HotToastyRag

In the tradition of the holiday-themed Garry Marshall movies, New Year's Eve features an all-star cast in lots of unrelated events, all centered around Times Square in NYC. Since there are so many different vignettes, there are bound to ones you love and ones you don't. All in all, this is a very cute installment in the "series" and a great choice to watch on New Year's Day (assuming you're out partying on the Eve). In my opinion, these Marshall flicks are far better than Love, Actually.

Josh Duhamel is hoping for a miracle: to meet the woman he met last year on New Year's Eve, whom he believes he's meant to be with. Halle Berry is a nurse hoping to get the night off for her hot date. Hilary Swank also wants some special time, with her dad, Robert De Niro, an ill hospital patient. Katherine Heigl is mad at her boyfriend, Jon Bon Jovi, but since it's New Year's Eve (the proverbial time for fresh starts), and since he's performing in Times Square when the ball drops, and since he's gorgeous, it's a pretty safe bet that her feathers won't stay ruffled for very long. Is there any girl out there immune to Bon Jovi? I certainly haven't met her.

Ashton Kutcher is stuck in an elevator with Lea Michelle. She's upbeat and he's a downer; I wonder what will happen. Michelle Pfeiffer ("uglied up" as much as possible so she can convincingly play the role) has a Scavenger Hunt to complete, and she pays Zac Efron to help her complete it by midnight. Along the way, she learns to branch out, spread her wings, and ... hit on a much younger guy? If that happens, let's hope it's a brief romance, since both attractive actors wouldn't have any trouble finding dates their own ages.

On the silly side, Jessica Biel and Sarah Paulson are two pregnant mothers in a competition to be the first to deliver their baby in the new year. You'll also see Abigail Breslin, Sarah Jessica Parker, Cary Elwes, Alyssa Milano, Common, Ludacris, Seth Meyers, Sofia Vergara, Jim Belushi, Nat Wolff, Cherry Jones, Hector Elizondo, Ryan Seacrest, John Lithgow, and Matthew Broderick. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll fall in love (with Bon Jovi, duh, who else?), and you'll hope for the magic of second chances, miracles, and love.

I'm filled with such nostalgia when I watch One Fine Day. I watched it too many times to count as a kid, having a very well-worn VHS copy in the 1990s. When I had a "movie star birthday party" where all my friends and I pretended to be movie stars, complete with performing "screen tests" of short speeches from their films, one of my dear, dear friends "was" Michelle Pfeiffer. She delivered, "I really don't need your help, but if I did, you would be the very last person I would turn to. These are the class fish. They were supposed to be back in the classroom at 8:30. Now they are spending the day with you. God, I am going to be so late. I have such a day!" with such conviction, it gave Miss Orange County a run for her money. Plus, she was such a beauty! (She still is, even though she's the mother of two and pushing forty. We all age, but some age gracefully.) In this classic '90s romantic comedy, Michelle Pfeiffer and George Clooney are both divorced parents who get stuck with their kids, Alex D. Linz and Mae Whitman, respectively, when they miss the class field trip. Michelle is a career woman with an important presentation, but Alex loves getting into trouble and makes her day far more difficult than it would have been. George has a therapy session, and he has to speak in code so Mae doesn't know what he's talking about. Plus, when Mae runs away, George flips. It's my favorite scene, though. Mae has stumbled across a litter of kittens, and George can't get her to leave without her favorite, Bob. I loved it as a kid, I love it as a grown-up; it's just the cutest scene ever.

As Michelle and George keep bumping into each other, they also keep annoying each other. Michelle has a bad relationship with her ex-husband, even though Alex worships him, and she hates seeing an irresponsible father relying on his charm to get favors from people. Of course, it's a romcom, so behind their hatred is underlying attraction. If somehow 1996 passed you by without seeing One Fine Day, you've got to watch it. It's dated, sure, but it's endearing, funny, and completely representative of the genre. Lipliner, pantyhose, juice boxes, and the acceptability that every woman wants to get literally swept off her feet, are all alive and well in One Fine Day. It's a cute romance. It's not supposed to be offensive. It's supposed to be entertaining.

I was expecting The Russia House to be incredibly stupid. I thought the biggest laugh would be Michelle Pfeiffer as a Russian, but the last laugh was on me because she was very convincing. Good accent!

The plot is a bit confusing; it'll only be followed by those who followed espionage flicks like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Honestly, I didn't really keep up with it. I was far more interested in the romance between Michelle and Sean Connery, although that was the secondary plot point. The main story is Sean's involvement with a Russian philosopher and writer, Klaus Maria Brandauer. It's a chance meeting, but somehow Klaus's manuscript gets smuggled out of Russia, and the British government think it has secret war plans so they ask Sean to find out more and become an official contact. Why did they pick him? I don't remember. Amidst it all, Michelle is draw into it, although I'm not sure how - and I just saw the movie a couple of weeks ago. He falls for her very pretty face, even though she might be a spy or just using him to help her escape Russia. And he keeps visiting Russia and having secret meetings with Klaus, even though he could be killed for doing so. I think. It's really complicated. If I'm wrong, feel free to correct me.

In any case, it's not a bad movie, just a complex one. And it's not nearly as romantic as I had expected or hoped.