credit: www.amazon.com
Director:
Harold Ramis
Cast:
John Cusack …. Charlie Arglist
Billy Bob Thornton …. Vic Cavanaugh
Connie Nielsen …. Renata
Randy Quaid …. Bill Guerrard
Oliver Platt …. Pete Van Heuten
Mike Starr …. Roy
The Movie:
The Ice Harvest is a light-hearted-dark-comedy-crime-thriller.
Charlie Arglist is a mob lawyer. Vic Cavanaugh sells porn (we know this only from one throw away line.) Together they steal two million dollars for Bill Guerrard, a mob boss in charge of all the strip joints in the Wichita area. Getting the money was a snap, now all they have to do keep their cool for one night before they get out of town. Charlie and Vic decide to spend the night away from each other as not to arouse suspicion. Vic holds onto the money. Charlie goes to a strip joint where everyone seems to know him.
Problems begin to brew for Charlie right away. First he finds a way to help out the woman of his dreams, Renata, she’s your typical femme fetale and she owns the strip joint. Then he learns that Roy, Guerrard thug, is in town looking for Charlie and Vic. Then Charlie gets stuck taking care of his “friend” Pete who is the current husband of his ex-wife and piss drunk. Some how this little side story goes on for over twenty minutes.
Charlie finally gets rid of Pete and makes his way back to Reneta. She informs Charlie that Vic was looking him. Charlie goes to the meeting place to find blood all over and a severed finger in a vice grip. Things begin to spin way out of control and people start dropping like flies. This is where the film which seemed sloppy and directionless before begins to tighten and become an interesting movie and the end twist and turns it’s way to a pleasant conclusion.
John Cusack does a good job as the wishy-washy Charlie who seems to glide through this film until he is forced to take action. Platt is hilarious as Charlie’s drunken friend and really brings some humor to the film. Neilsen does an okay job as the femme fetal, but you never quite buy Charlie’s gullible love of her. Quaid seems an odd choice as the mob boss Guerrard. I give him props for trying to play a serious roll but he didn’t bring the weight the character needed. He just isn’t threatening.
The biggest problem this film had is that it doesn’t really know what kind of film it is. It doesn’t take itself seriously enough to be a good crime thriller and it’s not funny enough to be a good dark comedy. It’s one of those movies that isn’t a bad film, but it’s not a great film. It’s one of those films that just kind of exist and when you’re done watching it you say “Yup, that’s a movie.” And sometimes that’s even more annoying that a film that’s just terrible.
Story: 7/10
Acting: 7/10
Look/Feel: 7/10
Originality: 6/10
Entertainment Value: 6/10
Total: 33/50
Score: 6.5/10
The DVD:
The Video:
The film is presented in widescreen, 1.85:1. It looks great!
The Audio:
The sound is in Dolby Digital 5.1 and sounds fine.
Special Features:
2 Alternate Endings: The first alt. ending is better than the one in the movie. I really can’t say anything else because I don’t want to ruin the ending for you. And the second one is just unnecessary and lame.
Outtake with Billy Bob Thorton: Thorton acts out a scene in the film playing as his character from Sling Blade. This is the funniest thing on the DVD.
Cracking The Story: The screenwriters and the author of the novel speaking candidly about the adaptation of the story. They seem really proud of the work they’ve done and are very long winded as well.
Beneath The Harvest: Everyone talks about the film and how great it is. More self congratulatory BS. Ramis spend a lot of time talking about how “Film Noir” the movie is. We’ll let Ramis believe whatever he wants.
Ice Cracking: Analysis of a Scene: The crew talk about the making of a scene on the lake and Billy Bob talks about his fear of water. Rather amusing.
Audio Commentary with Director Harold Ramis.
Score: 5
