When it comes to differences of opinion between critics and audiences, conversations can heat up – especially when critics take aim at super-popular titles like The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Sometimes, however, the difference is a lot less flattering: In the case of New Year's Eve, a 2011 rom-com that is now climbing the Max charts, people who watched it seem to disagree on how bad it was. Is it just another comedy you watch to pass the time, or the kind of movie that makes you feel personally offended?
The Rotten Tomatoes score for New Year's Eve would make you think it's the latter: With a dismal 7% approval rate, it was called by critics like Roger Ebert "a dreary plod through the sands of time," and Peter Travers from Rolling Stone gave it zero stars. Audiences, however, were a lot less cruel and gave it a 45% score on the same platform, which suggests it's not as bad as it looks. The movie's performance at the box office supports it: $142 million, a pretty good number for a rom-com.
One of the reasons that certainly lured audiences to movie theaters was New Year's Eve's insane star-studded cast. It features Halle Berry (Never Let Go), Jim Belushi (Red Heat), Sarah Jessica Parker (And Just Like That...), Jessica Biel (Candy), Abigail Breslin (Zombieland: Double Tap), Bon Jovi (Cry Wolf), Robert De Niro (Killers of the Flower Moon), Zac Efron (Iron Claw), Sofia Vergara (Modern Family), Michelle Pfeiffer (Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania), Hilary Swank (Yellowjackets), Sarah Paulson (Hold Your Breath), Katherine Heigl (Firefly Lane), Lea Michele (Glee), Matthew Broderick (Painkiller), Carla Gugino (Lisa Frankenstein), Ashton Kutcher (The Ranch), John Lithgow (Conclave), Seth Meyers (Saturday Night Live)... and that's just some of them.
What Is 'New Year's Eve' About?
As the name indicates, New Year's Eve takes place on the last day of the year and covers a slate of characters that are trying to have a good night as they prepare to celebrate in New York. There's a bit of everything: characters who are fully excited for new possibilities, others who couldn't care less about the date, and everything in between. There's even a competition among pregnant mothers to see who has the first baby of the year.
New Year's Eve was directed by Garry Marshall, who at the time was putting together a trilogy of sorts with special dates, including 2010's Valentine's Day and 2016's Mother's Day – all of them with extensive casts. The screenplay was written by Katherine Fugate, who had previously penned The Prince & Me and also wrote several episodes of Army Wives. Whether it is a good movie or not, Max subscribers are checking it out with their own eyes, and certainly love the idea of watching something that takes place on such a symbolic day.
You can stream New Year's Eve on Max.
Your changes have been saved
Release Date December 9, 2011
Runtime 118 minutes
Writers Katherine Fugate
Budget $56 million
Studio(s) Warner Bros. Pictures
English (US) ·