Maybe a week too early in its release, but this weekend Gary Marshall’s ensemble romantic comedy New Year’s Eve hits the big screens. The latest cliché driven entry into the genre tells us various, intertwining stories about second chances and love set against the backdrop of, you guessed it, New Year’s Eve in New York City.
The star studded film features Ashton Kutcher, Robert De Niro, Katherine Heigl, Josh Duhamel, Carla Gugino (The Watchmen), Zac Efron, Abigail Breslin (Zombieland), Jessica Biel, Sofia Vergara (Modern Family), Alyssa Milano (Hall Pass), Lea Michele (Glee), Michelle Pfeiffer (Hairspray), Hilary Swank, Sarah Jessica Parker, Halle Berry, Sara Paxton (The Last House on the Left), Sienna Miller (Factory Girl), Julie Andrews (Despicable Me), John Lithgow (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Til Schweiger (Inglorious Basterds), Ludacris (Crash), Jon Bon Jovi, Hector Elizondo (Valentine’s Day), and Seth Meyers (Saturday Night Live).
First off, this is a date movie/chick flick. I think everyone knows that but just wanted to reinforce that point. I went in with expectations in the gutter and managed to leave without throwing up. The movie is a fluffy rom com that is made to make you feel good and to take your mind off things (although I wouldn’t recommend it for people in the middle of a breakup). It has a lot of silly, quirky and comical moments that will constantly have you chuckling, but there isn’t anything that will draw a real long belly laugh out of you. The highlights involve anything with Sofia Vergara (surprisingly!), Jessica Biel, Seth Meyers, Hector Elizondo and Til Schweiger (one of the badasses from Inglorious Basterds who, in this film, plays a man trying to get his wife to have the first baby of 2012).
The one problem I find while reviewing this film is that there is no real substance to it, nothing worthy to actually comment on. The story flows with glitches and there isn’t enough screen time for anyone to deliver home run performances since they all have, in what feels like, 5 to 15 minutes worth of camera time. Sure they do their job and make you either giggle or vomit but it all comes off very superficial. Also, why the hell was Ludacris in the movie? I know why but, ughh, it’s so stupid and pointless.
I will give the film significant props for one thing. It gets you excited for New Year’s Eve, no matter how awesome or disappointing it may be for you. That is all.
For anyone who is looking for a quality feature there are obviously better places to look. The movie has a lot of revolving parts and Marshall does a below average job of stringing the various short stories together. There are a lot of scenes that make you wonder, why did that happen? You then hope that there may be some significance later on in the movie only to find out there is no relevance at all and that a scene was just thrown in because it had another star in it. This happens multiple times and it doesn’t take a film critic to realize it. Fortunately, I can’t compare this film to Valentine’s Day, also directed by Marshall, because I haven’t seen it but I am certain that it is the same film but with a different holiday backdrop.
One thing that extremely pissed me off as a New Yorker was how everyone seemed to get everywhere they needed to be without any problems. I’ve been on the streets of NY on New Year’s Eve and it is nearly impossible to move once you get close to midtown, where about 25% of the film takes place.
Overall, New Year’s Eve is a movie for the female masses and one that they will be content with. It is impossible not to notice the flaws but it is a film that will take your mind off anything stressful for the nearly two hour duration. Guys, you won’t vomit after exiting the theater but you might be nauseous, frustrated and may never attend New Year’s eve in NYC.
Rating: Extremely corny and mildly charming but still a very faulty cliché driven rom-com (3.8/10)
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