Giving off some serious Love Actually and Valentine’s Day vibes, this sweet flick features the lives of several couples and singles in New York City that in one way or another interconnect over the course of New Year's Eve. While it may not be filmmaker Garry Marshall best work, it still makes for a quality viewing experience.
2. About Time (2013)
A delightful British romantic comedy you may have missed, About Time stars Rachel McAdams and Domhnall Gleeson as Mary and Tim, a couple whose story continues to be rewritten thanks to Tim’s ability to travel through time. Though its moral is something like “The grass actually isn’t always greener,” one of the film’s best scenes is when Tim keeps hopping back in time to get a New Year’s Eve kiss just right.
3. Happy New Year, Charlie Brown (1986)
In this 1986 short, Charlie Brown is forced to attend Peppermint Patty's New Year's Eve celebration, even though he has to finish the novel “War and Peace.” And since we’ve celebrated practically every other holiday with the Peanuts gang, why not start off the year with them as well?
4. When Harry Met Sally (1989)
This quirky romantic comedy follows a pair of New Yorkers who are convinced to their core that men and women can’t just be friends. The New Year's connection comes at the end of the film (probably the most pivotal scene) during a New Year's Eve party.
5. Serendipity (2001)
New Year's Eve is all about the changes and possibilities that lie ahead, so this movie about a chance meeting is just the ticket. Sara and Jonathan can't deny their attraction after first seeing each other in Bloomingdale's, but it gets even tougher when they meet again years later—while engaged to other people. Will fate bring them together once and for all?
6. Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
Another Nora Ephron emotion-stirrer that costars Meg Ryan, Sleepless in Seattle will result in Crying in [Insert City Here], so keep the tissues handy when you hit play. Especially as Tom Hanks, who plays a grieving widow named Sam Baldwin, imagines sharing a beer on New Year’s Eve with his late wife. “Here’s to us,” he says. And there goes our stiff upper lip.
7. Ghostbusters II (1989)
Everyone’s favorite supernatural crime-fighters return to the screen for a sequel with all the same players: Ivan Reitman directing; Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Sigourney Weaver starring; New York City as the setting. But this time, there is no Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Rather, the Statue of Liberty comes to life and slimy spectral activity is oozing onto the streets, just as the New Year’s Eve festivities kick into high gear.
