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New Year's Eve (2011)
Warner Home Video
Blu-ray Disc Released: 5/1/2012
All Ratings out of
Movie:
1/2
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Review by Mike Long, Posted on 5/1/2012
New Year's Eve available on Blu-ray Combo pack, DVD and for download 5/1
Ensemble films with large casts have been around for years -- anyone remember It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World? But, the landscape of this sub-genre changed in 2003 with the release of
Love Actually. This London-set film used the Christmas holidays as a backdrop to show how the lives of several seemingly disconnected characters all came together. Not only did the movie intertwine the stories in an inviting manner, it also did a great job of developing the characters so that we were either shocked or nodded approvingly when the people came together. Since its release, others have tried to copy the Love Actually formula, but none have gotten it right and New Year's Eve represents another failed experiment.As one would imagine, New Year's Eve takes place on December 31st in New York City and explores the lives of several different characters. Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer) is a meek receptionist who hires bike messenger Paul (Zac Efron) to help fulfill her long list of New Year's resolutions. Stan (Robert De Niro) lies in a hospital bed waiting to die as he's watched by a doctor (Cary Elwes) and a nurse (Halle Berry). Tess (Jessica) is very pregnant and her husband, Griffin (Seth Meyers), wants her to deliver just after midnight so that they can win a cash prize. However, another couple (Sarah Paulson and Til Schweiger) have the same idea. Laura (Katherine Heigl) is a caterer, who along with her assistant, Ava (Sofia Vergara), is a preparing the food for a large event hosted by Rose (Cherry Jones). Randy (Ashton Kutcher) is a somber comic book artist who gets stuck in an elevator with Elise (Lea Michele). Rock star Jensen (Jon Bon Jovi) is preparing to play Times Square. Hailey (Abigail Breslin) wants to got to Times Square, but her mother, Kim (Sarah Jessica Parker), refuses. Sam (Josh Duhamel) went to Connecticut for a wedding and is trying to get back into the city in time for an important party. Claire (Hilary Swank) oversees the famous ball which drops in Times Square and must scramble when it gets stuck.
New Year's Eve follows on the heels of 2010's
Valentine's Day and serves an unofficial sequel to that film, as Director Garry Marshall helmed both, and both feature a ridiculous ensemble cast. And both feature the same problems. Again, New Year's Eve (and Valentine's Day) are attempting to replicate the formula created by Love Actually where we watch a group of people go through their lives using a holiday as the backdrop. But, what New Year's Eve doesn't seem to understand is that in Love Actually, Christmas simply served as a jumping-off point for the story, not it's whole reason for being. There's a reason why the movie isn't called "Christmas". The true focus of the film was the characters which we got to know over the course of the movie. And each one had a tragic flaw. This is something which apparently has no place in a movie like New Year's Eve. Even the seemingly sad characters have nothing to truly whine about. Why can't an American movie have the guts to show someone making a true journey from sadness to happiness? Granted, the fact that De Niro's character is dying is sad, but there's something about it which is never truly movie.The other big problem with New Year's Eve lies squarely on the shoulders of Garry Marshall. I don't like any kind of "isms", and I hate for this to sound like ageism, but Marshall is simply too old and out of touch to be making a movie like this. At age 77, he is still very much stuck in a time when the "meet cute" was the epitome of storytelling and slapstick comedy ruled the day. (He also enjoys getting reaction shots from animals (even moreso than John Landis), but I don't remember any of those in this film.) Therefore, the movie is loaded with scenes which are clearly meant to be funny or meant to elicit an "aaahhhhh...", but they simply don't. Most of the film simply lies there waiting for someone to come along and resuscitate it. To me, the only funny parts of the film came from Sofia Vergara’s broken English and this is something which I can see for free each week on
Modern Family.As with Valentine’s Day, New Year's Eve is an incredibly frustrating experience. One can only imagine how the producers and casting director worked their butts off to get these actors together, only to place them in this tired, banal movie. For some of the cast, this material is really beneath them. There’s nothing wrong with a light and fun romantic comedy, but today’s audiences are more sophisticated (I hope) and the lack of any real spark here is insulting. And the fact that it made half of what Valentine’s Day did at the U.S. box office hopefully shows that audiences have moved on from a movie like this. The actors seem to be giving it their best and the use of real New York City locations adds to the realism, but the result is incredibly weak. Perhaps someone will make a resolution to end this series.
New Year's Eve could have used a lot more of Larry Miller’s character on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Warner Home Video. The film has been letterboxed at 1.85:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 18 Mbps. The image is sharp and clear, showing no overt grain and no defects from the source material. The colors look very good (most notably reds and blues) and the image is never overly dark or bright. The level of detail is fairly good, but the picture is soft at times. The picture looks good, but it lacked the certain crispness we’ve come to associate with the best Blu-ray Discs. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 4.2 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The music in the film sounds fine and the Times Square crowds fill the rear speakers, providing a true “surround sound” experience. The stereo effects are well-done, but I didn’t note any significant subwoofer effects, other than the bass in the music. (It should be noted that this “Combo Pack” is a flipper with the Blu-ray on one side and the DVD on the other. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before.)
The New Year's Eve Blu-ray Disc contains a handful of extras. We begin with an AUDIO COMMENTARY from Director Garry Marshall. "The Magic of Times Square" (6 minutes) has Marshall and the cast commenting on the allure of New York City and the pandemonium which is Times Square on New Year's Eve. However, they never talk about what it was like to shoot there or even if what we are seeing is the actual New Year's Eve celebration or something staged for the film. The actors talk about their most memorable New Year's Eve celebrations in "New Year's Eve Secrets of the Stars" (6 minutes). "Jon Bon Jovi & Lea Michele Rock New Year's Eve" (5 minutes) takes us behind the scenes to see Bon Jovi and Michele in the (separate) recording studios performing tracks for the movie. The Disc contains eleven DELETED SCENES which run about 8 minutes and can be viewed with introduction by Marshall (which adds 8 more minutes). This includes a few more celebrity cameos and an awkward "man on the street" interview montage where people are asked about New Year's. The extras are rounded out by an 11-minute GAG REEL.
Review Copyright 2012 by Mike Long