With 2011 coming to a close, it's an appropriate time for New Year's Eve to hit theaters. The movie is an indirect sequel to Valentine's Day, another holiday flick.

New Year's Eve stays true to its roots (and perhaps to its budget) and has an all-star cast, including Ashton Kutcher, Jessica Alba, Robert De Niro, Halle Berry and Zac Efron, to name a few. The movie seems promising with so many stars, but such a large movie is bound to have some setbacks, and this one is no exception.

There are multiple plot lines, including Stan Harris (De Niro), who is dying of cancer and hopes to see the New Year's Eve ball drop one last time in Times Square. Meanwhile, Randy (Kutcher) is trapped in an elevator with aspiring singer Elise (Lea Michele).

With so many plots, director Garry Marshall made a valiant effort to connect all the characters.

Still, many of the characters seem shallow, perhaps because some do not have enough screen time to grow on the audience.

New Year's Eve is a film that many can enjoy, leaving some people with that feeling of "magic in the air" as well as "love all around." But for me, the feeling quickly evaporated after I began thinking about how much each actor earned for such a generic film.

Austin Tyra is a sophomore at Career Academy at Larragoite. You can reach him at wannabewriter20@yahoo.com.