The Big Picture
- Liz and Jason’s story in Valentine’s Day stands out as the most heartfelt and hilarious in the film, thanks to the superb chemistry between Anne Hathaway and Topher Grace.
- Liz’s secret job as an adult phone entertainer adds an unexpected challenge to their relationship, and it’s entertaining to see how they navigate it while still maintaining their chemistry.
- Despite having less screen time, Liz and Jason’s storyline feels more interesting and less generic compared to the other A plots in the film, making them a standout rom-com duo.
When thinking about the very best rom-com couples, the list of contenders is very long. There’s no shortage of iconic characters haphazardly falling in love — we, as a society, love nothing more than watching the people on our screens find their way to each other, no matter the difficulties. Whether it be getting pregnant after a one-night stand (Knocked Up), working for the opposition (You’ve Got Mail), or pretending to marry your boss, only to actually fall in love with them (The Proposal), rom-coms have been a staple of our pop culture since 1934’s It Happened One Night. People love the genre so much that in the early 2010s, there was a trend of ensemble movies with all star casts where nearly every character had their own love story — a compilation of interwoven romantic comedies, if you will. Iconic director Garry Marshall capitalized on this with his two films Valentine’s Day (2010) and New Year’s Eve (2011), which each had their own incredible cast (including Ashton Kutcher, Julia Roberts, and Jennifer Garner, for the former, Zac Efron, Robert DeNiro, and Hilary Swank, for the latter — among many more). Within these films, there are clearly A plots and B plots, characters who get a bit more development, and ones who are there simply for comic relief. Surprisingly, it is within the B plots of Valentine’s Day that we’ve found our very favorite rom-com duo. Played by Anne Hathaway and Topher Grace, the story of Liz and Jason is equally heartfelt and hilarious, and absolutely blows the rest of the cast away.
Liz and Jason Face an Unexpected Hurdle in ‘Valentine’s Day’
We meet Liz and Jason on, of course, Valentine’s Day, waking up together after a very successful date. The pair have been dating for only a few weeks, but things seem to be going well, and the two’s sweet and playful chemistry wins the viewers over from the very first scene. When Liz looks at the time and realizes that she’s late, she runs out and leaves a very confused Jason wondering what he might have done wrong. That’s where we find out the main conflict in their relationship, at least at this point in time. Though Liz may be working as a temp receptionist at the agency where Jason works in the mailroom, she also moonlights as an adult phone entertainer — which Jason doesn’t know. She hops on her Vespa just to hide further down the block, and continues to have a very racy conversation involving an imaginary giggly roommate and the mysterious (and lonely) man on the phone.
Throughout the film, we see how hard it is for Liz to juggle her daily life with these deeply steamy calls: at the office, in a hotel lobby, on a random street outside. Valentine’s Day, she later explains, is her busiest day of the year. Meanwhile, Jason realizes he had completely forgotten about the holiday, and assumes it’s the reason why Liz was upset to begin with. He plans a fancy, romantic date for that evening, which Liz ultimately runs out of to pick up a call (as a side note: why are these calls not pre-scheduled?). When Jason runs after her, he overhears her conversation and assumes she’s planning a late night rendezvous with another man. Liz explains herself, and Jason doesn’t take it well— an admittedly disappointing reaction that he justifies simply because he’s from Indiana. It’s only later that night, when another Valentine’s Day couple makes up in front of him, that Jason realizes he needs to love Liz for all of who she is, not just for the bright and shiny parts. He arrives at her door with a heartfelt apology and a sweet, romantic gesture, and the two make up as well.
Anne Hathaway and Topher Grace Have Surprisingly Excellent Chemistry
Beyond the twists and turns of their story, Liz and Jason are simply a joy to watch. That is a testament to the wonderful chemistry between Hathaway and Grace, who bring so much lightness, comedy, and sincerity to their roles. The two are just a few of the characters in the film that are genuinely funny, and their dynamic lights up the screen whenever they appear. Hathaway is one of the most versatile actresses of our time, and absolutely shines as the free-spirited, relatively scattered Liz. She is charming and confident in her initial interactions with Jason, wide-eyed and genuine in her job as a temp receptionist, and absolutely wild as a Russian dominatrix, or a southern matron, or whatever it is that her clients might ask for. She juggles all of her roles as best as she can, and the scenes where she needs to switch quickly from one to the other — when her boss walks up and she immediately “hangs up on her mom,” when she runs out of the restaurant and turns on a whole new voice — are her very best. Grace shines as well, though he is admittedly given less meat as a character. He is sweet, awkward, and earnest in the ways he has always been known to be, and plays off of Hathaway excellently. Their chemistry and dynamic is both believable and fun, which, in romantic comedies, in an absolute must.
All in all, Liz and Jason aren’t given much screen time, but it’s maybe because of their smaller roles that the writers felt they could play a bit more with their story. The bigger arcs in Valentine’s Day felt much more predictable, and in a way, much more generic. Where the A plots of the film dealt with tales of two best friends who both get their heart broken, only to realize they might be in love with each other (Kutcher and Garner), or two distant colleagues who bond over their loneliness and hatred of Valentine’s Day, only to start something up themselves (Jessica Biel and Jamie Foxx), the fact that Liz and Jason’s story lived on the sidelines allowed theirs to be much more interesting. Add in some excellent acting on behalf of Anne Hathaway and Topher Grace, and we’d call their relationship an absolute recipe for success.
