Thin Ice

This is a flawed but still watchable film that seems to steal characters and plot from the Coen Brothers' Fargo, yet manages to succeed. At least to an extent.

The problem may be - as we were told at our cinema previewing club - that the director lost final cut here, and found herself with a movie she no longer can even comment on, with 15 minutes cut, the film re-edited, and a score she never intended - and one that doesn't work well.

The result is a somewhat uneven, too dark black comedy. Or is it a drama? Or perhaps a "caper" movie? I'm not quite sure.

When it comes to the acting, though, this is a great film. Greg Kinnear plays a character too reminiscent of Wm. H. Macy's turn in Fargo, but he makes the most of it, though - team player that he is - he's outshone by more spectacular performances. Alan Arkin, for one, who also did it to Kinnear in Little Miss Sunshine. But the "steal the show" performance is by Billy Crudup, always sexy (my wife says he's "hot") and interesting to watch, and here at his very best. Bob Balaban is spot on as a violin dealer, and the rest of the cast is excellent.

Worth seeing for many, but mostly for those performances.

What I thought is going to be a black humor comedy with a twist, turned out to be something much more. First of all, as many movies before almost the entire movie is set in snow ridden Wisconsin (death trip), and I love just how that setting immediately sets the atmosphere of the flick. With two experienced leads Greg Kinnear and Alan Arkin, who already worked together in a similar movie Little Miss Sunshine, Thin Ice is a thriller comedy with a weird up vibe involving scams, murder and black humor. Most of all I enjoyed the character of Mickey Prohaska masterfully played by Greg Kinnear, an average shifty looking insurance salesman who finds himself in quite a pickle... Since I would like you to fully enjoy the movie, I will not bother you much with anything else in fear that I might spoil the viewing pleasure.

Mickey Prohaska is an insurance salesman looking to move from freezing Wisconsin to some sunnier state. He has a silver tongue and a well thought-out approach to his future customers. Self-confident and always in control he decides to show how it's done to his new employee by helping him lock a deal with a forgetful elderly gentlemen Gorvy Hauer. While at his house he accidentally discovers that Gorvy has a very valuable violin, that he currently uses to play fetch with his dog. And then and there the plan is born in Mickey Prohaska's head, a plan that will get him out of snowy Wisconsin but he did not realize that sometimes things go wrong, very wrong. As events unfold we see him losing control over the situation and accusations of murder, heist and embezzlement are pending... Will Mickey manage to talk his way out of this situation (and should we want him to?) is up to you to find out. Enjoy.

Check out my review site Rabbit-Reviews.com for movies that are worth watching, Rabbit out...

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Great performances, average movie, that's basically what you can take away from THIN ICE, which wants to be taken seriously as a Midwestern con flick with a bit of Coens' Fargo feel to it but the way it reveals itself at the end is so abrupt and hasty, it jams itself down the audience's throat and it doesn't care whether or not the audience is fully prepared for it just yet. Interesting concept, a con film through the eyes of the marked man, but interesting at best is what this film would have to settle for…

Greg Kinnear is a fantastic actor, I think I find myself saying that about all of his previous performances. There are certain occupations out there that are not liked by general public, lawyers and insurance agents are examples, and Kinnear plays an agent who's also a compulsive liar and he sees a golden opportunity that could be used to his advantage. The story is basically told through his perspective, his character, Mickey, is not necessarily a protagonist but then again, the story doesn't actually have a protagonist to root for, because even the ones that get away with the prize don't grant themselves something likable, and because Micky finds himself digging deeper and deeper into problems with every unwise choice he makes, part of you would feel a bit sorry for the fella. As I said earlier, THIN ICE sorta takes style from Coen Bros' crime drama/thriller/comedy, even Mickey reminds me of Michael Stuhlbarg's character in A Serious Man, situations for them just worsen, no matter what they do, there'd be times when they think they've got it all figured out but they actually don't.

One credit I'd give THIN ICE is that unless somebody tells you that it's a con film, you probably wouldn't have guessed it from the get-go but halfway trough the film, you can kinda start sensing something's off and start piecing it together. I'm a tropical boy, so I can only imagine how uncomfortable it must've been for Arkin, Kinnear, and Crudup to be out there in dead winter, I'd freeze my ass off and wouldn't be able to say my lines correctly. I think the film was poorly edited and it could've used a more chilling score. Crudup is a treat to watch here because his character is unpredictable, unstable, psycho scary and because of that he also comes off funny, I've never seen Crudup this way on screen and so to see him do it so well, is refreshing, definitely not an actor you'd underestimate. Perhaps if the writers, the Sprechers, where to give Mickey more depth, thus allowing Kinnear to showcase more. That would certainly compensate for everything else that's lackluster about THIN ICE.

