New Year's Eve is a 2011 romantic comedy film directed by Garry Marshall.[5] Like Valentine's Day, Marshall's previous film, it depicts a series of holiday vignettes of the state of several romances.
Plot
On New Year's Eve, Vice-President of the Times Square Alliance Claire Morgan (Hilary Swank) is making the final arrangements for the ball drop with the help of her friend Brandon (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges). Meanwhile, after being nearly run over by a car and denied a vacation, Ahern Records secretary Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer) quits her job and offers the deliveryman Paul (Zac Efron) tickets for the Ahern Records Masquerade Ball if Paul helps her complete a series of New Year's resolutions before midnight, which he accepts.
Paul's sister, Kim (Sarah Jessica Parker), is having trouble with her teenage daughter Hailey (Abigail Breslin), who wants to spend New Year's Eve with her friends and her boyfriend Seth (Jake T. Austin) in Times Square. Paul's roommate, comic book illustrator Randy (Ashton Kutcher), who hates New Year's Eve after his girlfriend left him on a date, gets stuck in an elevator with Elise (Lea Michele), an aspiring singer who will be providing back-up for musician Jensen (Jon Bon Jovi) in his show at the Ahern Records ball, where he rekindles his feelings for his ex-girlfriend, Laura (Katherine Heigl).
At a nearby hospital, Stan Harris (Robert De Niro), a man in the final stages of cancer who refuses chemotherapy and who only wishes to see the ball drop one last time, is kept company by Nurse Aimee (Halle Berry) and Nurse Mindy (Alyssa Milano) after his doctor (Cary Elwes) reveals he will not last much longer. In the same hospital, a young couple, Griffin (Seth Meyers) and Tess (Jessica Biel), about to have their first child, competes with another couple, James (Til Schweiger) and Grace (Sarah Paulson), for a bonus offered for the family of the first child born in the new year. Elsewhere, Sam (Josh Duhamel), a businessman from Ahern Records, attempts to arrive at the Ahern Records Ball, where he is to deliver an important speech, after his car malfunctions on the other side of New York, all while wondering if he should attend a meeting with a mysterious woman he met and fell in love with on the previous New Year's Eve.
As midnight approaches, one of the billboard lights of the Times Square panel malfunctions, jamming the ball and forcing Claire to call Kominsky (Hector Elizondo), a eletrician she had fired a few weeks prior. Kominsky repairs the ball seconds before midnight, and, in gratitude, Claire leaves him in charge of the operation, quits her stressful job and rushes to see the ball drop with her father, Stan. Meanwhile, Nurse Aimee has a videoconference with her husband (Common), a soldier serving in Afghanistan.
Paul helps Ingrid complete all the items on her list, and she gives him the tickets. Meanwhile, Randy and Elise bond, and, as they are about to kiss, the elevator is repaired and Elise rushes to Jensen's show. Randy notices she forgot her rubber band and rushes to give it to her. At the Ball, Jensen leaves midway during the show and apologizes to Laura, who accepts him back and leaves with the approval of her assistant, Sous Chef Ava (Sofia Vergara). With Jensen gone, Elise is called to replace him and attracts the attention of the crowd. She kisses Randy, and they start a romantic relationship.
Griffin and Tess have their baby and, although it is born first, they allow James and Grace to have the bonus after discovering they actually have three children. Meanwhile, after being forbidden from attending the celebration, Hailey runs away to Times Square, where she sees Seth being kissed by another girl. Heartbroken, she meets and is comforted by her mother. Seth finds them and apologizes, claiming the girl stole a kiss from him. Hailey forgives him and Seth kisses her. Her mother allows her to go to an after-party. Kim then goes to a restaurant to meet Sam, who had succeeded in delivering his speech. She is the mysterious woman he met one year prior, and they finally discover each other's names.
Cast
Reception
The film has received mostly negative reviews from critics. It has a score of 22 on Metacritic, a "generally unfavorable" score based on 30 reviews.[23] The film has a 7% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 121 reviews.[24]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said, "New Year's Eve is a dreary plod through the sands of time until finally the last grain has trickled through the hourglass of cinematic sludge. How is it possible to assemble more than two dozen stars in a movie and find nothing interesting for any of them to do?"[25] Kimberley Jones of the Austin Chronicle said, "Mostly, New Year's Eve is appalling stuff, a poorly constructed, sentimental sham. Auld lang suck."[26] Claudia Winkleman on the BBC One show Film 2011 said "I have found the worst film of all time, and it is called 'New Year's Eve'."[27] Rolling Stone shared the same opinion and gave a zero stars rating, stating "Director Garry Marshall follows last year's Valentine's Day romcom crapfest with an even more puke-up-able sample of the species" and concluding New Year's Eve is "bad beyond belief".[28] British newspaper The Telegraph named New Year's Eve one of the ten worst films of 2011.[29] On the more positive side,Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman said, "New Year's Eve is dunderheaded kitsch, but it's the kind of marzipan movie that can sweetly soak up a holiday evening."[30]
- Jake T. Austin as Seth[6]
- James Belushi as Building Super[6]
- Halle Berry as Nurse Aimee[7][8]
- Jessica Biel as Tess Byrne[9][10]
- Jon Bon Jovi as Jensen[10]
- Abigail Breslin as Hailey[11]
- Chris "Ludacris" Bridges as Brendan[12]
- Robert De Niro as Stan Harris[5][13]
- Josh Duhamel as Sam[12]
- Zac Efron as Paul[14]
- Héctor Elizondo as Kominsky[15]
- Cary Elwes as Stan's Doctor[16]
- Carla Gugino as Spiritual Dr. Morriset[7]
- Katherine Heigl as Laura[6]
- Ashton Kutcher as Randy[5][13]
- Seth Meyers as Griffin Byrne[10]
- Alyssa Milano as Nurse Mindy[17]
- Lea Michele as Elise[5]
- Sarah Jessica Parker as Kim[18]
- Russell Peters as Chef Sunil[19]
- Michelle Pfeiffer as Ingrid[5][13]
- Til Schweiger as James Schwab[20]
- Ryan Seacrest as Himself[21]
- Yeardley Smith as Maude[22]
- Hilary Swank as Claire Morgan[5][13][12]
- Sofía Vergara as Ava[10]
The film has received mostly negative reviews from critics. It has a score of 22 on Metacritic, a "generally unfavorable" score based on 30 reviews.[23] The film has a 7% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 121 reviews.[24]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said, "New Year's Eve is a dreary plod through the sands of time until finally the last grain has trickled through the hourglass of cinematic sludge. How is it possible to assemble more than two dozen stars in a movie and find nothing interesting for any of them to do?"[25] Kimberley Jones of the Austin Chronicle said, "Mostly, New Year's Eve is appalling stuff, a poorly constructed, sentimental sham. Auld lang suck."[26] Claudia Winkleman on the BBC One show Film 2011 said "I have found the worst film of all time, and it is called 'New Year's Eve'."[27] Rolling Stone shared the same opinion and gave a zero stars rating, stating "Director Garry Marshall follows last year's Valentine's Day romcom crapfest with an even more puke-up-able sample of the species" and concluding New Year's Eve is "bad beyond belief".[28] British newspaper The Telegraph named New Year's Eve one of the ten worst films of 2011.[29] On the more positive side,Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman said, "New Year's Eve is dunderheaded kitsch, but it's the kind of marzipan movie that can sweetly soak up a holiday evening."[30]
WATCH ONLINE
