''Surrogate Valentine'' is a 2011 independent comedy film directed and produced by

Dave Boyle Dave Boyle (born 1982) is an American director, writer, editor, and actor. He has written and directed several movies that utilize primarily Asian or Asian-American casts, including the feature films ''Big Dreams Little Tokyo'' (2006), ''White ...

. The film's plot concerns a musician named

Goh Nakamura Goh Nakamura is a singer, songwriter, musician, composer and actor. His music has been featured in films directed by Ridley Scott such as ''A Good Year'', '' American Gangster'' and '' Body of Lies''. His track "Daylight Savings" also appears in t ...

, playing a fictionalized version of himself. It is the first in a trilogy following Nakamura's character, followed by ''Daylight Savings'' (2012) and ''I Will Make You Mine'' (2020).

Premise

San Francisco indie musician Goh Nakamura lives a life playing shows on the road. He reconnects with his high school crush, and is hired to teach an actor, Danny Turner, how to play guitar for a film role.

Cast

as himself * Chadd Stoops as Danny Turner *

Lynn Chen Lynn Chen () is a Taiwanese-American actress and singer. She is best known for playing Vivian Shing in the film ''Saving Face (2004 film), Saving Face'', a role for which she won the "Outstanding Newcomer Award" at the 2006 Asian Excellence Awar ...

as Rachel *

Parry Shen Parry Shen (born June 26, 1973) is an American actor, author, screenwriter, and producer. Shen's first major acting role was in ''Better Luck Tomorrow'' as Ben Manibag, the film's leading character. He also starred in another Asian American film, ...

as Bradley * Mary Cavett as Valerie *

Joy Osmanski Joy Osmanski is a South Korean-born American actress. She is best known for her wide range of comedic roles on the TV shows '' The Loop'', ''Samantha Who?'', '' True Jackson, VP'' and ''Devious Maids''. Joy is also known for her recurring role o ...

as Amy *

Calpernia Addams Calpernia Sarah Addams (born February 20, 1971) is an American actress, musician, spokesperson and activist for transgender rights and issues. Early life Addams grew up in Nashville, Tennessee. She served as a Hospital Corpsman with the Navy. D ...

as Tammi * Eric M. Levy as Arthur * Dan Damage as Mark * Di Quon as Emily

Reception

Critical response to the film was generally positive.

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reports a 60% approval rating based on 5 reviews. John DeFore of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

'' called the film "a slight, but amiable buddy comedy" as well as saying that it "offers a certain mild slacker charm". Michelle Orange of ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...

'' also gave a positive review of the film saying that it "cultivates a sweet, shucksy tone that wears thin in some of the early scenes, but ultimately deepens into genuine heart". David DeWitt of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' wrote that the film "sometimes catches an insightful moment in the offstage lives of gigging musicians, and shots of San Francisco have photo-realist charm. But the story never asserts itself in any dramatic or comedic or even home-movie fashion."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Surrogate Valentine 2011 films Comedy films about Asian Americans Films about music and musicians 2010s English-language films 2010s American films 2011 comedy films