The main drawback of setting a romantic comedy on New Year’s Eve is, unlike Valentine’s Day, it’s not really an occasion for romance. Making resolutions, celebrating with friends and family, gathering in city centres to count down the seconds til midnight – not exactly a time for intimate candlelit dinners a deux.
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This, of course, has not stopped Gary Marshall, director of last year’s inexplicably successful Valentine’s Day, from churning out another “seasonal” offering. Adhering to the Hollywood mantra “who cares if the first film was rubbish, it made us a shedload of cash so let’s do another one,” New Year’s Eve suffers from precisely the same problem as Valentine’s Day – too many stars means too many plots, most of which have zero depth as the film jumps back and forth to ensure each person gets their allotted screen time.
Apparently there is no place more exciting to ring in the New Year than New York City – forget Sydney, London or Tokyo, the eyes of the world are trained on that big ol’ glitter ball in Times Square. With cameos from “Mr New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” Ryan Seacrest and city mayor Michael Bloomberg, the entire film appears to be one giant promo for the NYC tourist board, and the level of product placement is astonishing.
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Rather than simply letting the characters develop so there is a remote possibility the audience might actually be interested in them, the plots are simply twisted so everything focuses on the Great Event in Times Square. Rocker Jensen (Jon Bon Jovi) is the headline act, his backing singer Elise (Glee’s Lea Michele) is stuck in a lift trying to get to the concert, his ex-girlfriend Laura (Katherine Heigl) is in charge of catering for the after-show party, and so on.
Meanwhile, over on the Heartwarming Personal Stories front, the dying wish of grumpy old geezer Stan (Robert De Niro) is to see the ball drop one last time from the roof of the hospital he’s spending his last days in. Will dedicated Nurse Aimee (Halle Berry) defy the doctors and take him up there? Then there’s over-protective mother Kim (Sarah Jessica Parker) who refuses to let teenage daughter Hailey (Abigail Breslin) join her friends in Times Square for the festivities.
The most interesting storyline is that of dowdy secretary Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer), who decides to chuck in her dead-end job and get more out of life. She presents courier Paul (Zac Efron) with a “bucket list” of ten things she wants to experience before the clock strikes midnight, in exchange for passes to the party. There’s actually a hint of chemistry between the two, despite writer Katherine Fulgate’s determined attempts to make every character as one-dimensional as possible.
But with precious little romance on display, and even less in the way of comedy, New Year’s Eve is yet another ill-fated attempt to recapture the warmth and charm of Love Actually. What’s next on Garry Marshall’s hit list – Halloween?
Arlene Kelly - Born and raised in a small prairie town, by the time I graduated high school I decided I’d had enough of Manitoba winters and headed ...
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