On the afternoon of New Year's Eve there's no better way to conserve your energy for the upcoming night than by sitting on the couch watching a movie. Then, the next day, when you're hungover from a night of partying, all you'll have the power to do is hit play on a streaming service. So, in the spirit of celebrating from the comfort of your couch, we put together a list of the best movies that are about New Year's Eve/Day or are simply New Year's Eve/Day-adjacent. Enjoy! And drink lots of water.
WHEN HARRY MET SALLY... (1989)
Rent/Buy: AMAZON ITUNES
Probably the greatest romantic comedy of all time, When Harry Met Sally... defined the genre for a generation to come. The dialogue is whip smart; New York shines; Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal charm and delight. The New Year's connection comes at the end during a New Year's Eve party.
TRADING PLACES (1983)
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Two brothers who run a commodities brokerage in Philadelphia try some light social engineering when they switch the identities of their employee, Louis Winthorpe III, played by Dan Aykroyd, and a hustler, Billy Ray Valentine, played by Eddie Murphy. Jamie Lee Curtis is there to help them sort it out and get even. This classic comedy is really a holiday movie, because it takes place between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, with one of the movie’s most crucial scenes taking place at a New Year’s Eve party aboard a train.
THE APARTMENT (1960)
Rent/Buy: AMAZON ITUNES
Jack Lemmon is a young man on the make who lets his company’s executives use his apartment for extra-marital affairs. After an office Christmas party, he finds his boss’s mistress, a young woman played by Shirley MacLaine, whom he knows from the office, at his apartment, where she’s tried to overdose on pills. They strike up a complicated relationship with multiple entanglements, both professional and personal. It’s a remarkable movie (and a Best Picture winner) that ends on New Year’s Eve.
THE GODFATHER II (1974)
Rent/Buy: AMAZON ITUNES
It's at a New Year's Eve party in Cuba that Al Pacino's Michael Corleone plants the kiss of death on Fredo and tells him: “I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart. You broke my heart.”
SNOWPIERCER (2013)
Rent/Buy: AMAZON ITUNES
It’s 2031, and an attempt to thwart climate change has turned the planet into an uninhabitable icebox. The only humans left, presumably, are aboard a train that goes around the world in an endless loop. An underclass exposed to brutal conditions lives in the back of the train while the upper classes, which enjoy a lavish lifestyle, occupy the front—until Chris Evans leads a revolt that happens to take place on the day the rich folks celebrate New Year’s Eve, also known as one trip around the planet. This isn’t just a good New Year’s movie; it’s one of the best dystopian thrillers in recent years.
THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1972)
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The '70s were a golden age for disaster films, and not just for the high stakes either. The Gene Hackman-led drama about a luxury cruise liner that capsizes during a New Year's Eve party is pure adrenaline.
BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY (2001)
Rent/Buy: AMAZON ITUNES
In this romantic comedy, Renee Zellweger’s Bridget Jones keeps a diary for a year of romantic adventures (and misadventures). The movie begins and ends on New Year’s Eve, and it’s delightful as hell.
AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER (1957)
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A weepy romance classic featuring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr begins on New Year’s Eve, where the two main characters, engaged to others, promise to meet up in six months atop the Empire State Building. (If you decide to watch this one, considering following it up with Sleepless in Seattle, which references the movie.)
GHOSTBUSTERS II (1989)
Rent/Buy: AMAZON ITUNES
It’s a far cry from Ghostbusters, but when the movie came out in 1989—five years after the first one—audiences delighted in seeing Peter, Ray, Egon, and Winston back in action. The movie reaches its conclusion on New Year’s Eve, with a chorus of New Yorkers singing “Auld Lang Syne” in an attempt to defeat an evil spirit terrorizing the city.
HIGHBALL (1997)
Rent/Buy: AMAZON
The writer and director of this film—in which a group of friends meet at three different parties: on Halloween, a birthday, and New Year’s Eve—is Noah Baumbach, who made Kicking and Screaming, The Squid and the Whale, Margot at the Wedding, and others. It’s one of his earliest films—it’s rough and feels as low budget as it is—but the movie captures the rhythms and dialogue of young adults simply hanging out.
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