Opinion: Top New Year’s Films

Posted by Tara Settembre (tara@filmschoolrejects.com) on December 29, 2006

Here at FSR we already did a best Christmas films list, so why not a New Years list as well? The following flicks feature New Years celebrations and often come to my mind during the holiday. However, New Years is usually a plot used more often in TV shows where a characters night hinges on a successful New Years or its demise, IE Friends, Mad About You, How I Met Your Mother, etc. For films it was a lot harder to pinpoint good ones. Sure in Forrest Gump Jennie tries to kill herself on New Years, but does that count as a New Year’s film? I asked several of my friends to think of some and they could either come up with zilch or just the ones that I have listed below.

1. When Harry Met Sally (1989)

This romantic comedy is one of the few that my guy friends don’t seem to mind, thanks to Billy Crystal’s guy humor throughout and the adorable Meg Ryan before she starred in a string of chick flicks. It also features two Christmas seasons in the film and two New Years Eve parties. The party/ball is quite fancy and has a rooftop view in Manhattan, it’s the kind of sophisticated New Year’s party that I’ve always dreamt of going to instead of the drunken chaotic ones that I attend each year. Who can forget that the film ends in a climatic scene on New Year’s Eve, when Harry Burns races through the empty New York streets to find Sally at the party and tell her he loves her.

Harry: “And it’s not because I’m lonely, and it’s not because it’s New Year’s Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”

Then Auld Lang Syne starts to play and they kiss as balloons fall and people are celebrating around them, *sigh* but then of course they start bickering a little:

Harry: “What does this song mean? For my whole life I don’t know what this song means. I mean, ‘Should old acquaintance be forgot”. Does that mean we should forget old acquaintances or does it mean if we happen to forget them we should remember them, which is not possible because we already forgot them!?

Sally: (making an exasperated face and smiling at Harry) “Well maybe it just means that we should remember that we forgot them or something. Anyway it’s about old friends.”

2. Holiday (1938)

This classic film stars a young Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. An up and coming, free-thinking businessman, Grant, is set to marry Hepburn’s sister but finds himself connecting more with Hepburn. The family is wealthy and the tycoon father is interested in having Grant settle down and be under their control, stifling his life long dreams of traveling the world once he makes his first million. Yet, Hepburn refuses to see that happen to Grant like it’s happening to her. You can actually see their inner struggle to be free of the families grip and manipulation as they squelch their dreams. It’s also a funny, passionate and charming film. What does it have to do with New Year’s? Well, they also host a big Astor style New Year’s party to announce the engagement of Grant to Hepburn’s sister, while behind the scenes as the ball drops things come to a boil between Grant and Hepburn, rich vs. poor, freedom vs. responsibility, etc. You can actually see the fireworks.

3. The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)

This New Years themed film is an entertaining Coen brother’s film, starring Tim Robbins and Paul Newman. It’s about a naive business graduate who is installed as president of a manufacturing company as part of a stock scam. The big climatic scene also takes place on New Years. Reminiscent of a classic movie from the 40s or 50s The Hudsucker Proxy has an classic atmosphere to it and a style that only the Coen Bros. can deliver.

4. Entrapment (2001)

The big caper that Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones are planning takes place on New Years Eve at a bank, while people are partying downstairs and the computers are switching over in the New Year. The fact that the clock is literally ticking down for them helps build the excitement and tension during their theft.

5. Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)

At the beginning of the film Bridget Jones makes a New year’s resolution to keep a diary and her life starts to change. Starring Renee Zellweger, Hugh Grant, and Colin Firth.

6. Happy New Year, Charlie Brown (1985)

Charlie Brown and all the Peanuts gang try to get it all together for a New Year’s Eve party, not as famous as Merry Christmas Charlie Brown, but it’s still cute.

7. Bundle Of Joy (1956)

Real life couple, Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, have a lot of miscommunication problems in this film, especially when he mistakes Debbie as mother of an illegitimate child, but of course they fall in love anyway. The film was made to capitalize on the real-life pregnancy of Debbie Reynolds, which makes this film Carrie Fisher’s debut. And yes, New Years is involved.

8. Trading Places (1983)

The classic Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd comedy has a funny New Year’s Party on a train, where Jamie Lee Curtis and team try to switch a suitcase.

What am I missing??

Anyway, have a Happy New Year!!

Read more articles by Tara Settembre