Thursday, December 8, 2011

New Year's Eve Review - 2 Stars

Old softie Garry Marshall follows up his surprise box office hit “Valentine’s Day” with an even better variation. “New Year’s Eve” assembles an all star cast for ensemble stories coming together on the last day of 2011. Things begin with Hillary Swank, in charge of making sure the ball drops in Times Square at the stroke of midnight and wait! there’s something wrong with the ball. Then we go to pregnant mothers trying to have the first baby of the new year, lovers spats, night nurses waiting for their shift to end, a wedding, a party, a couple stuck in an elevator, and a mousey office worker determined to change her life. The cast includes Halle Berry (the night nurse) Jessica Biel (one of the pregnant ladies) Robert De Niro (a terminal patient) Zac Efron (pressed into service to help mousey Michelle Pfeiffer loosen up) plus Hillary Swank and about a zillion others. I think actors will note on their resume if they are NOT in New Year’s Eve. Garry Marshall specializes in sugary feel good stories, not that there’s anything wrong with that. This one’s easy to dismiss, but I like the way things come together at the end. It feels good—like a date night movie for a couple that hasn’t been out of the house in months. Does it deliver what it promises? Feel good romantic comedy. Is it entertaining? Romantic and a comedy. Is it worth the price of admission? For the couple who needs a night out.