New Year's Eve [M]

It’s New Year’s Eve and all over New York, things are happening: parties are being organised, caterers are being rushed off their feet, singers are trying to get to their gigs on time, electricians are making sure the Ball ascends and descends without a hitch, nurses are making dying patients comfortable and bringing new lives into the world, people are bringing their New Year’s resolutions to truth, and everyone on this special night is in the company of someone they love. 

From the director of Pretty Woman and that other piece of delightful fluff known as Valentine’s Day, comes New Year’s Eve, a fluffy and sickly sentimental romantic comedy that is actually rather predictable and wholly padded to bursting with fluff. But the characters, the cute and relatable stories, and the fabulous cast list, makes New Year’s Eve a film that I could not help but laugh and smile at all throughout and I will definitely be adding it to the collection… after all, one needs a little bit of mindless romantic brain candy to ease them into a stupor and get them away from the harsh and bitter realities that surround them. 

It’s New Year’s Eve and all over New York things are happening: parties are being organised, caterers are being rushed off their feet, singers are trying to get to their gigs on time, electricians are making sure that the Ball ascends and descends without a hitch, nurse are making dying patients comfortable and bringing new lives into the world, people are bringing their New Year’s resolutions to truth, people are getting and giving second chances, and everyone on this special night is in the company of someone they love. 

At the end of the day, this was exactly what I thought it was going to be: a whole bunch of whimsical and romantic stories that spontaneously or haphazardly were intertwined in some way. A lot like Valentine’s Day just on a different holiday. These holiday themed movies seem to be becoming a bit of a thing now. 

For the first half, I personally did not think that New Year’s Eve was a strong enough holiday to base an hour and a half movie around but, when Hilary Swank gave a memorable speech about reflection and second chances, that’s when I thought “ok this is not moving somewhere”. That, right there, was quick and clever script work. Well done. 

Without a doubt though, what makes this movie worth seeing is the absolutely packed-to-bursting cast list. Practically every face is a familiar one and some of the cameos are just like “why?” but who cares? Starring Hilary Swank, Michelle Pfeiffer, Zac Efron, Halle Berry, Robert De Niro, Ashton Kutcher, Abigail Breslin, Jessica Biel, Cary Elwes, Alyssa Milano, Seth Meyers, Sarah Paulson, Til Schweiger, Carla Gugino, Common, Katherine Heigl, Jon Bon Jovi, Lea Michele, Sofia Vergara, Sarah Jessica Parker, Josh Duhamel, Ludacris, Hector Elizondo, Ryan Seacrest, Matthew Broderick, and John Lithgow, New Year’s Eve was a silly, but heart warming and fluffy film that I could not help but laugh at and love. Filled with death, life, love, romance, comedy, second chances, meetings, competitiveness, and practically everything else in between, it was a real romance movie and I just loved it!