Shirley Valentine (film) Shirley Valentine (film) Shirley Valentine is an award-winning 1989 British romantic comedy-drama film directed by Lewis Gilbert. The screenplay by Willy Russell is based on his 1986 one-character play of the same title, which follows middle aged Shirley Valentine in an unexpected discovery of herself, and rekindling of her childhood dreams and youthful love of life. Pauline Collins reprises the titular lead role as middle-aged housewife Shirley, which she had previously played in the stage production in London's West End and on Broadway, and Tom Conti plays Costas Dimitriades, the owner of a Greek tavern with whom she has a
Valentine (film) its characters — "Valentine" is a straightforward slasher pic that’s acceptably scary until a weak finale." Maitland McDonagh of "TV Guide" awarded the film one out of five stars, calling the film "A throwback to the formulaic, holiday-themed stalk-and-slash pictures of the early '80s — but why it took four writers to adapt Tom Savage's generic genre novel is thoroughly baffling." At Rotten Tomatoes, an internet review aggregator, the film received an approval rating of 9%, with the general consensus being that ""Valentine" is basically a formulaic throwback to conventional pre-"Scream" slasher flicks. Critics say it doesn't offer enough suspense