New Year’s Eve Parent Guide

The most apropos line in this movie may be, “There’s gotta be more celebrities here than rehab.” Taking time just to name each one would gobble up my entire word count.

Suffice it to say Director Garry Marshall has once again assembled an exhaustive roster of famous faces (and an expansive list of brand products) to celebrate New Year’s Eve. Each of his characters, whether single or coupled, comes with a complication surrounding the momentous evening.

At the center of the Times Square festivities, Claire Morgan’s (Hilary Swank) job is to ensure the famed ball drops at precisely the right moment. Unfortunately for her, a mechanical glitch threatens the tradition unless she can convince handyman Kominsky (Hector Elizondo) to come back to work.

In the meantime, Tess and Griffin Byme (Jessica Biel, Seth Meyers) push to get the New Year’s baby. Fifteen-year-old Hailey (Abigail Breslin) sneaks away from her mother (Sarah Jessica Parker) to go to the downtown gala with friends. Randy (Ashton Kutcher), a grumpy comic book illustrator, is stuck in the elevator with a girl (Lea Michele) who desperately needs to be somewhere else. And caterer Laura (Katherine Heigl) runs into her old flame (Jon Bon Jovi) at the party she is working. Add to those at least a half dozen other storylines viewers will have to keep straight.

Fortunately, unlike Marshall’s Valentine’s Day where characters engaged in more than canoodling, time doesn’t allow for any overtly intimate activities. However that doesn’t keep sexual innuendo from making its way into the script, along with a handful of profanities and one sexual expletive.

Still this sentimental and often predictable plot serves up some tender moments and a couple of nice twists—even if they feel as sugary as the Christmas cookies you just polished off.

About author

Kerry Bennett

Kerry Bennett is interested in media from both a journalist and parent perspective. Along with authoring articles for several family-oriented publications, she has written for Parent Previews for over 15 years. As a parent herself, she believes parents play a powerful role in teaching media literacy in their homes.