BLOG: New Year's Resolutions

I was a little surprised that New Year's Eve came out three weeks early! As I recall, Valentine’s Day came out on the week of Valentine’s Day. But I’m not complaining! With this joyous season before us, a film that reminds us about the upcoming year – which is coming is less than TWO weeks time! – was nice to have to just sit back and relax with a couple of friends at the drive-ins.

The Story

Now, if you’ve seen Valentine’s Day or Love Actually you’ll be no stranger to the intertwining stories of different characters within the film. The main point of the story is: “This is it – it’s the start of a new year and this time I’m going to start the year right.” So, you have all these different stories trying to make the most of starting their New Year’s resolutions just as the ball drops at 12am on the dot. Pregnancies with cash payments if they’re the first one to ‘pop-out’ a baby; people swimming through the crowds to have that magical kiss on the first minute of the year or making up for the last kiss of the past year; people trying to make their dreams come true and finally, people making other people’s dreams come true.

The great thing about this film is that you could follow each story and how they connected, even when you think paths were going to collide, someone turns the corner on you! You feel like you’re in the moment with the characters without losing track of who’s connected to who. It’s also very humorous and sweet – one even the boys won’t mind watching!

The Cast

It was a big cast – talk about name-dropping! – so I’ll just review them as an ensemble. As whole they all played off each other really well. I loved how they all had their own little pairs that eventually broke off into other connections; it was a well-rounded and well thought-out script. But I’m going to have to say KUDOS to Mr Jon Bon Jovi who was my standout performer of the film. Why? Well we all know the majority of these actors all have amazing acting careers, but singers entering the film industry – we all know that’s a real privilege, especially when they have their OWN character and they’re not playing themselves. Another stand out performance for me was, Modern Family’s, Sofia Vergara! She play’s the hilarious sue-chef to Katherine Heigl’s character, who is the very definition of a star-struck fangirl. She made me laugh so many times my stomach hurt so much! But as a whole the cast of eighteen did a fabulous job of never out-shining one another.

Overall

It was an amazing set, beautiful combination of actors and an array of talent to tip your hat to. I recommend it for a mother-daughter night; a night with the girls or simply a date night for all you couples out there. Boys, I swear you can tolerate this, it’s not too cheesy and rather realistic – no guns and stuff, but Ludacris does feature in it!

sL Star Rating: 4 Stars

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