Ensemble cast , most romantic & festive day of the year , good support from technical team & a wonderful music , you would expect Gary Marshall’s “New Year’s Eve” to be that special movie that you can go and watch it with your loved one for this holiday season. But unlike his previous attempt at a similar movie with even bigger ensemble “Valentine’s day ” , here Gary Marshall falters.
The movie is soulless , artificial , contrived & not engaging enough. In the process of bringing in many characters & trying to give them equal opportunities director has lost focus on the script. It is an assortment of opt repeated mushy romances, break-ups & reunions , casual dates , serendipities , father-daughter & mother-daughter relationship issues , all occurring in the backdrop of the new year’s eve.
Among the many the ten or so sub-plots , the interesting ones are very few. Lady in her midlife crisis trying to fulfil her series of new year’s resolutions with the help of courier delivery person is an interesting plot enacted by Michelle Pfeiffer & Zac Efron . Though the plot seems interesting & Zac energetic , Michelle looks jaded & goes through her motions.
Ashton Kutcher & Lea Michelle as the unfamiliar neighbours caught up in the elevator provide some sparks , but Ashton is uninterested while Lea overacts. Halle Berry as a nurse who chats with her husband who is in army posted in Afghanistan does a good job .
Katherine Hegel as chef Laura who happens to meet up with his ex-boyfriend , famous musician Jenson (Jon Bon Jovi ) who dumped her just after proposing to her an year back is radiant in her role. Russel Peters also has a brief blink-you-miss kinda role as an assistant chef to Laura but he doesn’t have any scope to perform or kindle the funny bones.
It is sad to see Robert Di Nero in the role of dying cancer patient who rues the mistakes he has committed in his life & finally finds redemption by enjoying his last day of his life with his daughter (Hillary Swank). Meanwhile Hillary Swank as the vice-president of the Times Square Alliance making arrangement for the “ball drop” is adequate but somehow one feels the magic is missing in her this time around.
And yes , there is Sarah Jessica Parkar in there too , not one but in two of the subplots. In one she is a divorced middle-aged mother of a teenage girl with trouble in their relationships because of her over-protective nature & in the other as the mystery woman Josh Duhamel is waiting for the past one year. “Little Miss Sunshine ” star Abigail Breslin comes as the teenage girl of Sarah who is pissed off with the over-protective mom of her’s.
The most ridiculous of plots is the one in which there are two couples who are expecting their baby competing with each other to deliver first in the new year in order to get 25,000 dollars prize money for the first baby born in the new year. Seth Meyers , Jessica Biel , Til Schweiger & Sarah Paulson star in this plot which must have been kept with hilarity in mind but sadly failing to achieve the aim.
In the end , none of the plots stays in your mind . And to make the matters worse , there is an inspiration speech thrown in between by Hillary Swank on how one would look back at the year passed by before entering the next one , yawn.
With a running time of 2 hours , the movie is lengthy & tiresome .
On the whole , “New Year’s eve” is the last thing you would want to do on the new year’s eve.
Bottomline : Too many cooks spoil the broth
2.5/5
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