The New Year is almost upon us, now is the time to prepare your wishes and make your New Year’s resolutions. The New Year event is celebrated around the world with various traditions from watching the ball drop in Times Square to burning effigies in Ecuador streets, celebrations and festivities are a common thread. 

Watching a good movie is also a great option to ring in the New Year. Put on your pajamas, get some warm popcorn, and cuddle up to a musical comedy or a romance movie. Need help with picking the right New Year’s Eve movie? The list below has you covered. I trawled the web and selected some of the top rated family movies for the New Year’s Eve.  Check them out and share with us your feedback on our social media platforms.


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1. Trading Places, (1983) (R)

“Trading Places is a 1983 American comedy film directed by John Landis…the film tells the story of an upper-class commodities broker (Aykroyd) and a poor street hustler (Murphy) whose lives cross when they are unwittingly made the subject of an elaborate bet to test how each man will perform when their life circumstances are swapped.” Source

Directors: John LandisStarring:  Kristin Holby, Alfred Drake, Bo Diddley

2. While You Were Sleeping, (1995) (PG)

“Lucy Eleanor Moderatz is a lonely fare token collector for the Chicago Transit Authority, stationed at the Randolph/Wabash station. She secretly loves Peter Callaghan, a handsome commuter, though they are strangers. 


On Christmas Day, she rescues Peter from the oncoming Chicago “L” train after muggers push him onto the tracks. She accompanies the comatose Peter to the hospital, where a nurse overhears her musing aloud, “I was going to marry him.” Misinterpreting, the nurse tells his family that she is his fiancée.”Source

Directors: Jon TurteltaubStarring: Sandra Bullock, Peter Boyle, Bill Pullman

3. Are We There Yet? (2005) (PG)

“When Nick (Ice Cube, Barbershop) falls for single mother Suzanne (Nia Long, Big Momma’s House), he initially doesn’t have to worry about what her kids think of him because she just wants to “be friends.” Undeterred by this statement- or his buddies, who dog him for loitering in the stalking-friend zone- Nick keeps hanging around. So when Suzanne finds herself in a jam and needs…”

Directors: Brian LevantStarring: Ice Cube, Nia Long

4. When Harry Met Sally, (1989) (R)

“In 1977, Harry Burns and Sally Albright graduate from the University of Chicago and share the drive to New York City, where she is beginning journalism school and he is starting a career. Harry has been dating Sally’s friend Amanda Reese. During the drive, Harry and Sally discuss their differing ideas about relationships; she disagrees with his assertion that men and women cannot be friends as “the sex part gets in the way”. At a diner, Harry tells Sally she is very attractive, and she angrily accuses him of making a pass at her. They part in New York on unfriendly terms…”Source

Directors: Rob ReinerStarring: Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher

5. Marry Me, (2022) (13+)

“A heartbroken pop star (Jennifer Lopez) spontaneously weds a stranger from the audience (Owen Wilson) while live on stage, but their sham marriage turns into a real romance.”

Directors:  Kat CoiroStarring: Jennifer Lopez, Owen Wilson, Maluma

6. After the The Thin Man,  (1936) (NR)

“After the Thin Man is a 1936 American murder mystery comedy film …Nick and Nora Charles return from vacation on New Year’s Eve to their home in San Francisco, where Nora’s stuffy family expects the couple to join them for a formal dinner. Nick is disliked by Nora’s aunt Katherine, the family matriarch, as his immigrant heritage and experience as a “flatfoot” are considered beneath Nora’s station. 


Nora’s cousin Selma tells Nora that her husband Robert has been missing for three days. David Graham is Selma’s earlier fiancé and an old friend of Nora’s family. He offers to pay Robert $25,000 to leave and grant Selma a divorce. Nora successfully badgers Nick into helping to locate Robert.”Source

Directors: W.S. Van DykeStarring: William Powell, Myrna Loy, James Stewart



7. About A Boy, (2002) (PG-13)

“About a Boy is a 2002 romantic comedy-drama film directed by Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz…Will Freeman lives a carefree lifestyle without any responsibility or commitments, thanks to royalties left to him by his father’s successful Christmas song. Will joins the Single Parents Alone Together (SPAT) community group under the pretense that he is the father to an imaginary child, but instead aims to meet single mothers. 


Will meets Suzie who he is attracted to but also meets Marcus, the socially awkward son of one of Suzie’s friends unexpectedly on a planned play-date. When Will and Suzie take Marcus home, they find Marcus’ mother Fiona (who suffers bouts of depression) has attempted suicide and rush to get her to the hospital in time.”Source

Directors: Chris WeitzStarring: Hugh Grant, Nicholas Hoult, Sharon Small



8. Sleepless in Seattle, (1993) (PG)

“Sleepless in Seattle is a 1993 American romantic comedy-drama film[3][4] directed by Nora Ephron…Starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, the film follows a journalist (Ryan) who, despite being newly engaged, becomes enamored with a recently widowed architect (Hanks), when the latter’s son calls in to a talk radio program requesting a new partner for his grieving father.”Source

Directors: Nora EphronStarring: Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Ross Malinger

9. An American in Paris, (1951) (13+)

“An American in Paris is a 1951 American musical comedy film inspired by the 1928 orchestral composition An American in Paris by George Gershwin….American World War II veteran Jerry Mulligan lives in Paris trying to succeed as an artist. His friend and neighbor Adam Cook is a struggling concert pianist and longtime associate of French singer Henri Baurel. At the ground-floor bar in their building, Henri tells Adam about his girlfriend, Lise Bouvier. Jerry then joins them before going out to try and sell his art…”Source

Directors:Vincente MinnelliStarring:Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant

10. About Time, (2013) (R)

“About Time is a 2013 British film written and directed by Richard Curtis,[4] and starring Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, and Bill Nighy…Tim Lake grows up in Cornwall, in a house by the sea with his father James, mother Mary, absent-minded uncle Desmond, and free-spirited younger sister Katherine (“Kit Kat”). 


On his 21st birthday, Tim learns from his father that the men of his family have the ability to travel back in time to moments they have lived before. James discourages his son from using his gift to acquire money or fame, and Tim decides he will use it to improve his love life.”Source

Directors:Richard CurtisStarring: Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy



11. It’s a Wonderful Life, (1947) (PG)

“It’s a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas fantasy drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra…On Christmas Eve 1945, in Bedford Falls, New York, George Bailey contemplates suicide. The prayers of his family and friends reach Heaven, where guardian angel second class Clarence Odbody is assigned to save George in order to earn his wings.


Clarence is shown flashbacks of George’s life. He watches 12-year-old George rescue his younger brother Harry from drowning, but become deaf in his left ear. George later prevents the pharmacist, Mr. Gower, from accidentally poisoning a prescription.”Source

Directors: Frank CapraStarring: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore

12. New Year’s Eve, (2011) (PG-13)

“New Year’s Eve follows several interconnected stories of people experiencing various problems on New Year’s Eve. Vice-President of the Times Square Alliance Claire Morgan is making the final arrangements for the ball drop with the help of her friend, police officer Brendan. 


Meanwhile, after being nearly run over by a car and denied a vacation, Ahern Records secretary Ingrid Withers quits her job and offers deliveryman Paul Doyle tickets for the Ahern Records Masquerade Ball if he helps her complete her New Year’s resolutions before midnight, and he accepts.”Source

Directors: Garry MarshallStarring: Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Jon Bon Jovi

This post originally appeared in Educational Technology and Mobile Learning ( www.educatorstechnology.com ).