The Ice Harvest (2005)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Harold Ramis

Writers (WGA):

Richard Russo (screenplay) &
Robert Benton (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

23 November 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Thick Thieves. Thin Ice.

Plot:

A shady lawyer attempts a Christmas Eve crime, hoping to swindle the local mob out of some money. But his partner, a strip club owner, might have different plans for the cash.

Plot Keywords:

Christmas | Christmas Eve | Strip Club | Kansas | Rain

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

John Cusack	...	Charlie
Billy Bob Thornton	...	Vic
Lara Phillips	...	Rusti
Bill Noble	...	Culligan
Brad Smith	...	Ronny
Ned Bellamy	...	Sidney
Connie Nielsen	...	Renata
Mike Starr	...	Roy Gelles
T.J. Jagodowski	...	Officer Tyler
Meghan Maureen McDonough	...	Francie
Tab Baker	...	Dennis
Frank Gallo	...	Restaurateur
William Dick	...	Manager
Oliver Platt	...	Pete
David Pasquesi	...	Councilman Williams

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, language and sexuality/nudity.

Runtime:

USA:92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (British Columbia/Ontario) | Canada:18A (Alberta/Manitoba/Nova Scotia) | Norway:15 | UK:15 | Finland:K-15 | Netherlands:12 | France:U | Singapore:M18 | Iceland:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Malaysia:(Banned) | Argentina:13 | Norway:11 | Australia:MA | Germany:16 | USA:R (certificate #39360) | South Korea:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Carpentersvillle, Illinois, USA

Company:

Focus Features

Trivia:

The weather got to be so bad during shooting, that Harold Raimis almost had to close to production for a day, which would've ended his perfect record of never losing a shooting day.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Bill Guerrard is shown in Renata's office at first, his suit jacket is blue. But after getting shot in the face, he is seen on the floor and his suit jacket is black. Then when Bill Guerrard gets up after not being killed, his suit jacket is blue again.

Quotes:

Charlie Arglist: As Wichita falls... so falls Wichita Falls.

Movie Connections:

References The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Soundtrack:

The Boys All Went Home

Icy-cold humor, warmly recommended

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.