From the same writer (Katherine Fugate), director (Garry Marshall) and even starring some of the same exact actors as Valentine’s Day comes New Year’s Eve. This is another ridiculously huge ensemble cast movie about a single holiday day. It begins the morning of New Year’s Eve and ends exactly how you think it’s going to end…with an alien invasion and nuclear kamikaze – kidding kidding, this isn’t Independence Day 2! If you’re into these cutesy tangled relationship movies, you won’t be disappointed – they pretty much stick to the same formula. I’m not going to lie, I have a tiny guilty pleasure for these things and New Year’s Eve has all the laughs and corny scenes that you can’t help but smile during.
There are probably half a dozen different stories going on so I won’t list them all. The start of the movie is your typical introduction to the rolodex of characters and what they have planned for New Year’s Eve. If you aren’t interested in at least one of the stories, you should leave right away because it’s not going to get any better. It’s pretty bland until Russell Peters and Sofía Vergara appear on screen. They instantly make you laugh and steal whatever scene they’re in – I just wish they had larger roles in the movie. You start to figure out that the movie is centered around two major events and most of the characters are somehow attached one way or another. Event #1: The ball drop at Times Square (obviously). Event #2: A fictitious record company’s NYE party. Unlike other movies like this, they didn’t force all of the characters to meet or have as many serendipitous stories intertwine with each other.
Sofia Vergara with Kathrine Heigl
Let’s go through the top-billed cast, shall we? Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Jon Bon Jovi, Abigail Breslin, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Robert De Niro, Josh Duhamel, Zac Efron, Hector Elizondo, Kathrine Heigl, Ashton Kutcher, Seth Meyers, Lea Michele, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michelle Pfeiffer, Til Schweiger, Hilary Swank, Sofia Vergara and Mr. New Year’s Eve himself, Ryan Seacrest. Didn’t see your favorite actor? Don’t worry, there are still plenty of cameos by even more famous people. Most of the movie’s surprises were obvious to me although I could tell they amazed many members of my audience by the gasps and loud “what!?”s but there is at least one twist that you will not guess. This is a happy feel good movie so every story is wrapped up in a nice bow so everybody can leave the theater smiling and singing Auld Lang Syne.
Seth Meyers and Jessica Biel
It’s what you’d expect. There’s a monologue speech, there’s a musical montage (I bet you can guess who sings), and there are tons of great one-liners like, “nobody wins when pregnant women fight” and “we’re more memorial day people.” Funny enough, both of those came from Seth Meyers and his storyline with Jessica Biel, Til Schweiger, Sarah Paulson and Carla Gugino which, I think, was the only storyline that didn’t intersect with all the other stories. It did, however, crossover with Valentine’s Day (stay for the bloopers during the credits for that one). To my surprise, Zac Efron had the best performance in the movie with Michelle Pfeiffer who I thought was suicidal. Don’t worry though, this is a very PG-13 movie even though they did drop the f- and b-bombs near the end.
Zac Efron with Michelle Pfeiffer
You get what you pay for with New Year’s Eve. You should know what you’re getting yourself into especially if you’ve seen Valentine’s Day. I’m going to say New Year’s Eve was a little less cheesy than Valentine’s Day but NYE had its fair share of awkward and lame parts. I could have done without the whole kids storyline though I guess that pulls in the whole grade school demographic. The movie could have been about 20 to 30 minutes shorter and still hit all the key plot points they were going for. There’s no higher realization or takeaway that will make you celebrate New Year’s Eve any different but there is something for everybody…except for people who actually want to watch a film that might win an award other than a razzie. What will they think of next? I can’t wait for Labor Day!
Tags: Abigail Breslin, Ashton Kutcher, Carla Gugino, Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges, Garry Marshall, Halle Berry, Hector Elizondo, Hilary Swank, Jessica Beil, Jessica Biel, Jon Bon Jovi, Josh Duhamel, Katherine Fugate, Kathrine Heigl, Lea Michele, Michelle Pfeiffer, New Year's Eve, Robert De Niro, Ryan Seacrest, Sarah Jessica Parker, Sarah Paulso, Seth Meyers, Sofia Vergara, Til Schweiger, Zac Efron
Matthew Fong created advancescreenings.com and is the lead contributor. He watches every type of movie and will try almost anything twice. You can follow him on twitter here: @matthewfong
