Celebrate the New Year from the Comfort of Your Home
Can’t go anywhere for New Year’s Eve? Not in the mood for dressing up and going out to a big party? Feeling like there’s no place like home? Whatever the reason, watching a movie, or a marathon of movies, is a great way to get in the holiday spirit from the comfort of your couch or bed.
Many movies play homage to the year-end holiday. Some feature a single New Year’s Eve scene, while others show numerous memorable moments during the entire holiday season. But all inspire us to reflect on endings, beginnings and relationships, which is what life is about.
So pick any of the following iconic New Year’s Eve movies and snuggle up with a cup of hot cocoa or tea—or a glass of bubbly—in front of your favorite tech device.
1. When Harry Met Sally (1989)
This superbly written and splendidly acted film, rated as one of the best romantic comedies of all time, follows the story of Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) and explores if men and women can be friends without sex getting in the way. The pivotal scene takes place shortly after midnight at a New Year’s Eve party.
2. An Affair to Remember (1957)
In what is considered by many the most romantic movie ever made, the characters played by Deborah Kerr and Cary Grant meet on an ocean liner, share a kiss on New Year’s Eve and fall in love, even though they’re both engaged to other people. They make a pact to meet at the top of the Empire State Building in six months if they still feel the same way about each other, but a tragedy ruins their plans.
3. The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
If you like disaster films, you’ll love this story about a luxury cruise ship that gets capsized by a rogue wave on New Year’s Eve, sending the passengers on a desperate struggle to survive. It stars Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Jack Albertson, Red Buttons and Shelley Winters, who was nominated for an Oscar for her performance. The 2006 remake, Poseidon, starting Kurt Russell, Richard Dreyfuss, Josh Lucas, Emmy Rossum and Kevin Dillon, is worth watching.
4. Trading Places (1983)
This comedy is about two millionaires that make a bet resulting in a stockbroker (Dan Aykroyd) switching places with a con artist (Eddie Murphy) to see if the street hustler can become as successful as the investor, given a different set of circumstances. On New Year’s Eve, the millionaires, investor and con artist, board a train to Philadelphia, and things go a bit nuts.
5. New Year’s Eve (2011)
This entire film takes place during New Year’s Eve in New York City. Taking cues from Love Actually, and starring a huge (some argue too big) ensemble cast under the direction of Garry Marshall, the dramedy follows several couples in as their lives intertwine in a variety of ways, all of them pursuing love and happiness.
6. Ghostbusters 2 (1989)
This sequel to Ghostbusters, starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Sigourney Weaver, follows the same group of supernatural crime-fighters who return when a pink slime starts wreaking havoc in New York City. Supernatural activity suddenly increases on New Year’s Eve, forcing them and a bunch of cranky New Yorkers to sing “Auld Lang Syne” to help defeat an evil spirit who feeds on negative energy.
7. Rent (2005)
Based on the Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway show of the same name, Rent takes place between Christmas and New Year’s Day and focuses on the characters’ dramatic lives and relationships. In the song “Happy New Year,” the characters make resolutions, agonize over their existential issues and yearn for a better year.
8. Ocean’s 11 (1960)
This is the movie that inspired Ocean’s Eleven (2001), 2004 Ocean’s Twelve (2004) and Ocean’s Fourteen (2007). It stars five members of the so-called Rat Pack: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop. The group plans a sophisticated heist of five Las Vegas casinos on New Year’s Eve, which almost goes off without a hitch.
9. Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)
This charming British romantic comedy starts and ends on New Year’s Eve, with a diary and a kiss. It follows Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger) as she copes with the ups and downs of her career, family, weight and unlucky love life. The film begins with Jones making a New Year’s resolution to take control of her life by keeping a diary.
10. Waiting to Exhale (1995)
Another movie that starts and ends on New Year’s Eve, Waiting to Exhale follows four women over the course of the year as they struggle with dating, marriage, friendship, parenting, adultery and divorce. The movie, based on a novel of the same name, marks Forest Whitaker’s directorial debut and stars Whitney Houston, Angela Basset, Loretta Devine and Lela Rochon.
11. 200 Cigarettes (1999)
The movie takes place around New Year’s Eve in 1981 and follows several twenty-somethings as they navigate relationships, loneliness, lust and their individual problems. The group bounces around New York City looking for the best party of the year. The cast includes Paul Rudd, Kate Hudson, Ben Affleck, Dave Chappelle, Christina Ricci and Courtney Love.
12. Snowpiercer (2013)
In this post-apocalyptic dystopian science fiction, it’s 2031 and climate change has forced humans to live on a moving train where New Year’ Eve happens each time the train completes another trip around Earth. What remains of society is divided into the VIPs, who live comfortably in the front of the train, and the undesirables, which starve in the back. One man has had enough and decides to lead a revolt to the conductor’s car. The movie stars Chris Evans, John Hurt, Tilda Swinton, Jamie Bell, Octavia Spencer and Ed Harris.
13. While You Were Sleeping
This film starts Lucy (Sandra Bullock), a transit token collector whose fantasy love life collides with real life when the object of her obsession (Peter Gallagher) falls on the tracks and she saves his life. While he’s in a comma in the hospital, she visits him, and his family thinks she’s his fiancée. But it turns out that his brother (Bill Pullman), is more her type. New Year’s Eve marks a pivotal moment in the film.
14. About Time (2013)
This movie follows a man (Domhall Gleeson) who learns he has inherited the ability to travel back in time and decides to use his gift to improve his love life. He travels back to fix awkward conversations and a botched New Year’s Eve kiss in an effort make the woman of his dreams (Rachel McAdams) fall in love with him.
15. Forrest Gump (1994)
There’s is one scene that takes place on New Year’s Eve in this Oscar-winning film. It’s New Year’s Eve in 1972, and Forrest (Tom Hanks) ends up in an apartment with Lieutenant Dan (Gary Sinise) and two women. When he resists the advances of one of the women, she calls him stupid, and Lt. Dan comes to Forrest’s defense and kicks the women out. Like life, a new year is like a box of chocolates.
16. Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
Tom Hanks plays a widower who dreams of sharing a beer and good conversation with his late wife on New Year’s Eve. After he speaks to a radio show host on the air, thousands of female listeners become infatuated with him. He eventually connects with Annie (Meg Ryan), and the two agree to meet on the top of the Empire State Building on Valentine’s Day.
17. Happy New Year, Charlie Brown! (1986)
This family-friendly, half-hour special tells the tale of Charlie Brown rushing to finish a book report on Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” in time to make it to Peppermint Patty’s New Year’s Eve party in time.
18. The Godfather Part II (1974)
If you like mafia movies, you can’t miss one of the best mafia films of all time . At a 1958 New Year’s Eve party in Havana, Cuba, Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) gives his brother, Fredo (John Cazale), the kiss of death, saying: “I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart.” The moment comes as a shock to the audience, which didn’t know it was Fredo who betrayed Michael.
19. Sex and the City: The Movie (2008)
In this follow-up to the iconic Sex and the City HBO series, Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte reunite for Carrie and Big’s long-awaited wedding. When Big suddenly gets cold feet, the girls help Carrie recover from the devastating heartbreak. On New Year’s Eve, Carrie braves the subway and snow to reconnect with Miranda after the two had a falling out. A soulful version of “Auld Lang Syne” plays in the background throughout the scene.
20. Money Train (1995)
Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson play foster brothers who become New York City transit cops. After Harrelson’s character loses his job, he hatches a plot to rob the train that carries the subway fare money on New Year’s Eve, when the subways make the most revenue. The final scene takes place in Times Square just as the countdown to midnight begins.