New Year's Eve

NEW YEAR'S EVE (2011) - March 7, 2012
I really thought there was nowhere to go but up after the horrendous Valentine's Day, but apparently I was wrong -- well played, Gary Marshall.  This was awful right from the start; every moment here felt forced and artificial, every character a walking cliche, and every joke so hacky and embarassing that even the writers of Two and a Half Men would cringe.  The film just ping-pongs from one vacuous character to the next, as if the editor thought that if he cut from subplot to subplot quickly enough, he wouldn't give people time to realize how terrible it all is.  It is interminable.  How they got so many recognizable actors to be in this is a bit of a mystery (though I suspect it had something to do with several dumptrucks filled with cash).  I watched this on a plane, and towards the end it occurred to me that I would have been more entertained by simply staring off into space for a couple of hours.  1/2*