A laundry list of big-name actors added up to a sub-par film in “Valentine’s Day,” but that isn’t stopping director Garry Marshall from having another go at a holiday-themed ensemble rom-com.
“New Year’s Eve” takes the same formula of intertwining storylines and applies it to a different holiday and a different city (New York this time instead of Los Angeles). The film even features some of the same actors from “Valentine’s Day,” but in different roles.
The trailer reveals a few of the movie’s many subplots: Josh Duhamel met his dream girl at a New Year’s party last year and is on a mission to find her again, Zac Efron helps Michelle Pfeiffer achieve her list of New Year’s resolutions in exchange for tickets to the city’s hottest party, Jessica Biel and Seth Meyers are about to have a baby just in time for the new year, Katherine Heigl is mad at Jon Bon Jovi about something but will probably forgive him in the end and Ashton Kutcher is a New Years-hating cynic who will undoubtedly fall for his pal Lea Michele.
“New Year’s Eve” also stars Robert De Niro, Halle Berry, Hilary Swank, Ludacris, Sarah Jessica Parker, Carla Gugino, Abigail Breslin, Sofia Vergara, Alyssa Milano, Sienna Miller, John Stamos, Jake T. Austin, Ice Cube, Til Schweiger, Ryan Seacrest, John Lithgow, Hector Elizondo and Julie Andrews.
I enjoy the ensemble romantic comedy formula. “Love Actually” is one of my favorite movies, and I even enjoyed “He’s Just Not That Into You.” But I was far from impressed with “Valentine’s Day.” I felt the characters were flat and the storylines were superficial. It just wasn’t engaging to me, and while I think the trailer for “New Year’s Eve” makes it look slightly better than the first film, my hopes aren’t very high for this one.
“New Year’s Eve” hits theaters Dec. 9. Check out the trailer below.
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I will see this simply because of the cast, also it will be the first time Lea Michele from Glee is in a movie.