8 party films to watch on New Year's Eve

Is anyone having the New Year's Eve they originally intended this year? With many public events and performances cancelled, gatherings of all kinds reduced or postponed and restaurants closed to keep their staff healthy, it's safe to say we'll be wrapping up 2021 quite differently than we may have thought — even at the beginning of December. 

For some, this may bring a sort of relief. NYE celebrations are notorious for being a letdown, providing little of the cathartic, transformative magic promised by the pivotal calendar date, the possibility of a midnight kiss or all the champagne and dancing. Quite frankly, no matter the size or shape of your party plans, the night never seems to hit like it's the end of When Harry Met Sally. And even if you're not the type to approach these things with expectations, it was especially hard to swat them away this year.

It's with exactly that in mind that we present you this idea for a NYE night in: stack your watch list with films that are entire parties in and of themselves — ones that you can leave without saying goodbye, only require two hours of your attendance and you don't have to clean up after. You can have a movie marathon that feels like an absolute rager without emerging from beneath your weighted blanket.

Below are eight suggestions to help inspire your cinematic adventures on the road to 2022. While they all feature epic parties of some sort, these films are a far cry from the beer-soaked Animal House copycats you may expect to find on a list like this. And while you may not actually want to attend all of the gatherings these flicks depict, they're bound to help you conjure up the kind of fun ringing in the new year requires — even in the strangest of times. 

Small Axe: Lovers Rock 

Steve McQueen's electric, immersive film drops you right into a 1980s West London living room during a Saturday night blues party for a 17th birthday. As amateur DJs trade off sets, women cook goat curry while singing in the kitchen, lovers meet and sway under dim lighting and an infectious dance party forms. Prepare to have Janet Kay's "Silly Games" stuck in your head for days after watching this one — you'll want to cue it up right away and start a dance party of your own.

Small Axe: Lovers Rock is available to stream on Amazon Prime.

Booksmart

The premise of Olivia Wilde's riotous coming-of-age comedy is all too familiar: two academic overachievers attempt to make up for lost time by taking the partying into overdrive and trying to win over their crushes on their last day of high school. However, the cornucopia of gatherings they visit — from a sparsely-attended yacht "rager" to a highly militant murder mystery dinner to a classic suburban houseparty — as well as the chemistry between leads Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever, and an extremely memorable stop-motion drug trip scene all collide to make this film an absolute blast from start to finish.

Booksmart is available to stream on Netflix.

Mamma Mia!

Sure, you could cue up the equally ecstatic and even campier sequel from 2018 and have an amazing time, but this screen adaptation of the original jukebox musical has just as many massive dance numbers on exquisite Grecian beaches as well as missed notes by Pierce Brosnan — plus more Meryl Streep and the better lineup of ABBA songs (sorry). Is there a better way to toast the Swedish pop group's return to music after many decades than by bopping along to their classics in this confection of a film as you wave goodbye to this year?

Mamma Mia! is available to stream on Netflix. 

All About Eve

Bette Davis' Margo Channing basically invented the concept of "it's my party and I'll cry if I want to." Since you likely won't get to torpedo the event you're hosting by causing a scene this NYE, why not experience it vicariously by soaking up this classic 1950 film? As you don your finest broach, sip something sparkling from a coupe glass and enjoy watching Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) try to Single White Female her way through the aging theatre star's glamorous life one gathering at a time, just remember Margo's advice: "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night." 

All About Eve is available to rent on Apple TV.

William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet 

Given his affinity for lush, colour-saturated chaos, we'd be remiss not to include at least one Baz Luhrmann film on this list. While 2013's The Great Gatsby may seem like a cleaner fit, we'd argue this tragedy of star-crossed lovers, which includes possibly the most glamorous costume party of all time, is a much more enjoyable mess to revisit. You know the story, you probably even watched the film in English class, so now you can just sit back and give yourself over to the full sensory experience, letting the maximalist art direction and incredible soundtrack wash over you. 

William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet is available to stream on Disney+.

The Slumber Party Massacre 

In many ways a straightforward early '80s slasher with a classic premise — a high school senior's sleepover is interrupted by an escaped killer on the loose in the neighbourhood — this movie has all the campy kills and cat-and-mouse chases you'd expect, while flipping the genre's script ever so slightly. Directed by Amy Holden Jones and penned by feminist writer Rita Mae Brown, the film forgoes concealing the killer's identity or constructing an elaborate motive and instead spends its time (and yours) caring about the young women at its centre, prodding the slasher genre's voyeuristic male gaze and delighting in its killer's extremely phallic weapon choice.

The Slumber Party Massacre is available to stream on Crave and Shudder.

Boogie Nights

Grab those roller skates you got this year, and glide through one of director Paul Thomas Anderson's portraits of the San Fernando Valley in the '70s — this one centred on the cocaine-fuelled, disco-scored burgeoning adult entertainment industry and a ragtag collection of performers, film crew and hangers-on, all led by filmmaker Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds). Sprawling almost a decade and — in true PTA fashion — running nearly three hours, this epic captures the high of the backyard pool party at its most enticing as well as the painful sunburn that inevitably follows, punctuated by incredible performances from its all-star ensemble (Philip Seymour Hoffman and Don Cheadle deservedly get much of the praise here, but Heather Graham is a real underrated gem). 

Boogie Nights is available to stream on Tubi and Crave Starz. 

In the Heights 

Much like the other Broadway adaptation on this list, this movie, which centres on bodega owner Usnavi (Anthony Ramos) and other residents of the predominantly Dominican Manhattan neighbourhood of Washington Heights as it faces increasing gentrification — is pure bottled sunshine. By the time the show-stopping "Carnaval del Barrio" number comes around, all the infectious celebrating and elaborate dance sequences that filled the sweltering New York streets for the past hour-plus will leave you buzzing like you just lit them up yourself.  

In the Heights is available to stream on Crave.