One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

New Year's Eve (2011): Dir: Garry Marshall / Cast: Hilary Swank, Katherine Heigl, Jessica Biel, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro: Embarrassing followup to Valentine's Day, which was an okay film in itself, but this garbage is unbearable at best. We have several stupid subplots including a contrived encounter in a stalled elevator where idiotic romantic suggestions are made. Hilary Swank is assigned to host the dropping of the ball in New York. For an actress who has won two Oscars, this is a sure way to drop the ball to crush your own career. Katherine Heigl plays a chef whose musician ex-boyfriend is back in town to attempt to reconnect and nobody gives a sh*t. The dumbest subplot involves two pregnant women who, along with their husbands, are in a race to see who can give birth first so to win a large amount of cash. Watching this unfold made me wonder if people during pregnancy really act this pitiful. Michelle Pfeiffer is also giving a less than thrilling appearance as a woman who quits her job and seeks help from a young man in making all of her new year's resolutions come true. One of those resolutions should be to fire her agent after taking part in this orgy of shame. Robert De Niro plays someone in a hospital whose big wish is to watch the whole New Year's fiasco. Garry Marshall had greater success with Valentine's Day but here he is totally off the radar. While the film is well made technically, it is so embarrassing that one could only hope that one's new year's resolution would be to drop that big ball upon this pathetic excuse for a romantic ensemble. Score: 2 / 10

"New Year's Eve" (2011) is the 2nd film in director Gary Marshall's holiday series, the others being "Valentine's Day" (2010) and the upcoming "Mother's Day" (2016). All of these films share the same basic formula of 4 or 5 seemingly unrelated stories that ultimately converge on a particular holiday in a big city. If you're familiar with Gary Marshall's illustrious career including iconic films like "Pretty Woman" (1990) and going all the way back to 70s TV with "Happy Days" and "Laverne & Shirley" (and yes! He is married to Penny "Laverne" Marshall who makes a brief but funny cameo in this movie), then you know basically what to expect: good clean fun that won't necessarily change your life or fix the ozone layer, but it's great entertainment for a night. Eeeh slightly on the sappy/predictable side, but heck, what do you expect from a PG-13 movie?As with Marshall's other films, the appeal lies largely in a superstar studded cast. Robert De Niro, Halle Berry, Ashton Kutcher, Hilary Swank, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jon Bon Jovi (wait... Who?), and buckets of cameos like James Belushi, Ludicrous (argh, IMDb's auto spell checker keeps messing up the spelling), Cary Elwes and Alyssa Milano whose scene actually got cut. However my biggest criticism is that, by splitting the screen time between so many show-stealers in so many little segments, nobody really gets a chance to shine. And for example you may be a little annoyed that a master thespian like Robert De Niro is on screen for only a combined 10 minutes, if even that. Thus, the big names come across as somewhat gimmicky.My next biggest criticism is that the jokes and gags weren't that great. At times it felt like the movie was trying too hard to make a lukewarm joke work. You know, like when you start to tell a lame joke at the office water cooler, then in your mind you realize how lame it is, so you try to dramatize it with flourishes and big arm gestures. Yeah because that always works. Not that I do that. Much.But then you realize that this really is a tale in the tradition of 70s sitcom, predictable, slightly flat, but with its own distinct style that might make you catch yourself grinning.Gary, if you're out there reading this (yeah because award winning Hollywood directors like to waste their time trolling internet movie sites), I'd like to suggest that the darker, edgier segments work best. For example Ashton Kutcher (whom I normally don't care for) played an excellent role as a misanthropic hipster poseur, sort of a modern day scrooge, who spends his time tearing down party decorations in his apartment building. Most of the other segments were a bit too chipper, and thus they suffered from lack of humorous irony, which, ask Mel Brooks, is important in comedy. Of course, the most important thing in comedy is... well... (insert big arm gesture) ...you know... like... timing.

Cheesy, uninspired rom-com vignettes following a variety of couples and singles as they roam the streets of New York city on new years eve, only watchable because of the list of actors involved. I think the most entertaining thing about this movie (other than the bloopers and outtakes shown during the closing credits) is seeing which star will pop up next and then how Garry Marshall will tie some of the characters stories together.I enjoyed Zac Efron and Michelle Pheiffer's story the most, Aston Kutcher and Lea Michelle probably the least, Kutcher was just creepy. I also could have done without the 3 musical numbers involving Jon Bon Jovi. It was nice to see Abigail Breslin all grown up as SJP's daughter. Halle Barry & DeNiro's story had a nice surprise ending and Seth Myers maternity storyline gave me my one and only laugh.A moderately enjoyable and completely forgettable movie. 9/7/14

This film has zero plot, and tons of celebrity cameos than aren't even listed on the IMDb cast page. There are so, so many characters all with their own subplot, and not one of them stands out as the main one. I was confused pretty early as there were so many plots, had no idea what any of the characters names were and it was more fun watching it playing six degrees of Kevin Bacon since this film bought almost all the work down to one degree. What made it funnier was when yet another celebrity face appears half way through the film that you weren't even expecting. Its like - thats the girl from that show. Whats her name now? Wait a minute, ill look it up on the IMDb. Which is how I got to writing this review while the film is still playing...