As the clock ticks down to midnight on New Year's Eve, many of us find ourselves reflecting on the past year and hoping for a fresh start. But what better way to ring in the new year than with a movie that captures the essence of the holiday season? Here are some of the best films to watch on New Year's Eve, each offering a unique perspective on the theme of new beginnings and the passage of time.
The Apartment
Billy Wilder's 'The Apartment' is a brilliant, bleak comedy of office politics and festive bad cheer. It memorably ends on the stroke of midnight as heartsick Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine) abandons a drunken New Year's party to be with hapless, jobless CC Baxter (Jack Lemmon). While the ending doesn't promise a happily ever after, it does offer a sudden sense of hope and freedom, with everything packed in boxes except for a bottle, two glasses, and a deck of cards. It's a clean break, a fresh start. As Xan Brooks puts it, 'Shut up and deal.'
Strange Days
Kathryn Bigelow's pre-millennial tech-noir, 'Strange Days', has seen its reputation swell substantially over the decades. Set in a world where technology has advanced to the point of virtual reality, the film follows a lovelorn VR addict (Ralph Fiennes) as he strives to shake off his funk and unravel a conspiracy involving the LAPD. It's a cautionary tale about the real-world structural flaws and the bedazzlements of the virtual realm, and a propulsive, jolting, finally exhilarating thriller. As Mike McCahill notes, when the clock strikes midnight on January 1st, it's Bassett's wearied 'we made it' that sounds like a bell in your head.
The Irony of Fate
'The Irony of Fate' is a 1976 New Year's Eve classic that is beloved by Russians. The holiday misrule premise, which is common in many New Year's Eve films, works even more fruitfully in the far more rigid Soviet context. The film follows a soon-to-be-married Moscow doctor (Andrey Myagkov) who mistakenly gets on a flight to Leningrad after his stag party. Thanks to identikit Soviet architecture, he drunkenly falls asleep in an apartment with the same address, where a willowy Nadya (Barbara Brylska) is welcoming her cranky fiance, Ippolit (Yury Yakovlev, the Soviet John Cleese). The course of true love takes many screwball swerves, with the lead pair fanning the Slavic melancholy by often breaking out a guitar for one of Mikael Tariverdiev's stunning songs.
The Lord of the Rings
Peter Jackson's epic three-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Lord of the Rings' is a New Year's Eve tradition for many. As Catherine Bray notes, the world has changed, and watching the trilogy is a chance to reflect and look back over the year while enjoying a glorious trio of films whose comforting familiarity never breeds contempt. Instead, like a good marriage, the flaws are part of what you adore.
Sunset Boulevard
'Sunset Boulevard' is a bona fide, satisfaction-guaranteed classic that makes you glad you're not going out. It contains what must be the bleakest New Year's Eve party ever, with William Holden's husk of a screenwriter discovering he's the only other guest at faded starlet Gloria Swanson's mansion. Eventually, he storms out in search of genuine revelry, only to be reeled back in before midnight after Swanson melodramatically slashes her wrists. The new year is not going to be happy for either of them.
The Shining
'The Shining' is a horror staple that never wears thin, making it the perfect movie for New Year's Eve. As Cath Clarke notes, most people have seen it at least three times already, so you won't need to hit pause to get the sausage rolls out of the oven. The film is also a classic winter movie, ending with a snowstorm at the Overlook hotel where aspiring novelist and alcoholic Jack Torrance has been growing ever more homicidal over the winter.
The Poseidon Adventure
'The Poseidon Adventure' is a disaster movie that reminds us that worse things happen at sea. As Catherine Shoard notes, no sooner have the corks popped to mark the start of 1972 than the warnings of captain Leslie Nielsen against going full speed ahead are realized, and the boat is bottom-up in the middle of the Atlantic, with thousands meeting grisly and often quite creative ends.
Radio Days
Woody Allen's 'Radio Days' is a still-wonderful memoir of his boyhood years in 1940s New York. It's a film that echoes down the decades with its cry of 'happy new year.' As Andrew Pulver notes, there are so many jewels contained within the film, from the communist Larry David to the burglars who win a radio phone-in competition, that are worth it for themselves alone. But at its heart, there's an out-with-the-old in-with-the-new wistfulness to the whole thing.
Holiday
'Holiday' is a 1938 New Year's Eve-set rom-com that is perhaps the best of its kind. It follows Johnny (Cary Grant), who has resolved to take some time off to recharge and rediscover himself after years of labor, as he is drawn toward Linda (Katharine Hepburn), the free-spirited sister of his fiancée. The film is a particularly inspired and heartening New Year's watch, with its lead characters willing to rebuke expectations of capitalistic productivity and instead make meaningful promises about how to better live their lives.
La bonne année
For a happy New Year's Eve with a French accent, try 'La bonne année' (1973), directed by Claude Lelouch. The film channels its inner Jean-Pierre Melville by casting Lino Ventura, one of Melville's favorite actors, as a convict out on Christmas parole and remembering a heist that went wrong. The robbery flashbacks alternate with his wooing of Françoise Fabian as the proprietor of an antiques shop next door to the targeted jewelry store, allowing granite-faced Ventura to show his goofy side.
Phantom Thread
'Phantom Thread' is pretty much the perfect movie for most occasions, but one of its most effectively date-specific sequences takes place during New Year's. As Benjamin Lee notes, it's a relatably tumultuous night for us all, with the lead characters dancing instead of arguing their way into a new year, a dream replacing a nightmare. The film ends on a hopeful, post-dodgy omelette flash forward, with the characters dancing and hoping for a better year ahead.
When Harry Met Sally ...
'When Harry Met Sally' is a classic that is appropriate for any New Year's Eve, but even more so after a bummer of a month. Made 36 years ago, it still seems remarkably fresh. The uncertainties, the awkwardness, the miscommunications, these things are just as universal as they were in 1989. As Stuart Heritage notes, watching it will make you miss the film's creators, but that's the point. Press play at 10:30 pm, and 2026 will ring in right as Billy Crystal declares his love for Meg Ryan on New Year's Eve.
