New Year’s Eve - (December 9, 2011): PG-13
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures/ New Line Cinema
Opening Weekend Box Office: #1 with $13,019,180
Domestic Box Office Gross to-date: $14,007,457
Gross Revenue: $26,857,457
Production Budget: $56 million
Director: Garry Marshall
It may shock you, but I have no problem in admitting that I never saw Valentine’s Day, so there was little to no overt necessitation that I see Garry Marshall’s follow-up, New Year’s Eve. Now, a few alumni from Valentine’s Day like Jessica Biel, Ashton Kutcher, and Héctor Elizondo were remerging for another holiday celebration, but a near-dizzying array of new celebrities would be joining the fray this time around. With stars from television (Glee’s Lea Michele, SNL’s Seth Meyers, and Modern Family’s Sofia Vergara), music (Jon Bon Jovi and Ludacris), and a variety of film genres (from Zac Efron to Robert DeNiro), it wasn’t exactly an insurmountable challenge for Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema to sell New Year’s Eve to a diverse and expansive audience. If anything, it would at least be refreshing to see a holiday-themed film this time around that wasn’t dripping with Christmas cheer, so the less-than-stellar early reviews might end up falling on deaf-ears. As a fan of a number of the cast members, it was out of sheer curiosity that I found myself actually looking forward to seeing New Year’s Eve.
Focusing on a number of independent stories that eventually intertwine, New Year’s Eve is set in New York City on the titular holiday. Denied a vacation, disillusioned secretary, Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer), quits her job at a record company, instead hiring a young courier, Paul (Zac Efron), to help her complete her New Year’s Resolutions list, promising him tickets to an exclusive midnight party upon completion. Meanwhile, Paul’s sister, Kim (Sarah Jessica Parker), is having trouble bonding with her daughter, Hailey (Abigail Breslin), who wants to go out with her friends instead of staying home. Paul contacts his roommate, Randy (Ashton Kutcher), about the party, but the bitter pessimist is actually stuck in an elevator with backup singer, Elise (Lea Michele), who is on her way to perform at Times Square with popular recording artist, Jensen (Jon Bon Jovi). Everyone is excited by Jensen’s presence except Laura (Katherine Heigl), Jensen’s ex-fiancé who happens to be catering the huge Times Square Party alongside her new sous chef, Ava (Sofia Vergara); the party is to be hosted by a record company executive, Sam (Josh Duhamel), who himself is struggling to return to the city after a wedding. Prepping for the midnight ball drop, Times Square Alliance Vice President Claire Morgan (Hilary Swank) is making final arrangements alongside NYPD officer, Brandon (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges). Both of them are eager to make sure that the midnight countdown goes smoothly, especially since the iconic event will be watched by everyone, even the ailing Stan Harris (Robert DeNiro), whose dying wish is to watch the ball drop from the hospital rooftop, a request that evokes the sympathy of his nurse, Aimee (Halle Berry); at the same hospital, young couple Griffin (Seth Myers) and Tess (Jessica Biel) compete to deliver their first child, hoping to win the bonus offered to the family of the first child born in 2012. Hectic to say the least, each of these unique stories seeks to illustrate the spirit of the holiday and the hope that everyone should feel during the coming of a new year.
Plain and simple, you are lying to yourself if you would deny the inherent entertainment value in seeing so many celebrities interact with each other within one project, and that novelty is the strongest aspect of New Year’s Eve. A pleasant surprise involves the fact that even the minor roles within the film are filled by familiar faces, whether that includes comedian Larry Miller as a tow truck driver, Jim Belushi as a building handyman, or Matthew Broderick as Hilary Swank’s elusive supervisor. With such a large cast, it would be impossible for each star to make some kind of memorable impression, but there are a select few who make the most of their screen time, namely Michelle Pfeiffer, Jessica Biel, and, surprisingly, Ashton Kutcher. As I said in the “Short and Sweet” review, Michelle Pfeiffer easily delivers the strongest performance, while Jessica Biel adds considerable humor, but I was shocked by how much I enjoyed Ashton Kutcher, who finally tones down his entitled simpleton persona enough to actually be likable. Add in a pleasant plot twist, energetic soundtrack, lighthearted humor, and inspirational theme, and New Year’s Eve offers more than enough to entertain audiences.
Unfortunately, once you get past the novelty of seeing the high-profile cast and start to pay attention to some finer filmmaking elements, New Year’s Eve’s major flaws really come to light. Certain elements of the “hopeful” thematic angle presented do come off as uplifting, but as a whole, the story and upbeat characters just come off as ridiculous and cornball. For instance, I’ve referenced two major plot twists that hit close to the film’s conclusion: one is heartfelt and enjoyable, the other is so mind-numbingly unbelievable and pandering that those two minutes almost single-handedly tank the quality of the already shaky narrative. And I did mention a few enjoyable performances, but a majority of the cast horrendously overacts, the biggest culprits easily being Katherine Heigl and Sarah Jessica Parker…I’d prefer not to go into detail, but trust me, it is horrible. With so much squandered opportunity in light of the famous cast, New Year’s Eve remains a disappointment, and a few enjoyable elements are not enough to remedy the gaping shortcomings.
Sub-par film quality aside, this past weekend was very, very tough on the Hollywood box office, with overall figures being at their weakest since September 2008. Now, alongside the adult comedy, The Sitter, New Year’s Eve easily had the strongest mass-appeal at the theater, so a first place opening wasn’t shocking, but a $13 million gross was disappointing. It would be different if critics were raving about New Year’s Eve, building enough buzz to keep a steady audience presence throughout the holidays, but new releases like Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, War Horse, We Bought a Zoo, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo will provide insurmountable competition. A weak opening in the face of so many impending offerings almost guarantees that New Year’s Eve will lose money against its $56 million budget. Bottom line, the film is far from perfect, but chances are that audiences can still find something to enjoy as long as they don’t expect Oscar-worthy material from New Year’s Eve.
Overall Recommendation: Medium
