For some, New Year's Eve is a time to celebrate. It's the end of one year and the (almost) start of another, where everyone has the chance to say a proper goodbye to the last 12 months and, possibly, start fresh for the next 12. That could mean getting dressed to the nines, popping some champagne, and staying out until the morning. Or, it could mean cozying up with some comfy pajamas, tons of snacks and sweets, and an excellent on-theme movie. Regardless of your plans for this NYE, the following 35 movies are great to watch while getting ready for a night out, at midnight, or even while nursing a hangover on New Year's Day.
With that in mind, we've curated this list of New Year's Eve movies to keep you stocked with entertainment that highlights the holiday of endings and beginnings. Flip through for classic romantic comedies that culminate in midnight kisses, nostalgic black-and-white cinema, family-friendly options, and classic throwbacks for boomers and Gen-Z audiences alike. There are even a few action films, dramas, and musicals, too. Plus, the selection ranges across Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Paramount+, and HBO Max, so you're bound to find something to stream.
Now grab some champagne, turn on the TV, and get ready to ring in the new year with one of these perfect movies.
1
New Year’s Eve (2011)
Amazon Prime
Bronx-born filmmaker Garry Marshall (brother of the late Penny Marshall) loves the holidays. It’s the only logical conclusion after scanning his body of work: Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, New Year’s Eve. Each of his seasonal contributions is an interconnected ensemble comedy that assembles several bold-faced names into one glitzy movie. For New Year’s Eve, you have Josh Duhamel, Michelle Pfeiffer, Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Zac Efron, and more colliding on December 31.
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.
Although this New Year’s Eve-set hospitality comedy is loosely based on the fictional writings of splendiferous storyteller Roald Dahl, the 1995 cult classic is not for the kiddos. A decidedly grownup tale of the debauchery going down in the Hotel Mon Signor in Los Angeles, it was co-written by Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’s Quentin Tarantino and stars Tim Roth as the hotel bellhop who’s privy to it all. Set your phone on Do Not Disturb mode while watching.
Still undecided on the theme for your New Year’s Eve bash? Perhaps Old Hollywood can help. Here, dancing legends Gene Kelly, Georges Guétary, and Oliver Lavant all vie for the heart of the same Parisian beauty (played by Leslie Caron). And though the film is full of costumed enchantment, it’s their black-and-white NYE shindig that just might get the juices flowing when planning your own affair.
Danny Ocean (George Clooney) is one of cinema's most charismatic masterminds—and on New Year's Eve, one of his most ambitious heists begins. It doesn't matter if you've already seen the original Ocean's 11; the plot's ingenious twists will continue to delight.
On the other hand, there's nothing like a classic. You could also watch the original Ocean's film, which stars Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr. as the masterminds plotting a New Year's Eve casino heist.
While not expressly about New Year's Eve, Moonstruck is set amid the depths of a New York winter—and people trying to find warmth within it. At the very least, Cher's looks will inspire you to go coat shopping.
Sloane (Emma Roberts) is alone for the holidays—yet again. So, she takes a cue from her aunt, who always brings a "holidate" to parties. From New Year's Eve to Valentine's Day, Sloane and Jack (Luke Bracey) spend holidays together. Until, eventually, they realize they might want to spend time with each other outside of the holidays, too.
Not in the mood for a New Year's Eve romance? Go with a New Year's Eve comedy like Trading Places, a classic that stars Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy as two men caught up in an experiment about nature vs. nurture. Murphy's Billy Ray Valentine is plucked off the street of New York to become a commodities broker. Come for the stellar acting and jokes; stay for the thought-provoking commentary on generosity, poverty, and redemption.
Often touted as the best rom-com of all, the Rob Reiner-Nora Ephron master work about that time a man named Harry met a woman named Sally and the two spent their entire friendship trying to NOT have sex culminates in—*spoiler*—a New Year’s Eve midnight kiss that begins with Frank Sinatra’s “It Had to Be You” and ends with the obligatory NYE tune, “Auld Lang Syne.”
