New Year's Eve
Starring: Hilary Swank, Katherine Heigl, Ashton Kutcher, Sarah Jessica Parker
Director: Garry Marshall
Rating: 1/5
The holidays have always been a good source of ideas for the movers and shakers of Hollywood, especially those flogging that old favourite the romantic comedy.
Because what says romance like silly hats, over drinking and cake? So, here we go again, with director Garry Marshall’s latest all out assault on any semblance of holiday romance with a cast big enough to fill three posters and every cliché in the book.
New Year’s Eve take place, surprisingly, on the evening of December 31st and shows us ten stories of New York’s inhabitants trying to find love on this all important night ranging from a two couple battling to have the first baby of year to a rock singer trying to win back his ex-fiancé and a dying man’s last wish to see the famous globe drop.
The secret to any romantic comedy is a likeable set of leads and an enjoyable story. Unfortunately, New Years Eve has neither of these. Any potential character development or interesting plot is instantly snuffed out by a constant need to be cycling between the other dull, dragging stories on offer.
Also, despite having nearly as many stars as the rest of this year’s films combined, not one puts in a good performance, mainly due to a script so dull and soppy it couldn’t cut through warm butter.
Toothless non-jokes, incredible inconsistency and some truly appalling pandering are just part of New Years Eve’s questionable repertoire. That it’s so humourless yet never strays into the waters of offensiveness shows exactly the bland, insipid comedy on show here.
Add in three terrible musical numbers to act as window dressing and New Year’s Eve finally reveals itself as a bad remake of Marshall’s last seasonal behemoth Valentine’s Day. Marshall’s come a long way since the halcyon days of Pretty Woman.
New Years Eve is everything bad about both the ensemble piece and the rom-com. With no depth, no heart and no soul, New Years Eve is just stumbles from one tired trope to the next with no concept of either romance or comedy.
And there’s still Thanksgiving and Christmas to go folks.
New Years Eve is out now
FemaleFirst Cameron Smith
Tagged in Garry marshall New Years Eve