnndddddd go!

First off, if you’re looking for a plot, you have to go with Dear John, simple as that. It has a certain unexpected substance to it along with the very expected love story. Depending on how deeply you get into movies when you watch them, Dear John can have you leave the theater thinking about it. Stuff happens in Valentine’s Day, but I think it pretty much says it all that Julia Roberts’ “story” in the movie involved her being on screen for a total of six minutes. This in no way diminishes her performance, I’m just saying, this is no Love Actually. Secondly, if you’re looking for “feel-good” you should go with Valentine’s Day. If you happen to see both, you’ll understand why. Plus it wins the award for comedy, but that wouldn’t be hard to guess. (Taylor Swift is an especially nice touch for fans).

Eye-candy wise for girls, I’d have to go with Dear John. Nowadays I actually don’t think you can get a better shirtless man to stare at than Channing Tatum. Valentine’s Day has the quantity, but not necessarily the quality in this area. It does feature the up-and-coming hottie Taylor Launter though, which was a little bonus for the teenage crowd. Partly because I don’t entirely know how to classify hot girls, but mostly because I don’t think a ridiculous number of guys are rushing to the theater to see these movies, I won’t go into depth about which flick has better looking girls in it.

I’m sorry if these comparisons seem a little superficial, but there’s not a ton going on under the surface in Valentines Day and Dear John is really meant for the romantic crowd. In the end it depends on what you’re in the mood. For, if that’s a fairly well thought out, if not cliché romance, hit up Dear John. If you want to just let your mind melt for a little while while watching most of Hollywood flash before you eyes, go with Valentine’s Day. Best of luck with you gut-wrenching decision.