Holiday movies are often about change. How will the new year work its transformative magic on characters? In this adaptation of a beloved Nick Hornby novel, a rich, womanizing man (played perfectly by Hugh Grant) has his life turned around by a 12-year-old boy (Nicholas Hoult), who meanders into his world on New Year's Eve and has a lesson or two to teach.
Considered one of the best movies about Hollywood ever made, Sunset Boulevard reaches an emotional peak at a New Year's Eve party with only two guests. Joe (William Holden), a screenwriter, reluctantly moves into the mansion of a reclusive silent film star whose career has dwindled, to work on a script for her. At the New Year's Eve party that Norma (Gloria Swanson) throws specifically for Joe—and only for Joe—he learns that her feelings for him have grown...romantically. Sunset Boulevard captures the loneliness of New Year's Eve, if that's the mood you're after.
No New Year's Eve movie round-up would be complete without High School Musical, an endearing family-friendly Disney musical that begins on the holiday itself. Troy (Zac Efron) and Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens in her pre-Princess Switchdays) sing "Breaking Free" after meeting at a resort for New Year's, and then learn they're classmates when the school year begins. Their New Year's Eve duet set the theme for the rest of their year, which will be filled with song.
Paul Rudd, Kate Hudson, Martha Plimpton, Ben Affleck, Dave Chappelle, Christina Ricci, and more get dolled up for what is going to be the best party of the year. That is, if they can ever get there. A blast from the past, the ensemble rom-com runs its course over one night, New Year’s Eve 1981, and proves that sometimes the actual best celebration comes in the form of you on the couch watching 200 Cigarettes. Party of one, right this way.
New Year's Eve is usually associated with champagne and kisses. Not so in The Godfather: Part Two, the rare movie sequel that might be better than the original. At a New Year's Eve party, Michael (Al Pacino) tells his brother, Fredo (John Cazale), that he knows of his betrayal. They do have a New Year's Eve kiss, but it's laced with anger and intensity.
In Todd Haynes's Carol, two women meet under the holiday decorations of a New York department store in the 1950s. Defying restrictive social mores, Carol (Cate Blanchett), a disaffected New Jersey housewife, and Therese (Rooney Mara), a saleswoman, pursue a relationship. On New Year's Eve, they get their first taste of freedom through a kiss.
The Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning show remains one of the most popular musicals of all time—even after debuting on Broadway five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes ago (actually, it’s more like 26 years ago, but you know). It was made into a rock-opera film in 2005, starring the tonsils of Taye Diggs, Idina Menzel, Rosario Dawson, and more, and kicks off its seasons of love on New Year’s Eve. Just use those extra cocktail nappies to dry your tears.
America’s sweetheart Sandra Bullock stars opposite Bill Pullman and a completely comatose Peter Gallagher in this romantic dramedy. She plays a transit token collector who pretends to be the fiancée of the man in the coma (Gallagher), and then ends up falling in love with his brother (Pullman). It’s a lie that consumes her until New Year’s Eve, when she takes her power back.
Bookended with New Year’s holidays, Bridget Jones’s Diary begins on January 1 with our favorite “spinster and lunatic” thinking through her resolutions and ends the following year with the snowiest, sweetest smooch. Leading lady Reneé Zellweger and her co-star Colin Firth will go on to complete their Bridget Jones trilogy, so if you haven’t seen the other two—well, there are resolutions for that.
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.
DeAnna Janes is a freelance writer and editor for a number of sites, including Harper’s BAZAAR, Tasting Table, Fast Company and Brit + Co, and is a passionate supporter of animal causes, copy savant, movie dork and reckless connoisseur of all holidays. A native Texan living in NYC since 2005, Janes has a degree in journalism from Texas A&M and got her start in media at US Weekly before moving on to O Magazine, and eventually becoming the entertainment editor of the once-loved, now-shuttered DailyCandy. She’s based on the Upper West Side.
Cassie Hurwitz (she/her) is an assistant editor at Oprah Daily, where she covers everything from culture to entertainment to lifestyle. She can typically be found in the middle of multiple books and TV shows all at once. Previously, Cassie worked at Parents, Rachael Ray In Season, and Reveal. Her love language is pizza (New York slices, Chicago deep dish, and otherwise).