STAYING IN THIS Valentine’s Day? You’re in luck: our recommendations offer plenty of passion. We offer tales of desire, devotion and doomed romance, or, for those who prefer to celebrate “Galentine’s Day”, a chronicle of female friendship. There is a lot to love on our list, but one new film failed to woo our critics.
“It’s Complicated” (on streaming platforms) is one of the best romantic comedies ever made
“How to Get to Heaven from Belfast” (on Netflix)Three old friends (pictured below) go to a small town in Donegal for a classmate’s funeral—and to make sure a secret from their past stays hidden. Created by Lisa McGee of “Derry Girls” fame, this show is wacky and witty. It ranges from murder mystery to romance to buddy comedy; the soundtrack is filled with noughties pop songs. The rollicking tale is an ode to female friendship.
“It’s Complicated” (on streaming platforms)This is one of the best romantic comedies ever made. Jane (Meryl Streep) is a divorced pastry chef whose ex-husband Jake (Alec Baldwin) has remarried a younger woman. When Jane starts flirting with Adam (Steve Martin), the architect in charge of her kitchen renovation, Jake’s love for her is rekindled. This film offers light, heartwarming entertainment.
“Love Story” (on Hulu and Disney+)Carolyn Bessette was working in New York for Calvin Klein when she met John F. Kennedy junior, the late president’s son who was named “the sexiest man alive” by People magazine. In the style of “The Crown”, this series (pictured top) imagines what happened in the recent past beyond the public eye, as JFK junior navigated his romance with an elegant outsider before their deaths in a plane crash in 1999. Naomi Watts is brilliant as a surprisingly philosophical and wise Jackie Kennedy Onassis. This doomed fairy tale is enthralling.
And what not to watch:
“Wuthering Heights” (in cinemas worldwide)It should come as no real surprise that Emerald Fennell, one of the most provocative film-makers working today, has made an audacious adaptation of Emily Brontë’s novel. (After all, her previous movie, “Saltburn”, showed its protagonist slurping semen-filled bathwater and fornicating with a grave.) Here she turns the haunting Victorian tale of class, obsession and revenge into a bodice-ripper. To do so, she rounds off some of the sharpest edges of the story. Hordes of people will no doubt flock to cinemas to see Cathy and Heathcliff—played by Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi (above)—get down and dirty. But most will be better off sating their desire for an evening’s entertainment elsewhere.
