If you don't have a good idea of how "New Year's Eve" is going to wrap up after the first 15 minutes, then maybe the movies aren't for you. With more popular actors than it knows what to do with, "New Year's Eve" is a messy combination of things better suited for a spoof. As it gleefully whisks from one story to the next, audiences are treated to just about every cliché in the romantic comedy book, almost as if the filmmakers want to make sure that you've seen this all before. For anyone who has seen "Valentine's Day," that shouldn't be difficult in any case. If there is a movie that should allow texting, "New Year's Eve" just might be the one.
Everyone by now should be familiar with the basic concept of what goes down in New York City on New Year's Eve, a time when people pack into Times Square and ponder their next year amidst streams of confetti and balloons and strangers. In the movie version, it's mainly a time to panic about being alone, though that's very difficult to imagine with a cast of actors that all regular appear in GQ and Marie Claire.
The cast itself is enormous, with each popular face fighting for screen time. You have Ashton Kutcher as a man stuck on an elevator with a beautiful woman. Sarah Jessica Parker is a flighty mother struggling to keep her daughter (Abigail Breslin) under wraps. Hilary Swank is left in charge of making sure the ball drops on time, a crucial duty that would probably inspire worldwide panic and ridicule if it doesn't go smoothly. Robert De Niro plays a dying man who just wants to live to see the light of one more year. And that is just the beginning, as we haven't even gotten to Zac Efron, Katherine Heigl, Jessica Biel, Halle Berry, Michelle Pfeiffer, Josh Duhamel, Carla Gugino, Jon Bon Jovi and even rapper Ludacris.
But it doesn't matter how many known actors are packed onto the screen if a movie doesn't have anything to say, which is the problem that "New Year's Eve" struggles with from the very beginning. There are so many talented actors involved in the movie that it's a marvel that they were all able to keep a straight face, and many had to be wondering how they got duped into joining the cast of romantic comedy all-stars.
There is a plot, sort of, as we creep toward the big moment, with each character dealing with a mini-dilemma of sorts. The most interesting revolves around a couple that has to deal with a baby bound and determined to be the first newborn of the new year. While you may want to make your plans around the dropping of the ball, things change pretty drastically once your wife goes into labor. But even this plotline eventually feels tired and contrived, forcing it to join in the ranks of the other doleful stories happening in other parts of the city.
Maybe the one thing that "New Year's Eve" was able to do was to conjure up memories of "Love Actually," a much better romantic comedy with just about as many storylines and well known actors. While "New Year's Eve" dumbs it down to ensure that nobody is lost in the plot shuffle, "Love Actually" has an ear for subtle and humorous dialog that overcomes the overwhelming number of plot lines to keep straight. But while "Love Actually" had plenty of clever dialog and a neurotic and funny performance from Hugh Grant, "New Year's Eve" gets a lot of smirking lines like "who are you going to kiss at midnight?" When you're Ashton Kutcher and you're stuck on an elevator with a beautiful woman on New Year's Eve, the answer is pretty obvious.
It isn't easy to make a mainstream romantic comedy, as audiences bring in plenty of expectations to the material, and a universal happy ending is all but assumed. Director Garry Marshall did make the somewhat iconic romantic comedy "Pretty Woman," but "New Year's Eve" feels too soft and delicate for its own good. There is such a balancing act of screen personas that the movie mostly feels disjointed and contrived, covering up even the smallest of funny lines and humorous situations that the characters find themselves in. "New Year's Eve" even finds a way to make "Valentine's Day" seem like somewhat of a masterpiece. Now there is something that isn't easy.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.