New Year’s Eve

A fairly blatant attempt to duplicate the success of Valentine’s Day, New Year’s Eve explores the title holiday as seen through the eyes of many, many disparate characters – including a scrappy bike messenger (Zac Efron’s Paul), a disillusioned hipster (Ashton Kutcher’s Randy), a dying photojournalist (Robert De Niro’s Stan), and a beleaguered chef (Katherine Heigl’s Laura). It goes without saying, obviously, that New Year’s Eve generally unfolds as one might’ve expected, with the lack of originality or innovation ensuring that the various storylines, for the most part, resolve themselves in a decidedly predictable manner – yet, to be fair, scripter Katherine Fugate does toss in a handful of surprises towards the end (eg Stan’s unforeseen relationship with one of the central characters). Filmmaker Garry Marshall’s head-scratching decision to employ an almost incongruously laid-back pace ultimately does wreak havoc on the movie’s momentum, however, and there’s little doubt that certain subplots fare a whole lot better than others – with Sarah Jessica Parker’s pointless stint as a worried mother looking for her teenage daughter standing as an obvious low point within the proceedings. The rocky atmosphere undoubtedly diminishes New Year’s Eve‘s overall impact, although, by that same token, it’s awfully difficult to completely discount the pervasively affable feel that’s been hard-wired into the film by Marshall and company – which ultimately cements the movie’s place as a perfectly watchable (and consistently hackneyed) feel-good ensemble drama.

**1/2 out of ****