24 rockin’ New Year’s Eve movies to watch before the ball drops
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There are fewer movies for New Year’s Eve than other winter holidays like Christmas and Valentine’s Day, which is a bit odd given how cinematic the night can be. The celebratory evening brings a wave of (sometimes conflicting) emotions, as we look back on the year and look forward to what’s next. It’s a bittersweet feeling, and therefore ripe for conflict.
Some movies use New Year’s Eve as their central conceit, such as 200 Cigarettes (1999) or the aptly named New Year’s Eve (2011), while others contain a key climactic scene set on Dec. 31 that ties everything together, such as The Apartment (1960) or When Harry Met Sally (1989). Either way, these are films that skillfully utilize the holiday to explore the human need for connection.
Ahead, we’ve curated a list of 24 New Year’s Eve movies that we recommend watching in the lead-up to 2026.
200 Cigarettes (1999)
Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection
Set during New Year’s Eve 1981, this quirky nostalgia piece stars a who’s who of the late-’90s: Ben and Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson, Christina Ricci, Dave Chappelle, Janeane Garofalo, Martha Plimpton, Paul Rudd, Gaby Hoffmann, and Courtney Love.
200 Cigarettes is not available to stream or rent
About a Boy (2002)
Laurie Sparham/Universal
Perennial man-child Will Freeman (Hugh Grant) has some serious growing up to do. Good thing, then, that he gets seated next to emotionally mature Rachel (Rachel Weisz) at a New Year’s dinner party.
Where to watch About a Boy: MGM+
About Time (2013)
Universal
The central love story in Richard Curtis’ rom-com doesn’t blossom until later, but Tim’s (Domhnall Gleeson) journey truly begins on his 21st New Year’s Eve, which ends in disappointment — the first time he experiences it, anyway. No time like a brand new year to learn that you possess the power of time travel!
Where to watch About Time: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)
An Affair to Remember (1957)
20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection
Terry (Deborah Kerr) falls for the always adorable Nickie (Cary Grant) in this 1957 weeper. The two share a sweet kiss on New Year’s Eve, but they’re both engaged to other people. They decide to meet six months later at the top of the Empire State Building (assuming, of course, they’re still interested). What happens? C’mon. Didn’t you see Sleepless in Seattle?
Where to watch An Affair to Remember: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)
After the Thin Man (1936)
Everett Collection
William Powell and Myrna Loy are Nick and Nora Charles for the second time (of six, eventually) in this Dec. 31-set murder mystery. Come for the 1930s glamour and witty repartee, stay for a very, very young Jimmy Stewart as a desperate, rejected lover (and on New Year’s, no less!).
Where to watch After the Thin Man: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)
The Apartment (1960)
Courtesy Everett Collection
It takes a truly disastrous NYE party to make Shirley MacLaine’s Fran realize her love for Jack Lemmon’s Bud in this 1960 romantic dramedy about an office worker who lends his apartment out to company executives — and their many mistresses.
Where to watch The Apartment: Tubi
Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)
Miramax
You’re single, a little sad, and bracing for a booze-soaked New Year’s Eve blowout. It could be worse: You could have to face your mom tomorrow at a turkey curry buffet. This Renée Zellweger romp is perfect NYE material: It’s all about fresh starts, clean slates, and Colin Firth.
Where to watch Bridget Jones’s Diary: Peacock
Entrapment (1999)
20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection
No plans this evening? Why not pull off a major bank heist? Before you do, though, watch this Catherine Zeta-Jones and Sean Connery film that centers around a crime that takes place mere minutes before the arrival of the new millennium.
Where to watch Entrapment: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)
The Godfather Part II (1974)
Paramount Pictures
Who said a midnight kiss had to be romantic? Take a trip to Havana and ring in the new year with the Corleones, as Michael (Al Pacino) delivers the kiss of death to (spoiler?) his traitorous brother, Fredo (John Cazale).
Where to watch The Godfather Part II: Paramount+
The Gold Rush (1925)
Courtesy Everett Collection
This Charlie Chaplin classic is all about expectations vs. reality, which many of us are forced to confront on New Year’s Eve. Chaplin plays a prospector with dreams of striking gold in Alaska. He invites a local woman with whom he’s fallen in love to dinner at his cabin on New Year’s Eve, but is crestfallen when she doesn’t show. But this isn’t the end of their story, thankfully, as hope springs eternal in the new year. —Kevin Jacobsen
Where to watch The Gold Rush: HBO Max
The Holdovers (2023)
Seacia Pavao/Focus Features
Alexander Payne’s bittersweet comedy-drama spans that strange limbo period between Christmas and the new year, centering on a teacher (Paul Giamatti), student (Dominic Sessa), and school cook (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), all with nowhere else to go during the break, who develop an unexpected bond. The motley crew celebrates the arrival of 1971 toward the end of the film, lighting an M-80 firecracker in the kitchen. —K.J.
Where to watch The Holdovers: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
Warner Bros.
