The Ice Harvest
Thick thieves. Thin ice.
It's Christmas Eve in rainy, icebound Wichita, Kansas, and this year Charlie Arglist (John Cusack) just might have something to celebrate. Charlie, an attorney for the sleazy businesses of Wichita, and his unsavory associate, the steely Vic Cavenaugh (Billy Bob Thornton), have just successfully embezzled $2,147,000 from Kansas City boss Bill Guerrard (Randy Quaid).
Even so, the real prize for Charlie would be the stunning Renata (Connie Nielsen), who runs the Sweet Cage strip club. Charlie's fondest Christmas wish is to slip out of town with Renata. But, as daylight fades and a storm whirls, everyone from Charlie's drinking buddy Pete Van Heuten (Oliver Platt) to the local police begin to wonder just what exactly is in Charlie's Christmas stocking. For Charlie, the 12 hours of Christmas Eve are filled with nonstop twists and turns, both on the ice and off.
Member Reviews
Be in the right mood for this one - merlin234
It's a dark movie with edgy humour, so Cusack was a good casting. I'm a Cusack fan and always enjoyed this aspect of his acting. So, while not a stretch really for him i.e. the nice bad guy with a conscience who doesn't enjoy killing (shades of Gross Pointe Blank for me anyways), it works.
Surprised Harold Ramis directed this, didn't seem like something he would do but it turned out well I think. I'm glad they picked the ending they did which of course I won't give away here. Also in this DVD is a great little out take with Billy Bob Thorton.Film Noir? Comedy? - Stitch
A defining characteristic of film noir is the interesting character (evil or innocent) who we can identify with as he/she instigates or is trapped by malignant events. John Cusack is handed the task here and in spite of his best attempts, the screenplay fails miserably to support him. So despite personal involvement in some pretty lurid activities, he comes across as neither villain or victim but mostly as impotent observer. And even this portrayal might have worked if the story line had some definition in the beginning to explain his context. Instead it just wanders along without sufficiently clear intent while ponying up unsubtle depictions of odious human mores.
And comedy relies on humour, however black. A couple of incidents apply (body disposal as an example) but the physicality is overwhelmed by the inanity and a phoned-in performance by Billy Bob Thornton. Not his finest hour. Oliver Platt has the best lines but he’s given scant opportunity to frame and deliver them properly. The word play on Wichita Falls is I suppose an attempt to conclude with some subtle profundity. OK, I missed the point, as did my audience. Obviously we’re intellectual rednecks...it shot right by us. Or could it be pretentious crap?
Now I will concede that were it not for one overriding theme, I might even have conceded two stars. But there’s not one individual, scene or event that displays a single redeeming moral or modest social virtue. Wives, children, friends, police—none are without self-serving agendas. Or are just plain unpleasant. Drunken buddies don’t qualify, especially when they throw up in your car. So it doesn’t compute, selling a town as being populated solely with losers. For relief, you should like someone, occasionally.
I’m trying very hard to find a redeeming feature here. OK, my bride thought Connie Nielsen was effective as the beguiling vamp.
Not recommended for children (or adults either, for that matter).Harold Ramis makes a Coen Brothers movie - Shawn_in_Montreal
Yes, unexpectedly, in The Ice Harvest. Curiously set amidst the strip club/porn/massage parlour world of Wichita Falls (hey, who knew?), this film offers a quirky, Coen Brothers take on an embezzlement scheme that starts to go sour from the get-go.
As noted in other reviews, the film has a meandering feel at first. But by the time the two accomplices have to slide a trunk containing a body out onto a rotting dock over a frozen river, with our central character knowing that he himself may not make it back to shore alive, I was hooked.
From there, the body count really starts to pile up, right to a perfect film noir climax.
To be sure, the film has its flaws. One cannot believe that someone who looks and sounds like Renata exists beyond the pages of a film noir thriller, let alone runs a crappy club in Wichita Falls (she is not a dancer, as erroneously stated in the Zip review). And I didn't like the way the film appears to trivialize killing, a la Tarantino.
But that's true to the film noir genre. And the film ends on a sweeter and more moral note. I liked it.
Member Reviews
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Be in the right mood for this one - merlin234
It's a dark movie with edgy humour, so Cusack was a good casting. I'm a Cusack fan and always enjoyed this aspect of his acting. So, while not a stretch really for him i.e. the nice bad guy with a conscience who doesn't enjoy killing (shades of Gross Pointe ...Film Noir? Comedy? - Stitch
A defining characteristic of film noir is the interesting character (evil or innocent) who we can identify with as he/she instigates or is trapped by malignant events. John Cusack is handed the task here and in spite of his best attempts, the screenplay fails ...Harold Ramis makes a Coen Brothers movie - Shawn_in_Montreal
Yes, unexpectedly, in The Ice Harvest. Curiously set amidst the strip club/porn/massage parlour world of Wichita Falls (hey, who knew?), this film offers a quirky, Coen Brothers take on an embezzlement scheme that starts to go sour from the get-go.
As ...