Out Cold

Low-budget dark comedy that goes in all directions yet does an early fade. Ex-Army buddies-turned-butcher shop partners argue over family business and one of them ends up dead; the first butcher mistakenly thinks he himself is the murderer...until his partner's widow starts acting suspiciously. Barely-released picture with a terrific cast does show spirit and promise; it has a quirky edge that is sometimes playful and sometimes prickly, but unfortunately nobody seems able to keep this movie on track, and the plot bursts like a balloon leaving nothing but dead space in the final third. The performers are very good, particularly John Lithgow and Bruce McGill, but the players, the direction and the script are not in synch. ** from ****

Strangely panned by many critics yet this is actually a funny, black comedy about small-time accidents, coincidences, misunderstandings, failed scheming and murder amongst friends and spouses that has a lot more wit than the overrated Blood Simple. The plot is tight, the humor is delightfully droll and the next-door type characters are well-drawn and fun to watch despite their nastiness, simply because of the blackly amusing circumstances they find themselves in.

This did not deserve to become so obscure. Re-issue it on DVD please.

Ernie and Dave were butchers in the army (during the opening credits photos of them in their uniforms, along with Sunny, are shown). They open their own butcher shop, and Ernie is married to Sunny. Ernie is abusive, and Sunny is cheating on him. And the door to the freezer in the butcher shop keeps closing and locking when someone is inside.

John Lithgow is at his best playing nervous characters who panic over every little thing. Of course, in this movie his character has plenty of reason to be nervous, and it doesn't help that Sunny is hiding some very important information from him. Teri Garr is not only good-looking but comes across as quite calm and pretty much in control. Randy Quaid is quite goofy as the detective Sunny hires to help her divorce Ernie. Like Dave, the detective also thinks he knows something that we know isn't true, and the results can be quite funny.

This wasn't all that great at first, but as the situations got sillier, I was really enjoying it. I've seen better movies like this, but this was pretty good.

The plot of "Out Cold" could have made a movie as funny as the 1950's era Alec Guinness/Ealing Studios comedies. But something didn't click for me in the way "Out Cold" was filmed. Most notably, the music was way off. Music and sound effects was a big part of the Guinness comedies. But in addition to the poor music choices and lack of comic sound effects, there were stretches that didn't seem to accomplish anything except take up time.

There is a twist at the end of "Out Cold" that is left for the viewer to interpret. Was Dave (John Lithgow) not the bumbling naif he seemed to be?

I agree that this movie is underrated. The cast is perfect for the material, and it has a clever story with lots of surprises along the way. My only complaint is that it's too short, and that it could have maybe gone a little further with the dark humor. It seems to hold back and play it safe a lot of the time. Other than that it's a great movie!