The Ice Harvest

The Ice Harvest is attractive to two audiences, those being the film noir and/or crime fans and the people who think a movie with Cusack and Thornton directed by ex-Ghostbuster Ramis is going to be a mishap-riddled caper comedy. Unfortunately, this film's heart lies outside of the compatibility of either. It's technically not a crime film, because the story begins immediately as the crime ends, a $2 million embezzlement scheme that is never explained. Also, the film is certainly not a comedy within the ballpark of any other work by Harold Ramis. What Ramis has made is a film that is more of a dramatic exercise in cinematic mood and low-key atmosphere. The good news is that he pulls it off very well.

The Ice Harvest happens to be one of the movies I watch at Christmastime, because the film is actually so well-directed and so well-shot that it captures that constantly sought-after perfect cozy winter atmosphere on film. The events of the story occur over the course of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, all in the small and quiet town of Wichita, KA. No matter how much time it spends during the outlandish drunken bouts of Oliver Platt or the destructive tantrums of Ned Bellamy's overaggressive bartender, The Ice Harvest never breaks its meticulous feeling and image for one moment.

Even though it's not what is expected by the vast majority of those who have seen it or those who mean to, it does have impressionistic characteristics of those expectations that deliver sensationally, such as Thornton's tremendously entertaining time on screen and the thicket of distrust that ushers in over the course of the holidays succeeding his and Cusack's so-called perfect crime. However, these are purely part of the style rather than the substance. The plot is conjecture of film noir rather than the real deal, as most of the twists are nearly meant to be somewhat obvious or expected. Really, the essence of the story lies in Cusack's descent into complete detachment from any virtue in life, feeling as if he's only an observer when encountering darkly humorous yet brooding things over his Christmas.

The Ice Harvest is not really a comedy and not really a film noir. Actually, it bears no genre per se. Simply, it's a wonderful installment in the phantom subgenre of cinematic moodiness.

When the name Harold Ramis is mentioned, a lot of people will probably say "Harold who?". When explained to those people that he directed the wonderful romantic comedy GROUNDHOG DAY and wrote the screenplays for GHOSTBUSTERS I & II, they'll probably say "Oooh, that Harold!". After the redundant De Niro-wrecks ANALYZE THIS & THAT it got a little quiet around Ramis. Now he's back with THE ICE HARVEST, a movie that somewhat differs from his other work. It's been a while since I've seen such a successful mixture of black comedy and film-noir/thriller.

Charlie (John Cusack), a Kansas attorney on the verge of a burn-out, and his associate Vic (Billy Bob Thornton) have just stolen 2 million $ from their boss on Christmas Eve. They're planning on leaving that same night to enjoy their money elsewhere. Charlie also is in love with the beautiful stripclub-owner Renata and hopes that his newly earned dollars will make a fine argument to persuade her to go with him. But an upcoming ice storm makes it very difficult to leave the town immediately. On top of that, a mysterious figure has arrived in Wichita informing all over the place about Charlie. It will turn out to be a night full of surprises where everyone seems to be playing dark and deceiving games.

This movie relies on the statement "Money is the root of all evil". It's slightly disturbing to see how far one will go when a considerable amount of money is involved. Maybe not all of the twists and turns in the plot are unpredictable, but there are enough of them to keep it interesting, all this at a fairly high pace. They provide enough enjoyable moments, with the trunk-scene as one of the highlights. This particular scene leads to a funny discussion between Charlie and Vic about a Mercedes and a Lincoln. All this in order to say that the script and dialogues are more than decent.

Cusack and Thornton deliver the goods, never over-acting it. Besides them there's also a striking performance by Connie Nielsen as femme-fatale Renata and I never thought that a completely drunk Oliver Platt, as Charlie's drinking buddy, could be so hilarious. And it was nice to see Mike Starr and Randy Quaid in some smaller roles. So the complete cast pulls it off quite good.

