The film, directed by Garry Marshall, is basically a rehash of his previous film Valentine`s Day, but takes place in New York instead of Los Angeles, and on a different day. But in New Year`s Eve, just like in Valentine`s Day, Marshall displays an uncanny ability to make talent look talentless, and the combined star wattage of its stellar cast isn`t enough to save this film from being an utter train wreck.
It`s really a futile exercise to try to summarize all the disparate stories for you, because none of them actually take off or pay off in a satisfying manner. To even call them ‘stories` would be quite a stretch some of the narrative strands here either make little sense or are straight up implausible. It seemed like screenwriter Katherine Fugate, who also wrote the screenplay for Valentine`s Day, abandoned her sanity while writing the script, as is evinced from its scorn for logic. How the hell are we supposed to believe that Zac Efron is Sarah Jessica Parker`s brother (there is a real life age difference of over 20 years between the two)?
The stories here are so bereft of humour that I ironically find it rather amusing. I`m not even sure if I laughed once throughout the movie. Not during the little segment involving Jessica Biel`s pregnant character, and certainly not during the ridiculous story involving Robert De Niro`s cancer stricken character, in what is a laughably pathetic attempt to wring your tears.
All is not rotten, however. The music numbers in the film are solid, contextually sound, and actually very well sung, and it`s nice to see Jon Bon Jovi rockin` it out again, working his mojo. Lea Michelle has her own Glee moment in the film, and her singing interlude is a welcome respite from the paper-thin and eye-rollingly unimaginative plot involving her character. (She`s stuck in an elevator with her neighbour, played by Ashton Kutcher, and the two what else? fall in love over the course of a few hours.)
The New York setting does wonders for the film from the sweeping shots of Times Square and the city to the shots of New Yorkers lining up the streets in preparation for the countdown and it is never unclear that there is indeed magic in that place during the festive season. Unfortunately, the film holds little of that charm.
Charmless, witless and dull, it`s the perfect way to ruin the festive mood.
Rating: 1.5/5 Raymond Tan