REVIEW: New Year's Eve

From the makers of Valentine's Day comes this multi-tale rom-com with a kaleidoscopic A-list cast including Robert DeNiro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ashton Kutcher, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jessica Biel, Zac Efron, Katherine Heigl, Meg Ryan and many more. Now playing nationwide, click for movie times and trailer.
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Following in the same vein as the earlier Hallmark holiday rom-com Valentine’s Day, this is a joyless, overstuffed confection that seems designed more to maximise product placement (right down to Warner Bros’ next blockbuster) and showcase New York’s sights and sounds than to entertain.

Bizarrely sober given its ‘big night’ setting, the film’s lengthy running time means most audience members will require a stiff drink to recover afterwards. They’re more likely to go into a coma, however, from the excess saccharine on display as director Marshall coats everything in a sickly sweet sheen.

Whilst Heigl and Parker look right at home in this fluff, the sight of former Oscar winners Berry and Swank bravely trying to add gravitas and glamour to proceedings just looks unnatural, while De Niro’s career let alone his character feels like it’s on its last legs.

No doubt New Year's Eve will be a box office hit that will pave the way for ‘Memorial Day – The Musical’, but for me it’s the cinematic equivalent of the worst of the ‘women’s’ magazines: all style and no substance.

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