The 15 best New Year’s Eve scenes in film

Whether it’s the tension of the countdown, the promise of romance, or simply the idea of letting go of the past and moving on into an unknown future, there’s just something about New Year’s Eve that brings on new revelations, fresh insights, and enticing connections. The holiday also happens to make for a great narrative device in films. From declarations of love to an absurd train heist to a kiss of death from a heartbroken brother, nothing increases dramatic or romantic tension quite like a celebration in which drinking is encouraged and kissing is practically compulsory. It’s a real rollercoaster of emotions, for better or worse.

With that in mind, we’re bidding farewell to 2023 with the best New Year’s Eve scenes from films throughout the years. Read on for our picks, listed in chronological order of release.

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

In Billy Wilder’s classic Sunset Boulevard, struggling screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) steps into a spider’s web the moment he wanders into silent film star Norma Desmond’s (Gloria Swanson) dusty old mansion, but he doesn’t fully understand how tenuous her grasp on reality is until she throws a lavish New Year’s Eve party for him, and him alone. Making her pitch to take their working relationship to the next level, she reminds him of her wealth and all the things she can buy him. She even offers to fill up the pool for him (IYKYK). Disconcerted, he hightails it out of there, as any rational person would, but soon discovers that escaping from Norma’s clutches isn’t so easy.

An American In Paris (1951)

The wild New Year’s Eve ball in Vincente Minnelli’s Gershwin-infused masterpiece An American In Paris sets a standard by which all other parties should be measured. The scene is crammed full of lively extras playing art students, running around and jumping from balconies dressed in lavish black-and-white costumes. But even in the midst of all that gorgeous, noisy chaos, it’s hard to take your eyes off Gene Kelly, dressed up in a Harlequin costume and pining over a radiant Leslie Caron. In the words of Ira Gershwin himself: “’S wonderful.”

The Apartment (1960)

Billy Wilder makes his second appearance on this list with another memorable New Year’s Eve scene from another splendid film, The Apartment. Near the end of the film, Shirley MacLaine’s Fran is less than enthusiastic about ringing in the new year with the married man she’s been seeing (Fred MacMurray) until she learns that the man she really loves (Jack Lemmon) refuses to let them use his apartment for any more extramarital trysts. This revelation inspires her to rush back to his apartment, where he declares his love for her. She responds by handing him a deck of cards and delivering one of the all-time great final lines: “Shut up and deal.”

The Godfather Part II (1974)

Speaking of famous lines, this one, delivered in The Godfather Part II with a kiss at a fancy New Year’s Eve party in Cuba is absolutely top-tier: “I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart. You broke my heart!” Earlier in the evening, as they’re wining and dining some business partners, Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) catches his brother Fredo (John Cazale) in a lie and realizes he was in on a failed assassination attempt against him. He could have picked a better time and place to accuse him, as at that same moment Cuban revolutionaries were taking to the streets outside, but we’re glad he did it in such a dramatic fashion. Not only did it make for an iconic scene, it’s a good life lesson not to take sides against the family.

New Year’s Evil (1980)

After a handful of sublime cinematic experiences, it’s a bit jarring to jump right to a cheesy slasher movie, but there’s room on this countdown for cult favorites too. New Year’s Evil might have been quickly forgotten if it weren’t for its catchy, metal-inspired theme song, also called “New Year’s Evil” (a great addition to any party playlist). The entire film takes place over a single New Year’s Eve, so there are plenty of scenes we could pick out, but we’re going with the one in which the killer initially calls into a Los Angeles radio station and announces that he will kill one “naughty girl” across the city as each U.S. time zone reaches midnight. Sounding like a deranged muppet, he calls himself “Evil” and threatens the DJ on the air (Roz Kelly), warning her that she will be his final victim. Don’t expect great filmmaking here, but it can be fun if you don’t take it too seriously.

Trading Places (1983)

As funny and memorable as it is, we have some questions about the New Year’s Eve train scene in Trading Places. If everyone on the train is in costume, why are the main characters playing it as if they actually are an exchange student from Cameroon (Eddie Murphy), an Irish priest (Denholm Elliott), a Swedish coquette (Jamie Lee Curtis), and a Rastafarian (Dan Ackroyd)? Furthermore, why didn’t anyone involved object to Ackroyd wearing blackface? What’s Al Franken doing there as a dimwitted gorilla handler? And then there’s the whole silly gorilla switcheroo that takes it over the top. As ridiculous as this sequence is, though, you might still catch us wishing everyone a “Merry new year!” annually.

Ghostbusters II (1989)

While not quite meeting the high standard set by its predecessor, Ghostbusters II is not without its charms. The main cast and supporting characters all return for a second bite of the Big Apple in a story that could only happen in New York, home to the most famous New Year’s celebration of all. The supernatural villain this time around is Vigo the Carpathian, who escapes from a painting and plans to use a river of slime charged by negative emotions running under the city to conquer the world. It all leads to a climactic showdown on New Year’s Eve in which they reach out to the good people of the city to positively charge the slime and use its power to pilot the Statue of Liberty through the streets of Manhattan like a giant Gundam robot. Amidst all the chaos there’s a message about the power of positive thinking in there somewhere.

