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Amazon.co.uk Review
Holiday movies don’t get much darker, or more darkly humourous, than The Ice Harvest, an offbeat comedy that defies expectations. The involvement of director Harold Ramis might lead some to expect a straight-up comedy like Groundhog Day or Analyze This, but despite Ramis’s fine and atypically subdued work here, it’s the writers (Robert Benton and Richard Russo) who put a stronger stamp on their adaptation of the novel by Scott Phillips. Benton and Russo previously collaborated on Nobody’s Fool and Twilight (with Benton also directing), and those films are similar in tone and spirit to this quirky, modern-day film noir, set on a freezing Christmas Eve in Wichita, Kansas, where mob lawyer Charlie Arglist (John Cusack) has a lot on his mind. He’s just stolen $2 million from his boss (Randy Quaid), he can’t trust his partner Vic (Billy Bob Thornton), he’s secretly in love with the manager (Connie Nielsen) of the strip bar he owns, and his best friend (Oliver Platt, giving yet another terrific performance) is married to his ex-wife. Before the night’s over, several murders will complicate matters even further, and throughout it all, The Ice Harvest is anchored by Cusack’s good-natured presence in a bad-natured story that dares to combine double-crosses and bloodshed with elusive yuletide cheer. It’s a strange but oddly appealing combination, not for all tastes but refreshing for that very same reason. --Jeff Shannon
Synopsis
Based on the novel by Scott Phillips, The Ice Harvest is a comic film noir set in very cold and icy Wichita, Kansas. John Cusack turns in another fine performance as Charlie Arglist, a soft-spoken lawyer who works for local mob boss Bill Guerrard (Randy Quaid). Charlie hangs out in strip clubs, pines after femme fatale Renata (Connie Nielsen), rarely sees his kids, and basically watches life happen all around him. Ready for a change, he and the much more hardened Vic Cavanaugh (Billy Bob Thornton) steal $2.1 million from Guerrard and plan to play it cool before leaving town, trying not to create suspicion. All they need to do is make it through Christmas Eve--but that's not going to be easy for Charlie, who spends the long night getting caught up in a series of very funny, very dangerous, and very bloody events that unfold while sweet Christmas carols echo in the background. Reminiscent of such stylish modern noirs as Red Rock West and Fargo, The Ice Harvest features a clever script by Oscar-winner Robert Benton and Pulitzer Prize-winner Richard Russo, and was directed by Harold Ramis, the former Ghostbuster who has helmed such successful films as Caddyshack, Groundhog Day, and Analyze This. The acting is uniformly excellent--including Mike Starr as hit man Roy Gelles, who never shows his face--but Oliver Platt runs away with the film as Pete Van Heuten, an old friend of Charlie's who stole his family and now is an obnoxious, hysterical, pathetic drunken fool with a good heart.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I bought this film second-hand on the off-chance: director Ramis has, of course, done the fantastic Groundhog Day, and having read the brief synopsis, it sounded like a darkly comic 'christmas crime noir' (and there's a genre we need more of!)
The problem this film has is a lack of ANY sympathetic characters. Even John Cusak's character - who is obviously meant to be the (very weak) moral centre of things just isn't generating enough on-screen empathy: he is, at best, neutral, and that's not enough.
The black humour is fleeting and largely flat, but most of all there's no SPARK: the setting and set-up ought to deliver great moment after great moment, but sadly not.
I didn't expect to see Santa every two minutes or a Capra-esque ending, but a big part of the pitch for this was the festive setting which is hardly referenced at all. Also, and this is a rare one for me to moan about: I didn't like the general tone towards women in the story as a whole. Usually, I'm your standard ignorant-bloke on this type of thing, but even I became a little tired of the uniformaly negative and/or weak role-call of female characters - it only really hit me when I was pondering it all in the days following.
I can't fault the DVD package (commentary, alternate endings - proper ones too, not the usual attempts at that where someone says or does something slightly differently, so as to just meet the dictionary definition of 'alternative') so perhaps in the end it just wasn't my cup of tea. John Cusak is always worth a watch, but I think here everyone is struggling to find their places in the story, and so much seems to happen off-screen or be simply referred to by characters rather than shown, it all came off very flat.
