Product Details

• Actors: Paul Dark, James DePreist, David Duchovny, Michael Emil, Milos Forman
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Paramount
• VHS Release Date: November 11, 1998
• Run Time: 88 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301851242
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #347,716 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

New Year's Day is verbose, discursive, and even a little insightful. It can only be the handiwork of idiosyncratic independent filmmaker Henry Jaglom. Tired of his miserable life in Los Angeles, newly single writer Drew (Jaglom) moves back to New York--on New Year's Day. Due to a misunderstanding, his apartment is still occupied three tenants: Annie (Gwen Welles), Winona (Melanie Winter), and Lucy (Maggie Wheeler, Chandler's whiny girlfriend Janice on Friends). With nowhere to go until they move out the next day, Drew gets to know the women. And vice versa. He's bewildered by the overly-emotional Annie and forthright Winona and attracted to the compassionate Lucy, who plans to relocate to LA. Over the next 24 hours, a variety of people drop by, including Lucy's mother and father, building supervisor Lazlo (Oscar-winning director Milos Forman), and unfaithful ex-boyfriend Billy (David Duchovny, Wheeler's actual ex, who rejoins Jaglom for Venice/Venice). Shot like a documentary, New Year's Day feels improvised, which is its biggest strength--and biggest weakness. Duchovny, who has a brief nude scene, looks perpetually bemused, while Jaglom comes off like a patronizing parental figure. Which may be the point. At times, it resembles real life; at others, a party to which you weren't invited. So, Jaglom's third in a semi-autobiographical trilogy, after Always (1985) and Someone to Love (1987), may not be a complete success, but it's an entertaining diversion, and Wheeler shines in a rare lead role. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A warm, empathic film, December 21, 1999

By 

Morris Garchik (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: New Year's Day [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This film is better than "Venice/Venice" because it has a better narrative. Is it a gabfest movie reminiscent of Stilman's "Metropolitan" and anything by Woody Allen? Absolutely.

But what it lacks in budget is made up for in the performances and writing. The characters not only entertain, but by the end of this New Year's Day party learn something about themselves. Jakobson (who does her chimp noises in this film) is a star, period. This also marks one of David Duchovney's first appearances as Jakobson's boyfriend. If you're looking for a sit-down movie that won't give you a seizure, this is it.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Buy it for David Duchovny's performance, August 6, 2001

By 

"shannara1" (Beaumont, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: New Year's Day [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The storyline is pretty awful. Jaglom is simply terrible as a screenwriter, actor and director.

But I give it four stars for the David Duchovny eye candy. Here he is as a young man in ALL his glory. He's absolutely gorgeous in this and he does a good job with his character, a real scoundrel and ladies' man. Warning, this movie contains male frontal nudity.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This movie is like a good friend!, December 23, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: New Year's Day [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I first saw this move eight or ten years ago, and it has since become a favorite that I "visit" with every year on New Year's Day. The themes of life transitions, new beginnings, and finding one's place in the world are especially resonant on New Year's Day when so many people take stock of the past year and make resolutions for the future. The characters are no more or less perfect than anyone's circle of friends, which makes them all the more loveable. Watching this movie has become a beloved annual ritual.