From the morning of 31st December 2011 to the early hours of 1st January 2012, this movie traces the lives of many people in the New York City - a vice-president(Hilary Swank) in charge of the ball drop, a meek middle-aged secretary(Michelle Pfeiffer) trying to fulfill her new year resolutions with the help of a young deliveryman(Zac Efron), a teenager(Abigail Breslin) who wants to spend the evening with her friends and boyfriends but has an over-protective mom(Sarah Jessica Parker) to deal with, a lovelorn slacker(Ashton Kutcher) who finds a match(Lea Michele) in an unlikely place, a musician(Jon Bon Jovi) who is desperately trying to win back his ex-girlfriend(Katherine Heigl), a nurse(Halle Berry) who babysits a lonely dying man(Robert De Niro), two pregnant couples(Seth Meyers-Jessica Biel and Til Schweiger-Sarah Paulson) competing to give birth in the early hours of 2012 to win prize money offered by the hospital, a businessman(Josh Duhamel) rushing to make an important speech.
As you can see, Garry Marshall tries to fit in as many stories into his movie. In addition an impressive cast to play the major roles, he also a host of other famous personalities playing small roles in many of the segments in this movie. Predictably, none of these actors or stars get sufficient screen space. As a result, he promptly fails in delivering an engaging movie and succeeds only in generating the wow factor in his ability to signup these stars. To compound these problems, the director chooses a cliched set of stories, which we have been forced to see as a full length movie, into a 10-15 minute segment. Too many cliches one after the other is also bad. The only story worth watching is the one involving Michelle Pfeiffer and Zac Effron when the latter tries to fulfill all of former's new year resolutions in a day without leaving the New York City. The two actor amusing you are Sarah Jessica Parker as the over protective mom with one-liners & slapstick (for lack of a better word) and Ashton Kutcher for a minute when he shows the sensitive side behind the hate-spewing slacker. Then, there is Halle Berry, changing from the plain blue colored dress of a nurse to a stunning evening dress. You don't see her changing. She goes into the changing room as a nurse, closes the doors and comes out as a girl ready to party. Believe it not, it is one of the highlights of the movie.
With few moments impressing you in this seemingly long movie, it is better to skip this one. There is nothing in this movie other than the long list of stars.
Language: English
Genre: Drama
I have never even heard of this movie! Thanks for the review Nona.
ReplyDelete@Melanie - Finally, your real profile works! :) This movie is titled "Happy New Year" in France. There was a preview yesterday at UGC. The movie opens in France today.
ReplyDelete