Common Sense Media Review
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Chance encounter on Valentine's Day leads to romance.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 10+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
An Unexpected Valentine
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
In AN UNEXPECTED VALENTINE, Hannah ( Lacey Chabert) is a busy food scientist working with a fashion company. Her latest contribution is a chocolate purse. Its launch is that night, Valentine's Day, and she must be there. She hops into a large black SUV ride-share driven by Finn (Robert Buckley), a photographer whose big gallery show is also that night. When they discover that another passenger has left an engagement ring in the car, Hannah is obsessed with returning it to its owner before midnight so that the proposal can be achieved on Valentine's Day. Finn needs persuading but goes along on an SUV trek through Manhattan, tracking down everyone who was in his cab that day. Will they find the owner and perhaps even love?
Is It Any Good?
This is a lightweight look at love that offers insights about as deep as a puddle. Chabert and Finn drum up a gung-ho, let's-get-this-done energy that would be admirable in a movie with a bit more meat on its bones. But the movie's message is beyond banal. We should all connect? Yes! We should all listen to one another? Of course! Beyond that it strains to seem intelligent. At one point, a chocolate seller says, "Our goal is to change the way women think about chocolate? It shouldn't be a guilty pleasure. It should be something you treat yourself to." Yes, the movie is peripherally about two things people tend to care (although to different degrees)—love and chocolate—but of all the things that can be said of either of those, they choose to tell us there should be more of both and that doesn't really make it on the ten-best list of life insights. It makes sense that Hallmark has made a movie with a message that could fit neatly on a greeting card, but surely we should expect more from an amusement taking up 84 minutes of our time.
The proof of the paltriness of content is the way such a huge proportion of the running time is devoted to Hannah re-persuading Finn, over and over, to help her find the ring owner, even though he has already agreed to do just that. Also strange: in this mythical Manhattan there is no traffic (fact check: there is), and there are fireworks on Valentine's Day (there aren't).
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the meet-cute trope in many romance movies. How do you feel about the plot strategy of having two potential romantic partners discussing other people's romance but pretending nothing is going on between them?
How important is it to create characters with plausible careers? Does the chocolate purse idea seem like a stretch? Why or why not?
Can you think of fun ways two people can meet and fall in love that you haven't seen in a movie?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : February 1, 2025
- Cast : Lacey Chabert , Robert Buckley
- Director : Michael Robison
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s) , Female Movie Writer(s)
- Studios : Netflix , Hallmark Channel
- Genre : Romance
- Topics : Holidays ( Valentine's Day )
- Run time : 84 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : January 26, 2026
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