When Harry Met Sally (1989)

One of our favorite New Year’s Eve scenes of all takes place at the climax of When Harry Met Sally. After years of being best friends with Sally, Harry finally realizes he wants to spend the rest of his life with her on New Year’s Eve. And 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. To the soundtrack of Frank Sinatra crooning “It Had To Be You,” Harry races across town to the swanky hotel and the party she’s about to leave and tells her all the things he loves about her. She responds that she hates him, but kisses him anyway. As written by Nora Ephron, directed by Rob Reiner, and performed by Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan, the long-awaited declaration is sheer perfection.

Strange Days (1995)

The New Year’s Eve party at the end of Strange Days, set in Los Angeles at the turn of the millennium, was as epic in real life as it looked on screen. Filmed over a single night in downtown L.A., it reportedly cost $750,000 and featured performances by Deee-Lite and Aphex Twin in front of an audience of 10,000 extras, some of whom paid money to be there. At the time it was touted as the largest rave ever held in the United States (a record that would be eclipsed during the actual millennium five years later). It all serves as a backdrop for the extended conclusion to the film’s futuristic murder conspiracy plot and an emotional final scene in which Lenny (Ralph Fiennes) finally stops pining for his old girlfriend (Juliette Lewis) and realizes the awesomeness of his extremely hot and buff bodyguard, played by Angela Bassett.

While You Were Sleeping (1995)

One of the great ‘90s rom-coms, While You Were Sleeping has more than its share of awkward comic moments, and the best example comes during a scene at a New Year’s Eve party. By this point in the film, Jack (Bill Pullman) has fallen hard for Lucy (Sandra Bullock), whom he mistakenly believes to be engaged to his comatose brother Peter (Peter Gallagher). Through a series of misunderstandings, he also comes to believe she’s pregnant and announces it loudly to her friends and co-workers after tagging along with her to a party. The tension between them kicks up a notch on a snowy walk home, where he also accuses her of flirting with her neighbor and explains the finer nuances of leaning. And yet, after all of this, she falls for him too, because how could you not fall for Bill Pullman in this film?

About A Boy (2002)

Everything you need to know about About A Boy and Hugh Grant’s character Will is encapsulated in one scene, set at a New Year’s Eve party. Will is an idle bachelor who lives on the royalties from a Christmas novelty song written by his father. He becomes self-conscious about his lifestyle when he meets Rachel (Rachel Weisz) on New Year’s Eve and is so smitten and desperate to make a connection that he lets her believe the 12-year-old kid he’s been hanging out with is his son. Strange as it sounds, it’s an important step on his emotional journey. Surely that little lie won’t come back to haunt him later in the film, right?

New Year’s Eve (2011)

In the last few years of his career, director Garry Marshall set out to keep the ensemble rom-com format popular in the ‘70s and ‘80s alive with a series of holiday-themed films. He made Valentine’s Day in 2010, New Year’s Eve in 2011, and Mother’s Day in 2016, which came out a few months before his death. Obviously, we had to include something on this list from New Year’s Eve, a star-studded—we’re talking Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Jon Bon Jovi, Robert De Niro, Josh Duhamel, Zac Efron, Lea Michele, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michelle Pfeiffer, Hilary Swank, and more, all in one place—mishmash of overlapping storylines that unfold in New York City over the course of one special night. Some plots and pairings are more successful than others, but we’re highlighting the speech Hilary Swank’s character Claire makes to the crowd in Times Square awaiting the famous ball drop as our best moment as it’s a pretty good summation of the meaning of the holiday.

About Time (2013)

When About Time’s main character Tim Lake (Domhnall Gleeson) learns from his father (Bill Nighy) on his 21st birthday that the men in his family can time travel, he doesn’t believe him, but he climbs into a wardrobe anyway, as instructed, and thinks back to an awkward moment at a New Year’s Eve party he wishes he could undo. To his surprise, he immediately finds himself back at the party, where he does, in fact, get another chance to be smooth and kiss the girl standing next to him at midnight. What better way to kick off a film about love and time travel than a holiday that marks the passage of time and represents a new beginning?

Carol (2015)

Todd Haynes’ melancholy depiction of queer love in the 1950s, adapted from Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Price Of Salt, takes place over the holidays, but it’s not until New Year’s Eve that shopgirl Therese (Rooney Mara) and jaded soon-to-be divorcée Carol (Cate Blanchett) finally consummate their ongoing flirtation and become something more. It’s a dangerous affair for many reasons, and they both know it may cause pain in their future, but for one beautiful moment at the turning of the year, it’s all about the two of them, alone together, where they can feel free to be themselves.

Phantom Thread (2017)

New Year’s Eve is a time for looking forward and looking back. And so we complete this list with yet another modern film that takes us back to the past. Phantom Thread is set in 1950s London where we get a glimpse inside the world of high fashion through the eyes of haute couture designer Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis). Director Paul Thomas Anderson keeps the scope of the film fairly limited, but once in a while allows himself a bit of excess. In one of those scenes he stages an elaborate New Year’s Eve party that Woodcock’s wife and muse Alma (Vicky Krieps) attends alone after she begs him to join her and he turns her down. He eventually shows up, just before the stroke of midnight, and finds her in the midst of a lavishly dressed and rowdy crowd reminiscent of the one in American In Paris. Which brings us neatly, and quite appropriately, full circle.