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The Ice Harvest (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 125
Fresh: 57
Rotten:68
Average Rating: 5.5/10
Consensus: The Ice Harvest offers a couple of laughs, but considering the people involved, it should be a lot funnier.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for violence, language and sexuality/nudity.
Runtime: 89 mins
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release:Nov 23, 2005 Wide
Box Office: $8,819,059
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... 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 SCTV star and 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. [More]
Starring: John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, Connie Nielsen, Randy Quaid
Starring: John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, Connie Nielsen, Randy Quaid, Oliver Platt, Justine Bentley
Director: Harold Ramis
Director: Harold Ramis
Screenwriter: Robert Benton, Richard Russo
Producer: Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa
Composer: David Kitay
Studio: Focus Features
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Reviews for The Ice Harvest
...generally comes off as an effective adaptation of Scott Phillips' admittedly superior novel...
When a lot of you tell me you want intelligent movies made by adults for adults, you're asking for movies like this one.
A great cast, a script by Oscar-winning veteran Robert Benton, with Richard Russo, and direction by Harold Ramis still don't add up to much more than a shrug.
90% cynicism / 10% hope, and it's jammed full of funny performances, dark divergences, and a low-key air of existential angst that you simply don't see in many multiplex movies. I love this one.
There's an enjoyably pulpy vibe to The Ice Harvest, aided considerably by the performance of a flame-haired, throaty-voiced Connie Nielsen who vamps it up like a 1940s femme fatale.
Robert Benton and Harold Ramis, put on dunce caps and go stand in the corner.
Memo to John Cusack: There's a thin line between humorous unflappability in the face of strange events, and sleepwalking.
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