Valentine's Day
One star is good, two is better, but a whole cast of them, well, where could you go wrong?
Usually the norm of comedies or dramas, the ensemble is an underused weapon in the fight to rule the box-office.
With Valentine's Day bringing out the ensemble cast for another crack at rom-com glory, we here at Femalefirst have looked through the archives and found some of the biggest and best ensemble movies out there.
Love Actually
During the nineties and the early noughties, cool Britannia ruled the world, with the Spice Girls on top of the charts and Richard Curtis taking on the world with his batch of British ro
m-coms.
Before 2003, Curtis had only written his Hugh Grant toting comedies like Notting Hill, Four Weddings and Funeral. He then decided to step into the director's chair with Love Actually.
For his first go behind a camera though, he didn't go little, he went huge.
He decided to tell eight different love stories ranging from a young boy's first love to the Prime Minister falling for his tea girl.
Doing all of these at once could have been a disaster if it hadn't been for his frankly unbelievable cast.
Defining the term 'Best of British', Curtis got a cast list to die for, including Hugh Grant (of course), Bill Nighy, Keira Knightly, Martine McCutcheon, Liam Neeson and Emma Thompson just to name a few.
Although slated by many as a step too far, Love Actually still holds up today, and is one of those movies that only gets better with time.
New York, I Love You
Another great ensemble romance, New York, I Love You is pretty much the American version of Love Actually, with the romance moving across the pond from London to New York, obviously.
New York, I Love You c
ame out in 2009, bringing a selection of love stories together, all set within the limits of the city that never sleeps.
It decided to go even bigger than Love Actually, with the film telling eleven, short ten minute short films about the people of New York falling in love, with different directors taking control of each one.
With a stellar cast of US actors, including Bradley Cooper, Andy Garcia, Hayden Christensen, Rachel Bilson, Natalie Portman (who even directed one the short stories), Shia Labeouf and Blake Lively standing out from the cast list.
This wasn't the first of its kind for the films backers, after they had done the same thing three years earlier in Paris.
The film was poorly received though, and failed to make back anything like its budget, meaning that not everyone fell in love when it came out.
He's Just Not That Into You
It seemed as if last year we couldn't get enough of group rom-coms, as before New York hit the scre
ens, He's Just Not That Into You came along and stole its thunder.
Starring Bradley Cooper (again, you'd think he likes this sort of thing), Jennifer Anniston, Scarlet Johansson, Ben Affleck, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Connelly and Justin Long, He's Just Not That Into You featured a cast fairly familiar with the art of the rom-com.
Based off the self-help book, itself based off a line from Sex In The City, the film chronicles the misadventures of Gigi, a girl who constantly mis-interprets her suitors interests and the lives of eight others in the world of love.
Despite a mixed reception, the film was a great success, and helped put the name of Bradley Cooper out there, who would go on to have a rather good 2009.
Unfortunately neither He's Just Not That Into You or New York, I Love You delivered on the same level as Love Actually, not quite managing to mix together the different stories in as cohesive a way.
Pulp Fiction
Quentin Tarantino's second, and arguably best, movie saw his love of the ensemble cast really shine through.
Having got a highl
y respectable cast for his break out debut Reservoir Dogs (a heist movie without the heist) he hit the big time with Pulp Fiction, getting a star studded cast for his multi-layered crime picture.
Including Samuel L Jackson, Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis, Harvey Keitel, Ving Rhames, Rosanna Arquette and a resurgent John Travolta, Pulp Fiction's cast list was as good as any seen in Hollywood, especially for such a young director.
The studio's put pressure on Tarantino to keep the biggest stars on screen for as long as possible, with them nearly losing after discovering Travolta's fate halfway through the film, only to be brought back on-side by his trademark abstract timelines.
The pay off was huge, with the film being a huge success, earning Thurman, Travolta, Jackson, Tanatino and the film itself all nominations at that year's Oscars.
Crash
This hard-hitting drama about people living in the city of LA, and how one action can cause chaos for people a
round us.
The film starred Sandra Bullock and Brendan Fraser in brilliantly subdued roles, alongside Terrance Howard, Ryan Phillipe, Matt Dillon, Thandie Newton and Don Cheadle, a cast list full of quality.
Although never a walk in the park to watch, Crash is a great film, with complex characters and storylines that really suck you in to the character's plight.
The most successful of our ensemble films Crash stormed to success at the Oscars, taking the award for best motion picture in controversial style.
It beat the highly favoured Brokeback Mountain to the big prize, and became the first ever winner that hadn't even been nominated at the Golden Globes.
