The Ice Harvest (2005)

The Ice Harvest is one of those dark comedies where the comedy is so dark, you start to feel the cynical, malicious edge to your own laughs. I mean that in the best possible way possible. If you thought Fargo has some dry, sociopathic wit, check this baby out. The deftly written, ice cold script has the most comically jaded, completely amoral characters this side of a Raymond Chandler story. It's also entirely hilarious, if you're into that sort of thing, and quite underrated. John Cusack stars as a downbeat mob lawyer with a broken family, a dead end outlook on life, and a obliviously absent morale. Cusack brings his petty, distant charm to the role. Oliver Platt steals the show as his brother, a raging alcoholic loony toon of a man, whose supporting character antics and inebriated, jolly charm walk away with half the film. Billy Bob Thornton plays a psychopathic criminal with early signs of his character in FX's Fargo. Connie Neilson plays the obligatory femme fatale with restraint and grace. Randy Quaid randomly pops up near the end and almost gives Platt a run for his money in the manic energy department, playing Cusack's furious, maniacal big city gangster employer, and chewing the scenery like he was in a John Waters flick. It's ultimately a low key crime flick, but it has a nice bite to it, some excellent writing brought to life by the cast who are clearly having buckets of fun. Above all it knows how provocatively silly dark comedies must be, acts accordingly, and comes out a winner.

The Ice Harvest (2005)Okay, someone tell me why this movie is worth watching. For the almost flashy sets and groovy lighting? For the couple of great actors in less than stellar performances? For the gaudy violence that is neither plasticky like Tarantino nor hyper-real like Scorsese? All this stuff is here. And if you give a hoot about who kills who, and can keep track of why, then you might think this is passable. It's meant to be a black comedy, but that requires timing and wit, both missing here. It's kind of a Christmas movie, but only incidentally.It starts slow, and then keeps going slow (as you think to yourself it'll pick up soon), then it does pick up with casual murder after casual murder. You don't really worry about who dies or that it's so brutal. Who cares? The main character played by John Cusack is typical Cusack and maybe you'll like him (the actor), but his character is a bore and you don't really care that he's about to get whacked, or almost whacked, in scene after scene. And Billy Bob? Also disappointing (and more of a surprise because he's a great actor).Yeah, I hated this movie. First it made me sleepy (literally) and then it made me bored (but not sleepy just because there was so much fabulous violence).The director here, Harold Ramis, has some dazzling successes to his credit, including "Groundhog Day" and "Caddyshack." The writers are to blame here as well, but one of the screenwriters has a long admirable history, too, going back to "Bonnie and Clyde." So what gives? Bad luck? Lack of money? Conflict of personalities? Who knows!But the sensibility is just out of touch here. I would avoid this one by a mile.

I don't understand the low ratings on The Ice Harvest, I thought it was interesting and different.A lawyer and his associate have got their hands on two million dollars from their boss and they need to appear calm for a while until they get a chance to flee with the money. It is Christmas eve and everything can happen to them.The Ice Harvest has so many twists and genius scenes, I was really entertained. The one scene I loved in particular was when the men stood on the dock over icy water. It was really brilliant.This movie is great if you're looking for a thrill and some quirky entertainment.

The movie has quite a few good actors at hand. And I do think that they're trying their best. But I also do think that the movie isn't able to walk the thin line it set out to walk on. Like it tries to be clever and you can feel it trying. And that's not a good thing. A movie is either cool or it isn't.It's also switching back and forth between action, dark humour, Slapstick and thriller moments. Unfortunately not that well mixed together. The movie is just not sure what it wants. Another indication for that, are the alternate endings that were put on the disc. Not that they do shine a new light/perspective on things.I know quite a few people enjoyed this more than me, but I just couldn't. So read a couple of other comments and then decide if you want to watch the movie