A Sangue Frio

Take the sardonic wit of "Prizzi's Honor" or "Body Heat." Combine with not-too- bright characters working a shady deal for quick riches in a caper that could have been written by Elmore Leonard. That's what you have in "The Ice Harvest," a highly entertaining dark comedy.

It's Christmas Eve during a terrible ice storm in Kansas City. Charlie (John Cusack) and Vic (Billy Bob Thornton) have stolen a bundle from the mob. This could create an awkward situation for Charlie if they don't get out of town fast. He's the lawyer for the local mob boss, Bill (Randy Quaid), who has a terrible temper.

So as not to arouse suspicion, Vic and Charlie go their separate ways early in the evening. Both have family duties and Charlie has other things to take care of. There's the beautiful Renata (Connie Nielson), for one. And Pete (Oliver Platt), who shares part of Charlie's past. Life becomes more complicated as the night goes on and Charlie meets up again with Vic. More twists and surprises follow.

I almost didn't go to this movie, because the teaser for the Austin Film Festival made it look like a Cusack-Thornton buddy movie, and I'm tired of the character Thornton keeps playing. Happily Thornton is not on screen much. This is John Cusack's movie and he has created an interesting, unhappy man looking for a way out. Oliver Platt, who steals every scene he's in, provides comic relief and story exposition.

Director Harold Ramis introduced the film and did a Q&A afterwards. He talked about how the snowstorm in the book became an ice storm because that's the weather they had to work with. He talked about the many ideas Cusack and Platt brought to their characters. New to me was Connie Nielson, originally from Denmark. Ramis said she told him she was channeling Jessica Rabbit in the part of the femme fatale. I think she succeeded. Kudos also to Pulitzer-prize winning author Richard Russo and Robert Benton for a snappy script.

John Cusack stars, and his performance is pretty much what you expect from him: quick-witted and cynical. But, as far as I'm concerned, as long as that's what the role calls for, he's always good. He plays a mob lawyer who has just stolen over $2 million from his boss (Randy Quaid) with the help of a strip club owner (Billy Bob Thornton). For a good ways into the picture, I thought I was seeing one of the best films of last year. It does start to stumble after about the halfway point, but it still finishes pretty strong. All the actors are strong, but I have to give special kudos to Oliver Platt, who is always a delight. He plays a drunk friend of Cusack's who is now miserably married to Cusack's ex-wife. I don't normally praise drunk acts, but Platt is particularly believable – and hilarious. This movie is a lot of fun and well worth seeing.

I had heard this movie described as a black comedy by some. And when one thinks of Harold Ramis, they think of his ingenious work as a director of comedies. But this is a different Harold Ramis. What he has fashioned is "film noir" all the way.

John Cusack works perfectly with the material, not so much in a Humphrey Bogart kind of way as in a Fred MacMurray sort of way. He's the average guy protagonist. He just happens to be a Witchita attorney for a Kansas City political boss.

The film begins when Charlie Arglist (Cusack), with over two million in stolen cash, jumps into the car with partner-in-crime Vic Cavanaugh (Billy Bob Thornton). Throughout the evening Charlie encounters strip club owner Renata (Connie Nielsen) and drunken colleague Pete Van Heuten (Oliver Platt, his fist scene-stealer in a number of years).

The character of Pete offers some great comic relief to the story. He's Charlie's best friend, drunk on Christmas Eve. He's also married to Charlie's ex-wife, and hating it. This leads to an awkward encounter with Charlie's kids and former in-laws.

Thornton is still finding new ways of being corrupt and amoral. Connie Nielsen is a classic femme fatal in the 1940s style. Mike Starr is good as usual, playing a menacing mob enforcer. Randy Quaid does his usual best as Kansas City mobster Bill Guerarrd. And bit player Ned Bellamy, cast as a strip club bouncer with Mom issues adds some fine scenes.

This is about the most straight-forward "noir" I've seen since Lawrence Kasdan's "Body Heat," but as directed by Ramis, it feels slightly like a Coen brothers movie, with the occasional comic twists to the genre, and the casting choices of Thornton ("The Man Who Wasn't There") and Starr ("Miller's Crossing").

It's not the best movie of the year. But it's good for people who aren't so anxious for a "white" Christmas.

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 also saw this film at the Virginia Film Festival, but I must disagree with the other fellow who wrote it up. I loved it. I'm not a huge Cusack fan, but I have to say he does a great job carrying this small, gritty, character-driven film. And I thought Oliver Platt was great throughout. It's a terrific script, too, co-written by none other than Robert Benton. Kudos to Harold Ramis for having the guts to make this indie film! Is it commercial? Is it going to make a lot at the B.O.? No, it's not. It's another WONDER BOYS. It's another BIG LEBOWSKI. It's another CUTTER'S WAY. It's another NOBODY'S FOOL. Won't make money, but who cares... It was a delight to watch and I'm sure I'll see it again on a big screen and own it on DVD.