The Ice Harvest (2005)
The Ice Harvest Photos
Movie Info
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Cast
as Charlie Arglist
as Vic Cavanaugh
as Renata
as Rusti
as Culligan
as Bill Guerrard
as Pete Van Heuten
as Ronny
as Sidney
as Roy
as Officer Tyler
as Francie
as Dennis
as Manager
as Councilman Williams
as Dottie
as Stan
as Sarabeth
as Spencer
as Christian Girl
as Stroke
as Gladys
as Clerk
as Shelby
as Pearl
as Bar Patron
as Lounge Patron
as Bar Patron
as Restaurant Busboy
as Restaurant Patron
as Cupcake
as Biscuit
News & Interviews for The Ice Harvest
Critic Reviews for The Ice Harvest
All Critics (133) | Top Critics (35) | Fresh (61) | Rotten (72) | DVD (11)
Robert Benton and Harold Ramis, put on dunce caps and go stand in the corner.
Nielsen's Renata is icy cold in her calculations, and an object lesson in how to play a lethal charmer plausibly without losing any of her erotic appeal. She alone is worth the price of admission.
The comedy in The Ice Harvest comes in shades of dark and darker. That's my kind of humor.
The Ice Harvest is like Sin City without the bold style and crooked smile, disgorging grisly bloodbaths without drawing artful things out of them.
... a thriller that's not very thrilling but is as violent as the best of them.
The Ice Harvest isn't a subversive piece of work; it's not making some grand statement about the dark side of the holiday spirit. But what it is saying in its grimly funny way is that we can't always control the timing of our disasters.
Audience Reviews for The Ice Harvest
Charlie Arglist: As Wichita falls... so falls Wichita Falls. "'Twas the night before Christmas" The Ice Harvest is a good little, dark comedy-thriller that has more than just shades of Fargo all over it. This was a fun movie for me. I loved the story and I liked John Cusack as the lead and the supporting cast just helped add more to the whole film experience. I fail to see why this has been so negatively reviewed. Maybe people expected something different, maybe people think it is just a rip-off, but in my mind, this is a worthwhile and really fun movie that doesn't take itself to seriously, but also doesn't give itself completely over to ridiculousness. Charlie Arglist is a mob lawyer in Wichita, Kansas. It's Christmas Eve and the bad freezing rain is expected to fall all night. Charlie and his friend Vic have just embezzled $2 million from the local mob and now they're just waiting out the rain so they can get out of town. Crimes such as this normally don't go unknown though and soon after successfully getting the money, Charlie begins to think that the mob is looking for him and Vic. While this isn't wholly original, it's a fun movie that I enjoyed. Every second was entertaining and there is suspense around every corner. I don't understand how so many people could think this was boring. That seems like the one thing it isn't. The movie is dark, funny, wacky, silly, exciting, fun, and suspenseful. Boring is the one thing that never came to my mind while watching The Ice Harvest. So give it a look if you get a chance.
Super Reviewer
Its a rainy Christmas in Wichita, 1979, icy rain and cold, when small time mob lawyer Cusack decides to skim a little moolah from mean ol'boss Quaid's illegal loot. Luckily his friends want to help him out (outta the goodness of their widdle hearts!) before he gets permanently iced but good in this wee bit of a enjoyable comic noirfest surprisingly directed by Harold Ramis.
Super Reviewer
I was expecting something pretty good with this film, but I was disappointed. With a great cast of actors and interesting story, I'm surprised that the filmmakers couldn't have created anything better than what this film turned out to be. This is a pretty bad film, and I was disappointed because the cast and story were promising. However the film just didn't do it for me. As far as a dark comedy is concerned, this one just doesn't have what it takes and it is plainly a bad film that not even with the good cast at hand, they weren't able to save it from failing. This film could have been great, but it isn't. Harold Ramis over the years has made some great comedy classics, but nowadays he's losing his touch. The Ice Harvest is a boring film that you'll lose interest after a while. I thought that the film could have been much better considering the cast and director. However Harold Ramis can't seem to direct something consistent here. In the end, this is a boring film that could have been better. I think that the black humor elements could have been reworked as well, as even by those humor standards, it didn't do anything to make this film stand out. This film could have been good, but it was just a poorly made film with nothing interesting going for it. I was very disappointed in this film, thought it could have been much better than what it turned out to be.
Super Reviewer
The Ice Harvest Quotes
| Pete Van Heuten: | Everybody has regrets. Guys our age, what else is there? |
| Charlie Arglist: | It's all a matter of character. Of course, if I had any character, I wouldn't have stolen 2 million dollars from my boss. |
| Charlie Arglist: | People always say that there's no such thing as the perfect crime. But I don't agree with that. |
| Vic Cavanaugh: | Only morons are nice at christmas. |