Film Review – New Year’s Absolution (2024)

      **New Year’s Absolution, 2024**

      **Directed by Nick Leisure**

      **Starring** Michael Copon, Joel Brady, Josh Gilmer, Rafael Siegel, Shala White, Victoria Brandart, Siddalee Diaz, and Lamondo Hill II.

      **SYNOPSIS:**

      Four old friends come together for their customary New Year’s Eve celebration, but the evening takes a dark turn with the introduction of a bizarre resolution: Kill Someone.

      From the very start, it's clear that New Year’s Absolution has amateur production values, with a cheap title card overlaying stock aerial footage, followed by the actors’ names appearing in a gaudy yellow font, whimsically appearing and disappearing through flashy iMovie transitions. This effectively sets the tone for the experience ahead.

      The film’s ‘humor’ is introduced when we meet Stuart and Travis, portrayed by Rafael Siegel and Lamondo Hill II. As Travis drives to the home of Damon (Joel Brady), the evening’s host, director Nick Leisure attempts to deliver a crude joke, involving a visually awkward moment where Stuart bends down toward Travis’ lap, which would have landed better if not for the small dog sitting there. It turns out Stuart simply dropped his phone. Hilarious.

      Stuart and Damon are part of a friend group known as 'the five of ’99,' formed in 1999, though only four remain (be on the lookout for the surprising twist regarding this). Damon is more focused on organizing coasters and squabbling with his wife Clare (Shala White) over appetizers than ensuring his friends enjoy themselves. Don’t worry, Damon; we’re not having fun either.

      As guests start to arrive, the lack of chemistry among the cast becomes painfully obvious. The supposedly 'lifelong friends' Stuart and Damon engage like acquaintances at a corporate gathering, while ‘best friends’ Travis and Clare seem to be practicing their lines. They spend much time complaining about the others, especially the next arrivals, Jacob (Josh Gilmer), an off-duty cop, and his wife Misty (Victoria Brandart), both fixated on their appearances, as the others mock their pasts behind their backs.

      The final arrivals are self-absorbed surgeon Roy (Michael Copon) and his new girlfriend Kira (Siddalee Diaz), a hollow caricature of Gen Z superficiality whose character revolves around her social media image and an inability to be away from her phone. This is the level of nuanced social commentary presented in the film.

      With themes of vanity, body shaming, and casual racism and homophobia, it becomes evident that these are not likable individuals. Their wealth is presented as obscene; Stuart spent 50k on a vintage car incapable of driving in the rain, and Damon invested in a pool he’s never used. Yet Leisure fails to offer any meaningful satire regarding the superficiality displayed, as his filmic approach lacks depth.

      Damon’s reluctance to enter his own pool is significant, particularly when his friends joke about throwing him in, and Stuart later threatens to drown him if he hurts his dog Cookie, whom Damon fears might soil his floors. While minor, it's nice to have some foreshadowing in a story that lacks structure or skill.

      The narrative eventually stirs to life when Jacob draws his New Year’s resolution from a ceremonial hat and states: kill someone. You might expect the group to dismiss this as a joke, but Jacob reacts violently, revealing darker, more sinister implications. After using cocaine with Roy all night, Jacob draws a firearm in his drug-induced state, accidentally shooting a party-goer.

      This leads to a makeshift bathtub surgery performed by the high doctor, which further emphasizes the film’s detachment from reality. None of the characters respond appropriately to this shocking event, continuing the festivities as if someone isn’t bleeding out in the tub. This could have served as a sharp satirical point about the emptiness of the upper crust, but the characters and their relationships are so underdeveloped that it ultimately feels like lazy writing.

      However, after this point, the film finally starts to deliver some (ironically) entertaining moments as the plot devolves into a chaotic spree of exaggerated violence, with characters blaming one another for the night’s calamities in grotesque ways. In this latter half-hour, Nick Leisure’s vision of a blood-soaked dark comedy starts to take shape, with kills that are both shocking and exaggerated, leaving no shortage of fake blood. Still, it feels like too little, too late, as we’ve spent an hour enduring unbearable characters delivering dialogue that swings between laughable and tedious.

      New Year’s Absolution is a tonally inconsistent and poorly crafted film that is vague about its intentions and ultimately fails to deliver on them. Director Nick Leisure seems to aim for a broad black comedy, but the only humor to be found comes from the subpar acting,