Product Details

• Actors: Anthony Michael Hall, Marlo Marron, Ivan Martin, Lord Jamar, Michael J. Narvaez
• Directors: Jeff Oppenheim
• Writers: Jeff Oppenheim
• Producers: Anthony Michael Hall, Jeff Oppenheim, D. Brewse Monier-Williams, Griffin Van Meter, Laura Lerner
• Format: Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Xenon
• DVD Release Date: January 24, 2006
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000BT998E
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #59,389 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Funny Valentine" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Josh is a street performer having an extended dry spell with women. His two buddies, Sean and Tim never have trouble in that department, and they set out to help in their own way. But Josh, is not interested in call girls and one-night stands. By following his own heart and believing in himself, he finds true love his own way in the form of the beguiling Doreen.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wasted Opportunity, November 24, 2005

By	L CAPELLARO "lauracapellaro" (Dorset, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Wasted Opportunity

Anthony Michael Hall has had a mixed career since seminal films like The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles and Weird Science shot the young actor to sudden fame in the 1980's. Some notable disasters and one or two gems followed. For the last six years he has been pursuing a career in television, playing Johnny Smith in USA Network's adaptation of Stephen King's The Dead Zone. Hall took time out a few years ago to make the film "Funny Valentine", which has now finally been released on DVD by Xenon Pictures.

Hall often refers to his experiences on The Dead Zone as being "like attending the School For the Leading Man", and on paper Funny Valentine looks like an ideal opportunity for him to capitalise on this. Since growing out of the trademark geekhood of his teenage years, Hall has matured very nicely thank you into an affable, good looking thirty-something with a wealth of working experience, a wide repertoire and a natural talent for character acting. The character of Josh could have been the perfect vehicle for Hall to reinvent himself as Manhattan's answer to Hugh Grant but sadly, with only a couple of exceptions, the other elements of this film are so hopeless that Hall's tidy little performance is doomed to be forever lost in the swampy backwaters of cinematic mediocrity.

With some fairly radical tweaking the film could have been a light and gentle chic-flick but sadly, the writer/director seemed to miss this lucrative target audience by a country mile. Hall's female fan base has burgeoned in the last few years thanks to The Dead Zone but perhaps Funny Valentine was made just before he was `discovered' as a hearth throb. Consequently the film seems to appeal to a small and (hopefully) not-very-representative section of the male population instead. The film is littered with misogynistic and downright sexist scenes; even to the extent of seeing Hall`s mother, jazz singer Mercedes Hall, crop up in a non-speaking part as a myopic man-eating lush who almost hits on her character's own son in a bar! Eww.

Josh's obnoxious friends get far far too much screen time and dialogue, unbalancing the film in a way that was no doubt meant to be witty and ironic, but which I just found irritating. Were it not for the strength Hall's performance as well as that of of the female Marlo Marron, I would basically have fast forwarded through great chunks film. Still, I suppose the elemental unpleasantness of the two male characters (played by Lord Jamar and Larry Storch) means that Hall's portrayal of The Last Decent Single Guy in NYC is all the more convincing.

Technically the film is rather patchy, with a hair in the gate in at least two scenes, poor sound and dialogue that lacked pace. The talking heads were particularly irritating and amateurish and strangely enough Josh never got to tell his version of what "relationship" means. Shame that, as he is supposed to be the central character.

In summary - a must for any Anthony Michael Hall fan but other than that, don't bother.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I really liked this movie!, February 9, 2006

By	LyricalPoet23 - See all my reviews

I loved this movie. It is so cute. First off, anyone that grew up in the 80s should love Anthony Michael Hall. He has grown up well, but still has that quirky personality that everyone loves. The movie is great as well because getting set up by friend is never good, but always interesting. I think it is a great movie to watch with your boyfriend or girlfriend.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Suprise Hit!!!, February 23, 2006

By	Jimmy (Norwalk, CA) - See all my reviews

The storyline of this movie is not only romantic and sweet but it's also hilarious. I mean Anthony Michael Hall is in the movie, what do you expect? This romantic comedy is basically about the main character Josh played by Anthony Michael Hall who has absolutely "no game" when it comes to women. So his thoughtful single friends decide to give him a makeover and transform him into a wanted eligible bachelor. Despite their endless efforts, Josh is not interested in just any girl-he has his eyes set on Doreen who is out of his league. But nothing stops Josh from getting the girl of his dreams......even if it means just being himself.