‘When Harry Met Sally’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.''
‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’You're single, a little sad and are 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.
‘Someone Like You’It's romantic comedy 101: New Year's Eve rolls around and our heroine (the plucky Ashley Judd) realizes her feelings for a platonic pal (the hunky Hugh Jackman). (It helps that she's been stood up by her bad-news ex-boyfriend.) She rushes out to meet him — but will she make it in time for a countdown kiss?
‘Sex and the City: The Movie’It's kinda like the scenario from "Someone Like You." Only this time the role of Ashley Judd is played by Cynthia Nixon. Sarah Jessica Parker (Carrie Bradshaw) rushes to Miranda's apartment for a New Year's bonding session. She even (gasp!) takes the subway. Now that's a good friend.
‘Sleepless in Seattle’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.''
‘Trading Places’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 is it was in 1983.
‘200 Cigarettes’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.
‘The Hudsucker Proxy’OK, so we're still reeling from the Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon breakup news. But that doesn't make this New Year's Eve-set film (directed by the Coen Brothers and co-starring the divine Paul Newman) any less enjoyable. Be prepared to break out the hula hoops.
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}‘Entrapment’No plans this evening? Why not pull off a major bank heist. Before you do, though, invite Catherine Zeta Jones over and watch her wiggle around on the floor.
‘Poseidon’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!
‘The Apartment’It takes a truly disastrous NYE party to make Shirley MacLaine realize her love for John Lemmon in this 1960 romantic dramedy about an office worker who lends his apartment out to company executives — and their many mistresses. Paging Tiger Woods.
‘About a Boy’Perennial man-child Hugh Grant has some serious growing up to do. Good thing, then, that he gets seated next to emotionally mature (and impossibly beautiful) Rachel Weisz at a New Year's dinner party.
‘An Affair to Remember’Deborah Kerr falls for the always adorable Cary Grant in this 1956 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"?