When will Hollywood learn? When it comes to character driven multiple narrative flicks, the Brits do it better. They always have, and if things keep going the way they are, they're not in danger of losing their crown any time soon.

First there was Valentine's Day, an overcomplicated mish mash of narratives and Hollywood pseudo-stars colliding in a decidedly beige romantic comedy that tried to be Love Actually but fell way short. Now, from the folks that brought you Valentines Day (surprise surprise) comes New Years eve. And guess what? They don't seem to have learnt anything much between takes.

Like Valentines Day, NYE features a series of vignettes all centred on the revelry around December 31 and is overloaded to bursting point with name-brand celebrities. Hilary Swank is vice president of the Times Square Alliance and is trying to finalise preparations for the midnight ball drop. Nearby, Michelle Pffiefer has a near death experience and decides to quit her dead end job and try to cross off everything on her life's to-do list before midnight. She enlists the help of Zac Efron. As you do. Zac Efron's sister, Sarah Jessica Parker, is feeling a little down as her teen daughter, Abigail Breslin, is growing up and no longer wants to spend New Year's with her mum. Zac Efron's roommate, Ashton Kutcher (of course) is the New Year's version of the Grinch and sets about bah-humbugging all over the place. He gets caught in an elevator with Glee's Lea Michelle, who is running late to sing back-up for Jon Bon Jovi (whose character is actually called Jensen but is pretty much Jon Bon Jovi). Bon Jovi is still in love with Katherine Heigl, who he left a year ago. Heigl is still pissed and repeatedly tells her sous chef, Sophia Vergara, as much. At a nearby hospital, Robert De Niro is dying and asks Halle Berry to let him see the Times Square ball drop. (Incidentally Cary Elwes and Alyssa Milano also work at the hospital too, but they have about 30 seconds screen time). Then on the other side of the hospital, Jessica Biel and Saturday Night Live's Seth Meyers are trying to have their baby as close as they can to midnight so they can win some money for having the first New Years' baby. And while all this is happening, Josh Duhamel is trying to get back to New York so he can make a speech at a party.

Is your head spinning yet? The filmmakers crammed so much into this that if you actually separate the vignettes, Im pretty sure each story would only get about 10 minutes of screen time. Yes, it's fun to see so many stars flash before our eyes, but it gets old very quickly. With so many people, it's far too difficult to get invested in any of the stories. I wanted to care about them, I really did, but by the time they actually introduced all of the characters and cycled around to the first story again, I had forgotten about what originally started it all. I felt like it was Valentines Day all over again.

Character driven multiple narrative films are amazing when done well, but Hollywood needs to learn that less is more.