New Years Eve – Movie Review

Starring: Michelle Pfeiffer, Zac Efron, Robert De Niro, Halle Berry, Cary Elwes, Alyssa Milano, Common, Jessica Biel, Seth Meyers, Sarah Paulson, Til Schweiger, Carla Gugino, Katherine Heigl, Jon Bon Jovi, Sofia Vergara, Russell Peters, Ashton Kutcher, Lea Michele, James Belushi, Sarah Jessica Parker, Abigail Breslin, Jake T. Austin, Beth Kennedy, Josh Duhamel, Joey McIntyre, Jackie Seiden, Sean O’Bryan, Larry Miller, Jack McGee, Yeardley Smith, Penny Marshall, Christine Lakin, Cherry Jones, Hilary Swank, Ludacris, Kathleen Marshall, Rob Nagle, Hector Elizondo, Ryan Seacrest, Michael Bloomberg, Matthew Broderick and John Lithgow. Who isn’t in this movie!

Written By: Katherine Fugate.

Directed By: Garry Marshall.

New Years Eve, New York City. A story about couples and singles navigating their way through this day with some intertwining stories.

An overprotective mother to a teenage daughter. A man on his death-bed comforted by a nurse. A woman who had a near death experience decides to complete a bucket list before midnight with a bike messenger. A young back-up dancer and her artist neighbour get trapped in a lift. A famous musician trying to win back the heart of his chef ex. Lady in charge of the NYE ball drop trying to keep that all afloat. A man trying to get back to New York to give a speech and to meet the woman of his dreams. 2 couples competing to have the first New Years baby and win the prize.

That pretty much sums up the movie’s plot right there.

After hearing so much negative press about this movie I really wasn’t expecting much. However I have to say I found it quite enjoyable. Obviously we all know these are types of movies that don’t win big awards and don’t always have the best most profound scripts, so we need to just go in knowing that were not seeing ‘Titanic’ and just try to enjoy the movie. I wasn’t a huge fan of Valentine’s Day. I found it lacked something. New Years Eve in my opinion was much better. It was a little more fluid, I liked the storylines better and I also really liked the cast. I thought it was pretty damn funny too.

As a recent Zac Efron fan (thanks to Charlie St. Cloud), and as a huge Michelle Pfeiffer fan, I found this to be my favourite storyline. Pfeiffer played Ingrid who had a near death experience and then decides to quit her job and complete a bucket list before midnight. She enlist the help of bike messenger Paul. If he helps her complete her list she will give him 4 tickets to a swanky New Years Eve party. A lot of the items on the list are a bit unrealistic but Paul gets it done. I found Pfeiffer’s character incredibly sweet and endearing. I guess a lot of us can sort of relate. What have we missed out on doing because were always working away. Their chemistry was undeniable and they were very sweet together. And Efron was pretty hilarious as Paul.

One of the other storylines I liked was the couples who were competing for the first baby born on New Years for a cash prize. Jessica Biel and Seth Meyers play Tess and Griffin Byrne. Desperately trying have their baby born first. Both were absolutely hilarious. Competing against them was Sarah Paulson and Til Schweiger playing Grace and James Schwab. This storyline was pretty damn funny.

I also liked the Ashton Kutcher and Lea Michele’s story, and Sofia Vergara was side splitting funny. God I love that accent. Everyone was on fine form. I enjoyed it. Lots of cameos by people popping up. Most of which I listed in the starring section up top.

I wouldn’t buy Valentines Day on DVD (my favourite bit was Jennifer Garner and Jessica Biel beating the pinata – they should make an action movie together), but I would definitely buy this one on DVD.

We got to the cinema a little late. We missed the first 4 minutes and had to sit in the second row. Everyone’s bodies looked distorted and big from that angle. I think I missed seeing Joey McIntyre, and Pfeiffer’s near death experience.