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From the esteemed makers of the Love Actually rip-off Valentine's Day, the recently released New Year's Eve is a terrible film. While this should shock no-one, how it manages to butcher safe, simple clichés can be seen an achievement in itself.
For the uninitiated few, New Year's Eve presents over a dozen (we stopped counting) New Yorkers leading up to the ball drop in Times Square at midnight. With the multiple interweaving storylines, the viewer could expect a modest number of reasonably enjoyable premises. But they would be wrong. Hit and miss doesn't begin to describe it. Miss miss miss miss hit may be overstating it; but even the occasional success only serves to highlight the numerous failures surrounding them (and really, to call them a 'success' may be an overstatement - they succeed in comparison).
The presence of Robert de Niro as a terminal patient who's dying wish is to see the ball drop from the roof of the hospital is baffling as well as unnecessary, serving only to highlight the superficiality of the rest of the film. The little screen time he receives means his seemingly tragic storyline failed to move even the heart of people who cry at Disney films - a failing common to the overwhelming number of premises stuffed into this film. The many, many actors are given no opportunity to develop their characters; something which was less of an issue for Jon Bon Jovi, who has no acting skills to stretch (stunning blue eyes notwithstanding).
The experience of watching Ashton Kutcher and Lea Michele stuck in an elevator together is an excruciating one. The only positive that could be taken from it was the knowledge you would never have to be stuck in a confined space with the pair - listening to Lea Michele reluctantly, but emotionally, singing a duet with Jon Bon Jovi.
Abigail's Bresnan's storyline was made worse by the fact her male friends (and love-interest) bore a disturbing resemblance to One Direction. Her fractious relationship with her mother (Sarah Jessica Parker) was entirely unengaging. Was this an attempt to connect to the adolescent audience in the crowd? I have faith that even a Twilight-mad generation of youths would look down their noses at this non-event of a plot-line.
An unexpected, but seriously needed, surprise was Zac Efron and Michelle Pfeiffer's May-December dalliance. Light on the romance, the interaction between them was a breath of fresh air in the midst of the pungent fumes that was the rest of the film.
With so many boring characters and mediocre stories, the great majority of the film winds up being forgettable before the credits have finished rolling. If you voluntarily see this film, you either have a peculiar frame of mind, terrible taste, or way too much time on your hands. In any case, you'll likely find something, anything, more productive to do with two hours of your life.
New Year's Eve is screening at York's Reel Cinema. For more information click here: [1]
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