Maybe THE ICE HARVEST (with the appropriate tagline "Thick Thieves. Thin Ice.", by the way) isn't a movie for a wide audience, because of the grim & black humor and the occasional pretty violent outbursts. But it sure is a welcome alternative for mainstream movies and highly recommended for film-noir-fans.

THE ICE HARVEST (TIH), another quirky triumph from Focus Features, should really be sold as a thriller with darkly comedic undertones a la FARGO rather than a comedy with thriller elements a la GROSSE POINTE BLANK (even though John Cusack looks remarkably like he did in GPB here). It's a subtle but crucial difference, and a successful change in tone for director Harold Ramis. The suspenseful yet surreally funny Kansas-set story of nervous Mob lawyer John Cusack teaming up with laid-back yet ruthless Billy Bob Thornton to steal over $2 million from Cusack's boss Randy Quaid, only to find themselves stuck in Wichita by an ice storm and all manner of goof-ups and goofballs, with a hit man on their tail to-boot, TIH tells its twisted tale as if my fave thriller author Jim Thompson (THE GRIFTERS, THE GETAWAY, POP. 1280, among others) wrote it in a jovial mood -- though I suspect that in a jovial mood, Thompson would have been more likely to smirk than belly-laugh. Set on Christmas Eve, TIH starts with the best unexpected holiday-themed credits since 1947's LADY IN THE LAKE and only gets more gleefully malevolent from there. You know our antiheroes are literally in for a blue Christmas, thanks to Alar Kivilo's sleek azure-tinged photography. Cusack and Thornton make such a good team that I'm now eager to rent their previous collaboration, PUSHING TIN, even though I've heard mixed reviews of that, too. Oliver Platt has been touted as TIH's scene-stealer in the role of Cusack's friend who stole his wife and, having lived to regret it, spends the whole film getting drunk and hilariously obnoxious. Platt's a hoot, all right, but Thornton has the slyest lines; his explanation of how his wife ends up killed by the hit man is evilly funny, all the more so for Thornton's matter-of-fact delivery. Connie Nielsen also deserves kudos for stealing her own scenes more subtly and sensuously as the sexy owner of The Sweet Cage, one of many strip joints in town that Cusack frequents (I came away from the movie thinking strip joints must be a cottage industry in Wichita). Nielsen looks like a Petty Girl or Varga Girl come to life, fresh from the pages of a vintage Esquire issue. If you want a wicked little tongue-in-cheek noir as an antidote to the season's holiday cheer, TIH may well be your cup of hemlock. (When TIH comes out on DVD, rent it along with BAD SANTA, FARGO, and/or GROSSE POINTE BLANK and have yourself a merry little day of eccentric movie mayhem!)

There's something about a dark, violent and offensive Christmas movie that sends me through the roof. I loved 'Bad Santa' and 'Die Hard' is my second favorite Christmas film (if you can call it that, I can) of all time. 'The Ice Harvest' looked very entertaining from it's previews and starred a talented group of actors including John Cusack (Grosse Point Blank), Billy Bob Thorton (Bad Santa), Connie Nielsen (Gladiator), the hilarious Randy Quaid (National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation) and the even more hilarious Oliver Platt (Showtime's 'Huff'). 'The Ice Harvest' was even directed by the great Harold Ramis (Caddyshack, Groundhog's Day). Yes, 'The Ice Harvest' had all ingredients to be a very decent black Christmas movie. In the first fifteen minutes of 'The Ice Harvest' I was sorely disappointed in it's quality, but by twenty-five minutes in, I enjoyed every dark minute. It is by far the most twisted Holiday movie I've seen (dark sh*t, real dark sh*t), but I was enthralled through the lot of it.