Tim Robbins and Jennifer Jason Leigh star in this New Year’s Eve-set film, directed by the Coen brothers and costarring the divine Paul Newman. Be prepared to break out the hula hoops.
Where to watch The Hudsucker Proxy: Tubi
New Year’s Eve (2011)
Andrew Schwartz
An all-star ensemble that includes *deep breath* Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Robert De Niro, Zac Efron, Katherine Heigl, Ashton Kutcher, Seth Meyers, Lea Michele, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Hilary Swank comes together to celebrate New Year’s Eve in NYC. While not a critics’ favorite, we raise our glass to that level of star wattage. —K.J.
Where to watch New Year’s Eve: Starz
Ocean’s 11 (1960)
Everett Collection
Step aside, Clooney. Vegas on New Year’s Eve sets the scene for the original Ocean’s 11, a Rat Pack classic starring Frank Sinatra as the mastermind of the epic heist, with Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., and Peter Lawford rounding out his team of 11.
Where to watch Ocean’s 11: Tubi
The Phantom Carriage (1921)
Courtesy Everett Collection
A man struggling with alcoholism dies before the clock strikes 12 on New Year’s Eve, at which point the manifestation of Death forces him to commandeer his carriage and reflect upon his life. This Swedish silent classic is to New Year’s what It’s a Wonderful Life is to Christmas, but told through a decidedly more eerie and atmospheric lens. —K.J.
Where to watch The Phantom Carriage: The Criterion Channel
Phantom Thread (2017)
Laurie Sparham/Focus Features
Paul Thomas Anderson’s twisted relationship drama reaches a high point with a charged scene set at a New Year’s Eve party, to which the stubborn Reynolds (Daniel Day-Lewis) has followed the equally willful Alma (Vicky Krieps). As they exchange a meaningful stare, we come to understand how two people can simultaneously be so wrong yet so right for each other. —K.J.
Where to watch Phantom Thread: Netflix through Dec. 31
Poseidon (2006)
Claudette Barius/Warner Bros.
No matter how bad your night is, at least you’re not stuck on a rapidly-sinking cruise ship with Josh Lucas and Fergie. Boom, boom, POW!
Where to watch Poseidon: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)
Sex and the City: The Movie (2008)
Craig Blankenhorn/New Line
Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) rushes to Miranda’s (Cynthia Nixon) apartment for a New Year’s bonding session. She even (gasp!) takes the subway. Now that’s a good friend.
Where to watch Sex and the City: The Movie: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)
Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
TriStar Pictures
Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are at the top of their game in this romantic comedy. But, the sweetest scene comes when Hanks’ grieving Sam Baldwin imagines a New Year’s Eve conversation with his deceased wife (played by the ethereal Carey Lowell). „Here’s to us.“
Where to watch Sleepless in Seattle: Starz
Someone Like You (2001)
20th Century Fox
New Year’s Eve rolls around, and our hero, Jane (the plucky Ashley Judd), gets stood up by her bad-news ex-boyfriend/colleague, Ray (Greg Kinnear). Platonic pal/co-worker/womanizing roommate Eddie (the hunky Hugh Jackman) had asked her last-minute to attend a party, so Jane goes there looking for him. She tearfully stands among a crowd of kissing people celebrating the new year, while Eddie tries (but fails) to get to her before she bolts.
Where to watch Someone Like You: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)
Strange Days (1995)
Merie W. Wallace/MGM
As our world becomes consumed by virtual reality, a sci-fi thriller like Strange Days feels just as potent as ever. Set on the brink of the new millennium, the film follows Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes), a former cop–turned–underground market dealer of SQUID recordings, which allow users to experience the memories of other people in specific scenarios as their own — some of which are of a sexual or violent nature. In the two days leading up to the new year, Lenny discovers a vicious murder on one recording, which is only the tip of the iceberg for what he further uncovers from there. —K.J.
Strange Days is not available to stream or rent
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Courtesy Everett Collection
New Year’s Eve is all about looking ahead — even for a fading silent movie star who’s trapped in the past. This 1950 gem (starring Gloria Swanson as the past-her-prime legend Norma Desmond and William Holden as her reluctant boy toy) perfectly captures the melancholy misery of forced optimism.
Where to watch Sunset Boulevard: Paramount+
Trading Places (1983)
Courtesy Everett Collection
Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, and Jamie Lee Curtis (with her Swedish meatballs) board a New York-bound party train for New Year’s in this comedy classic. Bonus: The movie’s anti-fat-cat-banker sentiment feels just as relevant today as it was in 1983.
Where to watch Trading Places: Paramount+
When Harry Met Sally (1989)
Everett Collection
Possibly the greatest New Year’s Eve scene of all: After years as friends with (occasional) benefits, Harry (Billy Crystal) finally declares his love for Sally (Meg Ryan). The best quote? „It’s not because I’m lonely, and it’s not because it’s New Year’s Eve,“ Harry says after party-crashing. „I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.“
Where to watch When Harry Met Sally: Starz
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