New Year's Eve (2011)

Ugh, I actually started to develop some hope for Robert De Niro again. De Niro was very enjoyable in Killer Elite, and this was a decent enough action film, but New Year’s Eve was one steaming pile of shit, and De Niro just had to be apart of the cast here.

New Year’s Eve tries to be this feel-good holiday film, but everything fails miserably. First of all, the humor in this film is unbelievably corny. I really did try to laugh most of the time, but I just couldn’t, because the jokes just felt so forced. They also tried to provide a good mix of comedy and drama here, but New Year’s Eve is a painfully dull film most of the time.

The high profiled cast was supposed to be the main highlight for this film, but when it comes to the acting, everything isn’t so great. As far as the quality of the acting goes, I’d say everything is about 50/50. Robert De Niro, Hillary Swank, and Halle Berry all delivered some very convincing performances. Jessica Biel was pretty enjoyable here, and I did see a nice set of solid performances from Abigail Breslin, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Michelle Pfeiffer. But the acting in this film does have an ugly side. Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl were awful as usual, Zac Efron and Sofía Vergara were very annoying in this film, especially Sofía Vergara. And Jon Bon Jovi delivered another forgettable and underwhelming performance in this film. This man CAN NOT act! He’s bland, dull, and he never showcases an interesting personality in any of his films. Who the fuck makes the decisions to hire this man for so many movies??? Bon Jovi must have one hell of an agent, or his connections from the music world could help open some doors for him in Hollywood. Of course, this is all speculation on my part, but Bon Jovi has to be receiving some kind of help, because he is one horrendous actor. This is something that can‘t be ignored, and everyone should be able to notice the talentless bore that is the actor Bon Jovi. Also, they really did squander some of the members from the high profiled cast here. This film really doesn’t feature a coherent story, and the more talented cast members (Berry, De Niro, Swank, Breslin) couldn’t save this one.

And why the fuck would so many popular and respected actors and actresses accept roles in this piece of shit? Did they not thoroughly read the script? Surely they could’ve found something better than this? “Hey! I’ve got an idea! I’m going to join the cast for this shitty and pointless romantic comedy about New Year’s Eve, and I can make a fat paycheck at the same time! Who cares if the movie sucks total ass! I win either way!” This had to be the mentality of the more successful and talented actors and actresses in this film, because I can’t think of another logical reason for someone accepting a role in this film. Robert De Niro’s bad habit of delivering a constant barrage of shit films really doesn’t bother me anymore. In fact, I usually expect the worse from De Niro now a days, but Swank, Breslin, and Biel can do better than this.

And I really hated most of the characters in this film. New Year’s Eve features so many tiresome characters, and I didn’t want to care about a lot of them here. Almost everyone is a sad and lonely person, who can’t let go of the past, and they drown themselves in self-pity. I wanted to care about the characters in New Year’s Eve, but they throw way too many “down on their luck personalities” at you in this film, and so many people have to break out their little motivation speeches. When it comes to the characters, everything can feel so redundant after a while, and the sappy stuff can be very annoying.

I’ll give this one an extra bonus point for Swank, De Niro, and Berry, but this is still an atrocious film. New Year’s Eve is WAY too sappy most of the time, and the sentimental stuff started to drive me nuts after a while, because they really tried to force the tear jerking moments in this film, and the heartwarming side of New Year’s Eve didn’t do anything for me. This is a very bland and predictable film, filled with tired and overused clichés. New Year’s Eve does feel like a pointless film, because as I said before, there isn’t a real story here, and a plot is pretty much nonexistent, because the overload of storylines in this film kills any chances of some real continuity. This film seriously pissed me off, and they really did waste a nice set of talented actors and actresses here. This a very predictable and cheesy film, that just goes through the motions the entire, and you can see everything coming, if you just pay close attention.

This rating shouldn’t be a surprise to regular readers of this forum, because I would NEVER praise a film that featured Katherine fucking Heigl and Ashton Kutcher in the same cast. New Year’s Eve was supposed to be that feel-good holiday film, but I couldn’t stand this one. New Year’s Eve deserves some recognition as one of the worst films in 2011, and I still can’t believe the somewhat successful box office run this film has enjoyed over the past couple of weeks. You might enjoy this one, if you’re in the mood for a positive holiday film, or you might want to show this to some friends at a New Year’s eve party one day, but I hated this. New Year’s Eve was supposed to help build some excitement and hope for 2012, but watching this film brought too many facepalms out of me, and I just want to cling on to 2011 for a lot longer now.

Final Rating: 1/10