NO ho ho!
The problem this film has is a lack of ANY sympathetic characters. Even John Cusak's character - who is obviously meant to be the (very weak) moral centre of things just isn't generating enough on-screen empathy: he is, at best, neutral, and that's not enough.
The black humour is fleeting and largely flat, but most of all there's no SPARK: the setting and set-up ought to deliver great moment after great moment, but sadly not.
I didn't expect to see Santa every two minutes or a Capra-esque ending, but a big part of the pitch for this was the festive setting which is hardly referenced at all. Also, and this is a rare one for me to moan about: I didn't like the general tone towards women in the story as a whole. Usually, I'm your standard ignorant-bloke on this type of thing, but even I became a little tired of the uniformaly negative and/or weak role-call of female characters - it only really hit me when I was pondering it all in the days following.
I can't fault the DVD package (commentary, alternate endings - proper ones too, not the usual attempts at that where someone says or does something slightly differently, so as to just meet the dictionary definition of 'alternative') so perhaps in the end it just wasn't my cup of tea. John Cusak is always worth a watch, but I think here everyone is struggling to find their places in the story, and so much seems to happen off-screen or be simply referred to by characters rather than shown, it all came off very flat.
NO ho ho!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Nicely understated, this movie eventually gets around to doubling crosses and femme fatalities, but for much of the running time it is more concerned with the businesss of melancholy middle aged men drinking too much in bars, cars and Strip Joints. The Ice Harvest is a worthy investment for its throwaway wit and bruised, rueful cyncicism.
John Cusack plays an everyman, a lawyer who has sold out to the values of corporate corruption. With mixed feelings, he steals over two million dollars from the local mob on Christmas Eve, then plans with Billy Bob Thornton to make a break for it later on Christmas Day. The mob boss (Randy Quaid) finds out and sends a hit man to get his money back, and the movie plot is about John Cusack trying to avoid getting killed by them.
The movie has been pretty much panned by almost every critic to review it, although Roger Ebert praised it enough for three stars. I loved it and loved the book before it. I realize that I am in a small minority in this regard. What makes THE ICE HARVEST work for me is its noir blend of saltiness and satire, its mixture of comedy and karma. The comedy here is based upon the hypocrisy of Christmas in this era of corruption and greed. All of the liars and killers and thieves in this movie talk about Christmas, about being home opening up presents with their kids. If you don't get that, I guess you won't see the comedy.
John Cusack is endearing as an everyman who has gone too far with a fantasy and now is just trying to survive. Billy Bob Thornton is menacing as Vic. His idea of winning is the American way, giving lip-service to religion and humanist values while embracing ruthless materialism.
Oliver Platt plays a jolly-faced loser, John Cusack's hapless doppeldinger, addicted to sexual conquests and alcohol, now married to Cusack's former wife. He seems to be an extention of the drunks who played in GROUNDHOG DAY. Connie Nielsen vamps it up, a cross between Lauren Bacall and Veronica Lake. She's a tribute to a different era, like the femme fatale in WHO'S AFRAID OF ROGER RABBIT?, not really bad, just drawn that way.
Randy Quaid is terrific as a capitalistic Christian mob boss murderer, sad to be doing business when he could be home celebrating Christ's birthday. This movie has fun poking fun, with style and karma, with a moral and a motto. As Jon Stewart says, "IN GOD WE TRUST" is our motto, and we place it where it can be read on every dollar bill in this film, "right where Jesus would have wanted it."
John Cusack plays an everyman, a lawyer who has sold out to the values of corporate corruption. With mixed feelings, he steals over two million dollars from the local mob on Christmas Eve, then plans with Billy Bob Thornton to make a break for it later on Christmas Day. The mob boss (Randy Quaid) finds out and sends a hit man to get his money back, and the movie plot is about John Cusack trying to avoid getting killed by them.
