New Years Eve (2011) - 1/09/12

Tonight I went to see a movie in a theater, which is something I didn't do too much of in 2011.  But with a few girls while visiting in Arizona, I went to see New Years Eve.  Overall, it was a cute, shallow, basic movie meant to give you a few laughs and leave a little message about the year.  I liked it, but certainly isn't an overly memorable movie.

Things I Enjoyed:

• The interesting character played by Michele Pfieffer was one of my favorites.  I wish the writers had developed her more.  She was awkward, socially unstable and just odd...but they never really explained any background to her.  For a character that interesting, I wish there was more there.  So having someone like that I really enjoyed, but as an audience member, I was left wanting more.
• The interaction/relationships.  While not done nearly as well as in movies like Love Actually, there was some relationships and connections I enjoyed.  Example: Zac Efron's character and Sarah Michelle Geller's character being siblings.  I enjoyed that.
• The humor was great.  Subtle, but entertaining.
• Halle Berry's role with the touching part of her talking to her husband in the army was really well done.  It was small, but really pulled at the heart strings.
• Advertising, while a bit annoying to someone who knows to look for it, was pretty well placed in this movie.  And there was a lot of it.  Generates $$ for your movie.

Things I Should Avoid:

• A liiiiittle too corny in some situations.  
• Some parts - like Lea Michele/Ashton getting together - felt a little too storybook.  Get more variety.
• I would have liked to eliminate 1 fewer story, but develop all the other ones more.  It just felt rushed.
• I think they wanted a "tied up" feel like Love Actually achieved and just didn't get it.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, this was a very basic, designed to make you laugh, uplifting and $$ generating movie.  It wasn't a classic, but I felt good watching it.  I laughed really hard at the credits part at the end when they did out-takes.  I also laughed a lot at some small humor woven throughout the film.  That was well done and it was enjoyable.  Kind of a movie a screenwriter might feel like a "sell-out" doing, it's very commercial, not too much depth to it, but it did make me feel good as a viewer.