Going
into this movie you know it will be fluff so you just seat back in your
arena seating chair and watch the various actors pass by recognizing
some by name and past performances, others by their looks and some not
all all but feel you should know them.

There is Abigal Breslin,
growing up, and Sarah Jessica Parker playing mother and daughter. You
wonder how a make up artist can make the beautiful Michelle Pfeiffer look so plain and how did Gary Marshall, the director, let the hairdresser chop up Halle Berry's hair? Did Penny Marshall make the cameo because her brother was
the director and did Matthew Broderick get paid minimum for doing his
bit because he wife had, more or less, the leading role? Seeing Cherry
Jones on film is always a delight but who played her son? (Should I have known it was Josh Duhamel?) Who is that kid playing opposite Michele? I've seen him before in movies---oh Zac Efron. There is Hector Elizondo--Marshall's good luck charm?--and Lea Michele from "Glee" who gets to sing 2 songs and Sofia Vergara, from "Modern Family" showing off her 'assets' which are commented on by Katherine Heigl who has a couple of 'assets' of her own! Along the way there is Hillary Swank, Robert DeNiro, Chris Bridges, Seth Meyers, Jessica Biel, who I never recognize, Til Schweiger and Ashton Kutcher.
At the end I wish they would do like they did in the old days and show
the actors with their names in individual shots so the audience could
identify who is who as I am sure no one knows all of them.

One person really impressed me in this movie and that was Jon Bon Jovi.
Okay, I admit it, I am not familiar with him or his music but he
certainly made me sit up and take notice in this film with his singing
voice, acting and looks.

While
it may sound like damning with faint praise "New Year's Eve" was a lot
better than I expected, hitting some sentimental, effective spots in the
second half and Gary Marshall, along with screenplay writer Katherine Fugate, handles the 6-7 different stories, (I lost count along the way LOL), in linear fashion and easy to follow though none of the stories really get any depth in the hour and 55 minutes running time.

It was a pleasant way to spend an unexpected rainy afternoon.