New Year's Eve (2011 film)

(Amazon UK link)

We had not heard of the 2011 film ‘New Year’s Eve’; but when I spotted it on special offer (two DVDs for a pound) in a UK charity shop earlier in the year, it wasn’t a difficult decision to buy it. There are some faces and names which even I recognised on the front, and it was directed by Garry Marshall. I don’t usually have any clue who directed a film, but his name has come up on several we have seen in the past few years, often in conjunction with ‘extras’. 

We decided we would watch the film around New Year, to make it somewhat seasonal - and since we had a free evening on December 30th, that’s when we saw it. I had seen some reviews suggesting that it was considered rambling with not much plot. I also saw that it had was considered the worst film of the year by some critics… so we weren’t expecting a whole lot. But a light ‘rom-com’, even if not particularly well-made or amusing, was what we were looking for. 

There’s no ‘main’ character (or characters) in this film, and it’s true that there’s no real plot. It has a large cast and several concurrent storylines, all taking place on New Year’s Eve at the end of 2011. It’s set in New York, and sees a lot of people converging on Times Square. I had heard of the ‘ball drop’ ceremony but had never been sure what it involves. I’m still not sure why it’s such a big deal in New York, but evidently it’s traditional. I also learned that midnight is considered a time for first kisses. 

I had a hard time learning the names of most of the characters, although I expect they were used. One storyline involves two couples with imminent births, both hoping to be the first in the new year, as this apparently would win them a large financial prize. I didn’t catch any of their names, and didn’t find this subplot particularly interesting or amusing.

Another storyline involves a woman called Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer) who has a kind of New Year bucket list of far-fetched ideas, and challenges a delivery man to fulfil them. Their story is quite amusing, as he comes up with creative ways to let her see or experience things she had wanted to do, albeit not exactly as she had anticipated. 

Another story involves a woman whose name I didn’t catch (played by Sarah Jessica Parker) who is a newly single mother, and rather over-protective of her fifteen-year-old daughter Hailey. This is connected with the previous thread in that Hailey’s uncle is the delivery man (whose name I also didn’t get), and they have some shared phone calls.

Then there’s Clare (Hillary Swank), who has taken on an important role in organising the ball-drop, only to discover, early in the evening, that it’s stuck. The only person who can solve the problem is a former electrician - Hector Elizondo doesn’t have a huge role as the man who works hard to fix it; but apparently he appears in some form in all Garry Marshall’s films. Towards the end, Clare makes a very moving speech. 

Meanwhile, Laura (Katherine Heigl) is in charge of refreshments for a big event taking place, and we quickly learn that she was once in a relationship with Jensen (Jon Bon Jovi), a singer who is performing on the roof at the Times Square event. He’s keen to make up; she is very angry with him. 

There’s also Stan (Robert de Niro), an elderly and rather grumpy man who’s in hospital nearby, dying after refusing all treatment. His nurse is very kind, but unwilling to help him fulfil his last wish, to go out on the hospital roof to see the ball drop one more time. And there’s a young man who’s on his way to New York when his car skids and crashes, so he has to cadge a lift from some rather odd people. 

Finally, unless I have forgotten something, there are two people stuck in a lift (or, rather, an elevator, since this is in the US) for several hours. He’s rather depressed, and hates festivities. She’s desperate to get out, as she’s supposed to be singing in Jensen’s backing group. 

It’s a testament to the film and its direction that I recall all these storylines, even if I don’t remember the names of some of the characters. And despite it being almost two hours long, it didn’t feel drawn out at all - I was caught up in the different stories, and quickly remembered most of what was happening, despite the huge crowds and confusion - and I assume that was deliberate, to demonstrate the chaos of the evening, and the stress that goes into the organisation of the ball drop, the entertainment, and the official dance event afterwards.

In one sense it’s just a set of different cameos, a tad caricatured, but showing the diversity of people living in New York who are interested in this annual event. And it’s nicely done, with one or two of the connections between characters not emerging until nearly the end. But there are also other themes: of starting afresh, of the need for forgiveness, and the importance of family ties. And it was quite revealing seeing behind the scenes, as it were, of major events. They might all appear to run perfectly, but the audience usually knows nothing about what nearly went wrong, or what problems were solved only at the last moment. 

There’s not much ‘comedy’; there’s really not a lot of ‘romance’, and there’s some rather exaggerated acting. I can see why it wouldn’t appeal to those who prefer more serious or coherent films. But we enjoyed it - it’s light-hearted, it’s a tad kitschy, and overall it’s a ‘feel-good’ film that, we thought, was ideal for an evening’s viewing in the post-Christmas period when we didn’t want to do too much thinking.

The rating is 12A in the UK, which seems a tad on the high side to me. There’s nothing sexual; the only violence is a couple of slaps, and there’s nothing frightening or intense. There may have been one or two minor instances of bad language (possibly even some ‘strong’ language) but it wasn’t excessive. 

That’s not to say that this film is likely to be of any interest to children (or even younger teens). But I would have thought PG would have been more accurate.

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