Set on Thanksgiving weekend of 1973, The Ice Storm looks into the lives of a wealthy Connecticut family who are calm and civil on the outside, but whose lives are quietly falling into chaos. Sixteen-year-old Paul Hood (Tobey Maguire) is home for the holidays from prep school; he'd just as soon have stayed at school, given the usual level of tension around the house and his desire to win the affections of Casey (Katie Holmes), a girl living in Manhattan. His 14-year-old sister, Wendy (Christina
Ricci), is already a hardened cynic obsessed with the ongoing Watergate investigation, and she has begun acting out sexually with a neighbor boy, Mikey (Elijah Wood). Apparently, this runs in the family: Wendy's father, Ben (Kevin Kline), is having an affair with Mikey's mother, Janey (Sigourney Weaver), though Ben sees a future in the relationship and Janey does not. Elena (Joan Allen), Ben's wife, knows something is wrong with her marriage and her life, but she has no idea what she should do about it. As the teenagers surreptitiously experiment with drugs and alcohol, and the adults drift into mate-swapping, a dangerous blanket of freezing rain begins to cover New Canaan. The Ice Storm was adapted from the acclaimed novel by Rick Moody. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
It's unfortunate that as capable a team as director Lee and screenwriter-producer Schamus should have become fascinated with such unpromising material.
I don't know when I've seen actors realize so many affecting moments in such a muddled conception. Lee's aestheticized approach is its own kind of ice storm.
Beautifully acted, refreshingly un-camp in its take on wide lapels and progressive rock and occasionally coolly moving. It's just that ultimately, there's less here than meets the eye.
Marking its 10th anniversary, the 2-disc Criterion Collection contains commentary from director Ang Lee who depicts his satire as a "disaster" film, and new interviews with actors like Elijah Wood, who feels the movie lingers with you and is uncomfortable
What impressively begins as a gentle social satire gradually becomes a conventional family melodrama, one that lacks a clear moral center and in which the parents are just as confused as their children
Though I really dig the whole postapocalyptic end-of-the-world, freak of nature weather stuff, it was just too sapped of genuine emotion for me to care about this much.
Powerful and, at times, daunting. With the possible exception of Janey Carver (Sigourney Weaver), all of the characters have depth and purpose. I still think Rick Moody's novel lends itself better to the stage but Ang Lee and his exquisite cast manage to get the most out of the material.
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