The movie has been pretty much panned by almost every critic to review it, although Roger Ebert praised it enough for three stars. I loved it and loved the book before it. I realize that I am in a small minority in this regard. What makes THE ICE HARVEST work for me is its noir blend of saltiness and satire, its mixture of comedy and karma. The comedy here is based upon the hypocrisy of Christmas in this era of corruption and greed. All of the liars and killers and thieves in this movie talk about Christmas, about being home opening up presents with their kids. If you don't get that, I guess you won't see the comedy.
John Cusack is endearing as an everyman who has gone too far with a fantasy and now is just trying to survive. Billy Bob Thornton is menacing as Vic. His idea of winning is the American way, giving lip-service to religion and humanist values while embracing ruthless materialism.
Oliver Platt plays a jolly-faced loser, John Cusack's hapless doppeldinger, addicted to sexual conquests and alcohol, now married to Cusack's former wife. He seems to be an extention of the drunks who played in GROUNDHOG DAY. Connie Nielsen vamps it up, a cross between Lauren Bacall and Veronica Lake. She's a tribute to a different era, like the femme fatale in WHO'S AFRAID OF ROGER RABBIT?, not really bad, just drawn that way.
Randy Quaid is terrific as a capitalistic Christian mob boss murderer, sad to be doing business when he could be home celebrating Christ's birthday. This movie has fun poking fun, with style and karma, with a moral and a motto. As Jon Stewart says, "IN GOD WE TRUST" is our motto, and we place it where it can be read on every dollar bill in this film, "right where Jesus would have wanted it."
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Good acting and cinematography combine in a stylish crime noir tale set on Christmas Eve in Wichita, Kansas during an ice storm. John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton star in this excellent sleeper about a couple of guys who rip off two mil plus (the "ice harvest") from a mobster but then have to wait out the storm before catching a plane to someplace warmer and far away. The perfect crime? Or a very, very bad idea? It starts seeming to be a bad idea pretty quickly and then bobsleds downhill in a hurry on the winter ice. In THE ICE HARVEST you are treated to nice performances from the entire cast which includes Randy Quaid. Director Harold Ramis does a good job keeping things moving and he is working with a tight script. Throughout THE ICE HARVEST you are wonderfully reminded of the cold, dark, icy night of the story that helps sustain that noir feeling. Notable is the excellent photography, costumes and visually pleasing sets, elements not always appreciated enough in good movie-making. Well done and worth seeing.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
grim & black humour and the occasional pretty violent outbursts
Screen Based on the novel by Scott Phillips, The Ice Harvest is a comic film noir set in very cold and icy Wichita, Kansas. Read more
Published 19 days ago by S. F. husseiny
5 stars for this one
Let me just add my vote - highly entertaining - well acted and directed - clever script and clever
dialog - enjoyable all the way.
dialog - enjoyable all the way.
Published 20 months ago by Filmfan
Bloody Christmas
I was skeptical about buying this, due to the reviews i had seen.
When i watched it, it made me think all those reviewers obviously have some chemical imbalance. Read more
When i watched it, it made me think all those reviewers obviously have some chemical imbalance. Read more
Published on 27 Oct 2009 by Liam O'Shea
John Cusack does his best
A tedious, plodding film, that tries to be a quirky noirish thriller, but just isn't very good.
Published on 29 Jun 2008 by shpadoinkle
a slow film and a plain tedious film
If you like a film with very dark but not too funny humour where people are constantly nasty to one another and the story plods along very slowly,
you'll like the Ice... Read more
you'll like the Ice... Read more
Published on 6 Nov 2007 by dan the fan
A Hidden Gem
I caught this movie on a quiet day in Barcelona, hidden behind blockbusters like Kong. No publicity, no fanfare, and yet a beautiful little film with wonderful performances. Read more
Published on 15 April 2006 by Jason Robertson
A black comedy crime caper that never completely clicks
Black comedies are difficult things to pull off, which probably explains to a large degree why there are not that many of them. Read more
Published on 13 April 2006 by Lawrance M. Bernabo
Bloody and violent modern noir....
In the Ice Harvest, mob lawyer Charlie Arglist (John Cusack) and local pornography king Vic Cavanaugh (Billy Bob Thornton) have just stolen more than two million dollars in cash... Read more
Published on 9 Mar 2006 by M. J Leonard
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