-- www.Ramascreen.com --

I have to say I really enjoyed "Thin Ice" even though it had a few problems. It certainly didn't have any cast problems: Greg Kinnear, who somehow always surprises me; Billy Crudup, whom I adore; and Alan Arkin, an absolute treasure. Also on hand were Lea Thompson, David Harbour, and Jennifer Edwards Hughes.

The movie is compared to Fargo because it takes place in Wisconsin in the winter and the major theme is a guy doing something dishonest and getting in way over his head.

The comparisons really stop there. This is a good movie on its own. It's not perfect but it is entertaining.

Insurance agent Mickey (Greg Kinnear) is blackmailed by Locksmith Randy (Billy Crudup) over the theft of a valuable violin owned by Gorvy Hauer (Alan Arkin).

Mickey (Kinnear) is an insurance man, and when we first see him, he's giving a lecture at an insurance convention. While he's there his wallet is stolen and of course, it contained credit cards. But he gets the wallet back with the cash gone and the cards intact.

While he's at the convention, he meets a man, Bob Egan (Harbour) who hasn't taken his insurance exam yet. He has been offered a job with an unfavorable split; Mickey betters it and hires him.

Bob is good at his job and introduces Mickey to a potential client, Gorvy (Arkin) who lives on a farm. He has tons of stuff, a lot of which is from his ill sister, and Bob wants him to have insurance. While he's there, Mickey sees an appraisal for a violin of Gorvy's. The appraisal is $25,000. Mickey decides to steal it.

What follows is one complication after another, which involves Mickey with an ex-con (Crudup) and some other unpleasantness.

Apparently this film was taken from the director and edited without his input. The film has imperfections, but the script by the Sprechers is good, possibly inspired by Fargo and a couple of other films.

The acting was wonderful on all accounts, but I have to say Crudup was amazing. It was a showier role than Kinnear's, and though Arkin was excellent, I had seen him do that kind of thing before. Crudup as a bad-tempered sleaze was outstanding.

Highly recommended. You can pick a film like this apart but it's so entertaining, why bother.

Insurance agent Mickey (Greg Kinnear) is blackmailed by Locksmith Randy (Billy Crudup) over the theft of a valuable violin owned by Gorvy Hauer (Alan Arkin).

The movie setting is winter in Wisconsin and although we see some ice and snow from time to time, we wished there were more wintry scenes. You see, they kind of help cool us when we are watching this in the summer heat wave we have now. Bummer.

Returning to our story, we see that Mickey is in debt and is willing to steal Gorvy's violin as Gorvy isn't aware of the true value. Enter Randy and the cover-up begins, but both are surprised by a neighbor who feels something isn't right and threatens to call the police. What to do? What to do?

That is as far as I will go because the rest is complicated. We like Mickey and hope he can find a way to make things right. However, because most of this happens in the beginning, we see that there is a lot more story (read movie) to go and things get even more complicated and go progressively worse for Mickey. Okay, okay, I went a little further but, we see there is enough time for Mickey to make things right. That is our hope.

There are many twists and turns in here and you need to keep up. We keep rooting for Mickey, but things go further and further south for him. Greg Kinnear plays Mickey to perfection. We feel his pain even though he did something wrong. The acting performances of the rest of the cast are perfect, but it is Mickey we care about and he needs to find a way out of the mess he helped create. We can only hope

We see Randy as a normal person, but when he gets surprised by something that doesn't go right, he loses it big time for a while and then he reverts back to being quiet and normal again. This happens 2-times in the movie. I guess this is the comic relief within. Pretty good though. Kind of reminds us of William H. Macy in FARGO when he beats the hell out of his vehicle when his plans are upset. These temper tantrums are great scenes. Kudos.

The key to the whole movie is Arkin's Gorvy, who is naïve and agreeable to insurance suggestions by Mickey's new agent hire, Bob (David Harbour). Alan Arkin is becoming a real acting treasure in his later years and we like his screen presence. Okay, okay, the real key to the movie is Mickey and his greed. You will see why. Okay? Tough room.

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No.