Jennifer Hudson: This is no DREAM, GIRL! |
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What are you doing New Year's....New Year's Eve? It's the musical question that introduces the 1947 Frank Loesser pop standard of the same name. (Loesser went on to write Broadway smash hits including GUYS & DOLLS, THE MOST HAPPY FELLA, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING). "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve" is a song that today's top recording artists still include on their holiday albums.
This musical question is as pertinent now as it was when first asked nearly 60 years ago. For better or worse, Americans feel compelled to do something special on New Year's Eve, whether they want to – or not.
Why? Do we really believe that if we're having a high old time when the clock strikes January 1, the party will continue all year? Or is it simply societal conditioning that compels our unflagging New Year's Eve quest for fun?
Yours truly is not exempt from the rush to ebullience the evening of December 31. I've spent my own New Year's Eves in many different ways: one was spent at the Grand Canyon. Another year, I was on a steamboat at Disneyland when the New Year docked. I've hosted and attended New Year's Eve cocktail and dinner parties. I've spent the occasion at restaurants featuring special holiday entertainment and menus. I've gone to the theater – and to the 
THE HOLIDAY could be what you're doing Dec. 31 |
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movies.
That's where you come in, dear Match-Flickers. If you haven't yet committed yourself to other December 31 festivities, I strongly suggest a romantic Match-flick date on New Year's Eve. Invite someone you love, or someone after whom you lust, for a New Year's Eve dinner and movie date.
Start the celebration early with cocktails and appetizers at your place or hers. Continue with an elegant homemade, candle-lit dinner. Leave the dirty dishes in the sink, or stack them in the dishwasher, then head out to a box office for a late screening that will have you, and the object of your affection/love/lust, cozily stadium-seated when the Crystal Ball drops in New York's Times Square. When the Midnight Hour arrives, wrap your arms around your boyfriend-girlfriend, fiancé, wife, husband, or spousal equivalent. Give him/her a kiss that will make the tonsil probe Kevin Costner gave Susan Sarandon in BULL DURHAM seem like a pale peck.
Of course, your Match-Flick New Year's Eve date can't just be for any movie. Your movie must be romantic, highly entertaining, inspiring, or all of the preceding. Avoid any film with excessive gore, violence, or negativity. This New Year's Eve, please stay away from CHILDREN OF MEN, BLACK CHRISTMAS, PANS LABYRINTH, or anything rated R for graphic violence. R-rated for language, nudity, or 
HAPPY FEET... even happier in IMAX |
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situations, is A-OK. This New Year's Eve, I recommend DREAMGIRLS, THE HOLIDAY, CHARLOTTE'S WEB, or anything presented in IMAX.
Speaking of DREAMGIRLS, I was among the audience at Hollywood's Cinerama Dome Theatre, seeing a pre-release screening of the Bill Condon written and directed movie, on Saturday, December 16. At the point in the movie when newcomer Jennifer Hudson belts out "And I'm Telling You I'm not Going...," a couple of rarities occurred. For one thing, the audience screamed, applauded, stomped, and hooted their approval with a fervor I've only witnessed previously during live performances. For another thing, yours truly was so blown away by the power of Hudson's movie-stopping, gospel-tinged performance, I was unable to re-focus on what was happening on screen for the next ten minutes. I guess I'll need to see it again to focus upon the segment I missed.
If you make a good box office choice on New Year's Eve, then you're bound to get "lucky" before the sun rises on January 1. And, who knows? If you're really lucky, then the answer you give to the question, "What are you doing New Year's Eve?" may eventually be the answer to yet another musical query, "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?"
Happy 2007, Match-Flickers. I wish you a year of Health, Peace, Love, Prosperity, and many happily memorable movie dates.
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| The Business of Show |
Every other Friday
Does advertising, public taste, or overindulged stars determine a movie's box office fate? Christoper Stone explores what's going on behind the box office.
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| Christopher Stone |
Christopher Stone is the author of the international best seller Re-Creating Your Self. With Mary Sheldon, he co-authored three highly successful hardcover books of guided meditations.
He is a member of the Writers Guild of America, West.
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