Oceans Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen
Back in 1960, the original Oceans Eleven featured a cast of stars, known back then as 'The Rat Pack', featuring the likes of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.
When news that a re-make was in the works, it needed to get just as good a cast to live up to the original.
And oh boy did they deliver, getting a cast of George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Casey Affleck, Julia Roberts and Andy Garcia to take part in the comedic heist caper.
The movie was a great success with audiences as well as critics, with many holding it up as an equal to its illustrious original.
The movie managed to find the sweet spot between humour, action and tension the film still stands as one of the best heist movies of the last decade.
With Clooney, Pitt and Damon all oozing charm and charisma, there wasn't any doubts about sequels to the movie, with Oceans Twelve and Thirteen coming out in
The sequels only added to the roster, introducing first Catherine Zeta-Jones, Eddie Izzard and the great Al Pacino to the mix, but despite this, they were far worse than the first.
Proof that even a huge group of great actors can't save a sinking ship.
Valentine's Day will hope to do better when it hits cinemas this Valentine's weekend and with a phenomenal cast, hopes are high that it can fulfil on it promise.
FemaleFirst Cameron Smith
One star is good, two is better, but a whole cast of them, well, where could you go wrong?
Usually the norm of comedies or dramas, the ensemble is an underused weapon in the fight to rule the box-office.
With Valentine's Day bringing out the ensemble cast for another crack at rom-com glory, we here at Femalefirst have looked through the archives and found some of the biggest and best ensemble movies out there.
Love Actually
During the nineties and the early noughties, cool Britannia ruled the world, with the Spice Girls on top of the charts and Richard Curtis taking on the world with his batch of British rom-coms.
Before 2003, Curtis had only written his Hugh Grant toting comedies like Notting Hill, Four Weddings and Funeral. He then decided to step into the director's chair with Love Actually.
For his first go behind a camera though, he didn't go little, he went huge.
He decided to tell eight different love stories ranging from a young boy's first love to the Prime Minister falling for his tea girl.
Doing all of these at once could have been a disaster if it hadn't been for his frankly unbelievable cast.
Defining the term 'Best of British', Curtis got a cast list to die for, including Hugh Grant (of course), Bill Nighy, Keira Knightly, Martine McCutcheon, Liam Neeson and Emma Thompson just to name a few.
Although slated by many as a step too far, Love Actually still holds up today, and is one of those movies that only gets better with time.
New York, I Love You
Another great ensemble romance, New York, I Love You is pretty much the American version of Love Actually, with the romance moving across the pond from London to New York, obviously.
New York, I Love You came out in 2009, bringing a selection of love stories together, all set within the limits of the city that never sleeps.
It decided to go even bigger than Love Actually, with the film telling eleven, short ten minute short films about the people of New York falling in love, with different directors taking control of each one.
With a stellar cast of US actors, including Bradley Cooper, Andy Garcia, Hayden Christensen, Rachel Bilson, Natalie Portman (who even directed one the short stories), Shia Labeouf and Blake Lively standing out from the cast list.
This wasn't the first of its kind for the films backers, after they had done the same thing three years earlier in Paris.
The film was poorly received though, and failed to make back anything like its budget, meaning that not everyone fell in love when it came out.
He's Just Not That Into You
It seemed as if last year we couldn't get enough of group rom-coms, as before New York hit the screens, He's Just Not That Into You came along and stole its thunder.
Starring Bradley Cooper (again, you'd think he likes this sort of thing), Jennifer Anniston, Scarlet Johansson, Ben Affleck, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Connelly and Justin Long, He's Just Not That Into You featured a cast fairly familiar with the art of the rom-com.
Based off the self-help book, itself based off a line from Sex In The City, the film chronicles the misadventures of Gigi, a girl who constantly mis-interprets her suitors interests and the lives of eight others in the world of love.
Despite a mixed reception, the film was a great success, and helped put the name of Bradley Cooper out there, who would go on to have a rather good 2009.
Unfortunately neither He's Just Not That Into You or New York, I Love You delivered on the same level as Love Actually, not quite managing to mix together the different stories in as cohesive a way.
Pulp Fiction
Quentin Tarantino's second, and arguably best, movie saw his love of the ensemble cast really shine through.
Having got a highly respectable cast for his break out debut Reservoir Dogs (a heist movie without the heist) he hit the big time with Pulp Fiction, getting a star studded cast for his multi-layered crime picture.
Including Samuel L Jackson, Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis, Harvey Keitel, Ving Rhames, Rosanna Arquette and a resurgent John Travolta, Pulp Fiction's cast list was as good as any seen in Hollywood, especially for such a young director.
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