Poster for New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is a very timely film. That isn't necessarily a good thing. As my friend and I commented after watching the film, the only time
New Year's Eve was really relevant was during the month or so before the start of 2012. There are so many specific references to the year 2012, and all the celebrities who star in the film seem to have been chosen because of where they are positioned within the celebrity culture of the period that is the transition between 2011 and 2012. The most notable example of this is the choice of the actress Lea Michele, who of course plays the role of a singer in the film. If one of the main actresses in
Glee lands the part in a film, what else must she do but sing?
All cynicism aside, there were a couple of things that I did like about the film. The first is the odd couple relationship that develops between Paul (Zac Efron) and Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer). Refreshingly, in
New Year's Eve, Pfeiffer doesn't try to hide her age. In a few of her latest films, she seemed to have been trying to exude an image of everlasting youth. However, the character Ingrid in
New Year's Eve is an aging and kooky individual, whose outlook on life needs a little help. The help, of course, comes from Paul, who wants a couple of tickets to an awesome New Year's Eve party in return. The way these two individuals help each other out is touching, and is one of the highlights of this film.
Another thing that I liked about
New Year's Eve was the way the stories were handled. The interweaving of stories in
New Year's Eve reminded me of the film
Love Actually. However, I found
New Year's Eve more enjoyable to watch precisely because the stories were not interweaved as closely as those in
Love Actually. All the characters in
New Year's Eve were not necessarily linked to one another in some kind of huge and complex network. What I liked about
New Year's Eve was that stories were developed as fast and as slow as the makers of the film wanted. There was no rush to explain everything, and no rush to make everything make sense all at once.
In conclusion,
New Year's Eve was a great film to watch on the 30th of December. It might also be an enlightening film to watch in 2012. However, the best time to watch
New Year's Eve has probably passed, because the best thing about
New Year's Eve is how it made people feel about the New Year that so recently came and went.