"New Year's Eve," directed by Garry Marshall, tells the story of a group of New Yorkers as they prepare to ring in 2012. Broken down into different storylines, the film is a classic case of six-degrees of separation: audiences must figure out how all of the characters are connected as the film progresses.
The cast of "New Year's Eve" is jam-packed with over a dozen A-list actors, including Hilary Swank, Josh Duhamel, Robert De Niro, Lea Michele and Sofia Vergara. However, it seems as though the producers just wanted to shove as many celebrities into one movie as possible; some of the castings and combinations of people came out seeming odd at times.
While most of the individual storylines were all relatively entertaining, some seemed irrelevant. Because there were so many storylines and characters, none of them could develop enough to form a strong bond between the characters and the audience. With all of the commotion of the other vignettes, each storyline only had a total of maybe twenty minutes.
Nevertheless, there was promise in some of the vignettes. For example, Zac Efron and Michelle Pfeiffer's story, in which Efron's character helps Pfeiffer fulfill her New Year's resolutions before midnight, could have been expanded into an entire film in itself.
Even though the movie has a similar set up to "Valentine's Day," Marshall's last film, it is not a sequel. While actors like Ashton Kutcher and Jessica Biel are in both, they do not play the same characters, which could be confusing at first to viewers.
However, it was amusing every time a big name actor appeared on the screen, even in just a cameo role. Some of them could even be missed, such as Matthew Broderick's short appearance on screen.
With the upcoming holidays, the film had the perfect release date, preparing movie goers for that moment when the ball drops in Time Square. It's a reminder to use that time to reflect about the past year and what we hope to change and do in the coming one.
"New Year's Eve" could almost entice the audience to want to wait in those large crowds of people in Time Square.
Though critics have been particularly unforgiving with their reviews, the movie is that overall feel-good romantic-comedy people look to watch around the time of the holidays.
Kristyn Lyncheski can be reached at kristyn.lyncheski@student.shu.edu.
