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John Cusack,
John Cusack,
Billy Bob Thornton,
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Harold Ramis,
Harold Ramis
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: Universal Studios
: 89 min.
: English, French
: English, Spanish, French
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Two men on the run from the mob end up negotiating more than their share of obstacles along the way in this comedy drama from director Harold Ramis. Vic Cavanaugh (Billy Bob Thornton) and Charlie Arglist (John Cusack) are a pair of friends who work for Bill Gerard (Randy Quaid), a mobster with his finger in a number of illegal businesses. Vic runs a pornography distribution outfit for Bill, while Charlie is a lawyer who keeps Bill and his partners out of jail, and between them, Vic and Charlie have stolen over two million dollars in cash from Bill. On Christmas Eve, Vic and Charlie plan to make off with their money and escape Bill's clutches once and for all, but while Vic stays cool and collected, an increasingly nervous Charlie stops off at a topless bar to fortify his courage with a few drinks, and ends up causing a scene with Renata (Connie Nielsen), a dancer he's long had his eye on. It doesn't take long for word about Charlie to get back to Bill, who sends an enforcer out to track him down, but while Charlie tries to make tracks, he ends up having to look after his friend Pete (Oliver Platt), who is much more drunk than Charlie and even more inclined to make a nuisance of himself. The Ice Harvest was adapted from the novel by Scott Philips. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
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| Ice-Cold Comedy
by talltale
February 23, 2006 - 9:08 PM PST
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9 out of 9 members found this review helpful
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Little wonder THE ICE HARVEST (snazzy title!) flopped commercially. A Christmastime release--but unlike "Bad Santa," one that wasn't so obviously a comedy--this is a film for whose bizarre and unlikable characters mainstream audiences didn't have a clue. More surprisingly, many of our supposedly intelligent critics didn't either: They dissed--and dismissed--the movie out of hand.
Too bad, 'cause it's a damn good one: disquietingly funny and nasty in equal proportions. The cast, under director Harold Ramis's precise and understated direction (this is better-directed than his "Groundhog Day"), all seem to cotton to what's going on. The result is a black comedy about greed and stupidity in red state America that doesn't pull its punches, while allowing the best men (of a very bad lot) to win. You don't see something like this all that often, particularly from Hollywood, so it's definitely to be treasured.
Cusack, Thornton, Platt, Nielsen and Quaid are spot-on (Platt is as good as he's ever been), and I laughed myself silly while shivering and wincing rather often. I suspect that's the combination the filmmakers hoped to achieve. Focus Features (the distributor here) has given another worthwhile gift to those moviegoers who tend to take the less-trod path. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 6.26)
66 Votes
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