On New Year’s Eve you should expect to have the greatest time of your life. Or at least reach the most euphoric moment of your year. Double this expectation if NYE is also your birthday. Some things you should expect:
1.The love of your life, who up till now has been wishy washy about their feelings, finds you and professes their love.
2. An elephant parade.
2. A near-death experience ends with you being saved by a dolphin. While on land!
Many great expectations for this holiday derive from great New Year’s Eve moments in film -— moments that are difficult to realize. Selected on this list are NYE movie moments that are better, crazier, and/or more horrific than anything you can possibly expect to occur on the last day of the year. Reality will never compare.
The Apartment
The most romantic moment in New Year’s Eve film history happens in The Apartment, when Fran (Shirley MacLaine) realizes she is in love with Bud (Jack Lemmon). She ditches a New Year’s Eve party to find Bud at his apartment. He declares his love, so she tells him to “shut up and deal.”
When Harry Met Sally
Much like the aforementioned film, in When Harry Met Sally, Harry (Billy Crystal) finds Sally (Meg Ryan) at a New Year’s Eve party and tells her “I love that you get cold when it’s 71 degrees out…” and then some other stuff before professing his love. And then they get married and are happy for life.
Boogie Nights
NYE is both tragic and violent in this movie, but with a great soundtrack. Little Bill (William H. Macy) finds out his wife has been cheating on him at the NYE shindig. He can’t handle it, so he shoots the cheating couple before eventually shooting himself.
The Poseidon Adventure
Those on the SS Poseidon joyously scream “Happy New Year!” Moments later they are screaming because the ship has capsized. To survive a sinking ship is a touching and beautiful way to ring in the New Year. Too bad many onboard died.
The Godfather: Part II
“I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart,” Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) tells his brother (John Cazale) on NYE, shortly after giving him a big smooch. The new year is the best time to tell your sibling that you know about their are plans for your demise.
Can’t Buy Me Love
There is so much betrayal on NYE in Can’t Buy Me Love. Ronald (Patrick Dempsey) and Cindy’s (Amanda Peterson) relationship may have started as a monetary agreement, but there was no denying that they would eventually fall in love. On NYE, Ronald betrays Cindy when he flirts with another gal. Then Cindy is dumped by her other, actual boyfriend. It’s crazy! She then reveals to everyone at the party that her relationship with Ronald was a ruse the whole time.
Ghostbusters II
Ghost drama is all over the place on the “New Years Eve of the last decade of the 20th Century.” The city rings in the New Year while being overtaken by ghosts.
Sunset Boulevard
Again, realizing you love someone and letting them know often happens when the year changes. Norma (Gloria Swanson) is head over heels for Joe (William Holden). She invites him to an elegant party that she arranged just for him. When he rejects her, she slaps him in the face then runs to her room and slits her wrists. A devastating new year.
200 Cigarettes
It’s NYE 1981, and Monica (Martha Plimpton) is having a party. This is the story of what happens to all of her friends en route to her shindig. They take forever to arrive, and Monica fears that they found something more glorious to do. Disheartened, she drinks a tush load and passes out. In the morning she finds out that her party was the greatest thing ever.
Trading Places
If you are ever wished a Merry New Year, you must be on a train from Philadelphia being duped by a cast of caricatures (Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Jamie Lee Curtis and Denholm Elliott). Perhaps they are offering you beef jerky or Swedish meatballs.
