The Stop Button

In the few reviews of The Ice Harvest I looked at before renting the DVD, the reviewers all called John Cusack's lawyer character dumb. Watching the film, however, I noticed John Cusack was doing what he always does... playing John Cusack. So, I didn't really see his character as stupid (I was trying to read so much into those reviews, I was actually questioning what the reviewers must have thought he should do scene to scene--but only for a little while, it got distracting). I queued The Ice Harvest this week because I'd forgotten about it. A film written by Robert Benton and Richard Russo, it's of a particular pedigree. Harold Ramis seems an odd choice for a director, given I expected the Benton and Russo script to be incredibly quiet... and The Ice Harvest is incredibly quiet. More happens in the first fifteen minutes or so than in the rest of the movie, just because Cusack drives to more places in that time. But Ramis handles it quite beautifully. I was halfway through the film before I noticed just how good of a job he does.

Instead of being a heist at Christmas gone wrong (which is actually The Ref, isn't it?), The Ice Harvest defines itself in the scenes between Cusack and Oliver Platt as a (quiet) rumination on the state of the American male. It's almost a modern Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Platt's excellent, of course, so's Cusack (playing himself) and the rest of the cast is good. Billy Bob Thorton's good, with the most laughs in the film. Randy Quaid, Ned Bellamy, Mike Starr, all good. The only problem with The Ice Harvest--besides its lack of focus, which is probably more serious than the following--is Connie Nielsen. Nielsen's awful. She couldn't sell shampoo, much less play a femme fatale. Her scenes drag The Ice Harvest to a halt--and at a fast-paced ninety minutes, it's a hard thing to do. When it started and she showed up and was terrible, I really hoped it wasn't Connie Nielsen. Maybe the character was just a throwaway, certainly not the third-billed. But the third-billed it was... She practically haunts the whole movie.

Overall, I'm really sorry I waited so long to see The Ice Harvest. I intended to see it in the theater, but never made it. Its quietness amid some really smarmy, loud settings makes it peculiar but still a very worthwhile film. It also has a nice lack of predictability thing going.

CREDITS

Directed by Harold Ramis; written by Richard Russo and Robert Benton, based on the novel by Scott Phillips; director of photography, Alar Kivilo; edited by Lee Percy; music by David Kitay; production designer, Patrizia von Brandenstein; produced by Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa; released by Focus Features.

Starring John Cusack (Charlie), Billy Bob Thornton (Vic), Connie Nielsen (Renata), Randy Quaid (Bill Guerrard), Oliver Platt (Pete) and Mike Starr (Roy).

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