'The Ice Harvest' is based on the not-so-well-known novel. It follows big-time dead-beat dad mob lawyer, Charlie Aglist (John Cusack). Charlie decides he wants to make it big so with the help of a local Witchita goon, Vic Cavanaugh (Billy Bob Thorton) he rips off his violent mob boss client, Bill Guerrard (Randy Quaid). This all happens on Christmas Eve day, and he and Vic leave Witicha that night. All they have to do is act normal for 24 hours -- that turns to DISASTER! The two somehow get pursued by the mob, deal with a perky but wise bad-ass business lady Renita (Connie Nielsen), get the cops involved and somehow manage to get Charlie's ex-wife's new drunken dipsh*t husband, Pete (Oliver Platt) involved. It's going to be one hell of a night!

Like I said before, 'The Ice Harvest' is very slow during the start but really speeds up twenty - thirty minutes into it. The writing is solid for the most part (some of it is unbelievable), but the reason I liked it so much was because it was unpredictable. In the theater, I honestly had no clue what was going to happen next, and that is damn hard to find in a film now days. Harold Ramis does another great job directing this, and the cast is fabulous. Cusack and Thorton shine in their roles, Quaid is surprisingly perfect as a cutthroat mobster, Connie Nielsen handles her role okay for the most part, but the real stand-out is Oliver Platt. Platt is absolutely hysterical every second he is on the screen including a hilarious scene with him showing up drunk at his uptight parents-in-law's house for Christmas Eve dinner. 'The Ice Harvest' is enjoyable but it is nothing brilliant. It has it's flaws and displays them, but 'The Ice Harvest' wasn't meant to be groundbreaking, just entertaining (which it wildly succeeds in).

I was surprised to hear this was doing terrible in the box office. I think a lot of people would get a kick out of it, at least those who had the stomach for it. 'The Ice Harvest' is very violent, dark and sick and some of the more conservative and weak-hearted movie goers will find it's material offensive and pure rubbish. I personally loved it because it was sick and unpredictable. It was no Oscar contender, but it kept me on the edge of my seat. I haven't been on the edge of my seat in a movie theater in a long time. Thank you for another fun and quirky black comedy, Harold Ramis. Grade: B (screened at AMC Deer Valley 30, Phoenix, Arizona, 12/02/05)

I wasn't surprised when the movie did poorly at the box office. Not because it's a bad movie, but because it's a very dark comedy. And let's face it, dark comedies don't usually make good business. We are living in a politically correct day and age, when it's not OK to laugh at movies like these. But I happen to have a dark sense of humor and enjoyed the film quite a bit. It's definitely a departure for Harold Ramis, who usually directs much lighter comedies (i.e.: "Caddyshack," "Groundhog Day"). Even though the "Analyze This" films were about the mafia, I wouldn't go as far as calling them "dark comedies." "The Ice Harvest" is at times a bit too low-key, but those who don't have the attention span of a three-year-old shouldn't mind. This is definitely not a comedy with plenty of huge, broad sight gags, and I liked it that way. The jokes were more subtle. Ramis also did a fine job at assembling his cast. John Cusack carries the film, and probably gives one of his best performances. Unfortunately, Billy Bob Thornton has a pretty small role, but he makes good use of his screen time. And since Cusack and Thornton starred in "Pushing Tin" together, their chemistry is good. Oliver Platt steals the show as his drunken character, bringing out probably the biggest laughs. I hate how acting teachers believe that for people to act drunk, they have to be very subtle. Take it from a guy who's been drunk quite a few times--Platt's performance is shockingly accurate. Part of what made me laugh so hard was that some of his behavior would remind me of me when I'm drunk, or how I see some of my friends act when they're drunk. So as a message to all you acting teachers reading this: Either you're a pompous a** or you just hang out with some really boring friends. Yes, people really do stumble around and slur their words when they're drunk. Almost the whole movie takes place in a strip club, so if you're a heterosexual guy like me, you'll have some good eye candy throughout. So if the combination of good acting, naked strippers and dark humor appeals to you--"The Ice Harvest" is the film to see.