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The Ice Harvest

2005

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews

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62

USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 177 Ratings

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8.4

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8.4	User Score Universal acclaim based on 177 Ratings

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Ice Harvest

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The Ice Harvest

Movie Details & Credits

Focus Features | Release Date: November 23, 2005 | R

Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Connie Nielsen, John Cusack

Summary: A wickedly funny thriller about thick thieves and thin ice. (Focus Features)

Director: Harold Ramis

Genre(s): Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Crime

Rating: R

Runtime: 92 min

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Metascore

Critic Reviews

91

Christian Science Monitor

Peter Rainer

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. Read full review

80

Chicago Reader

J.R. Jones

A funny but genuinely dark story. Read full review

75

New York Post

Lou Lumenick

Thornton is in great form as the sardonic Vic, whose disposal of an apparently dead body in a trunk is a hilarious set piece. Read full review

67

Baltimore Sun

Michael Sragow

It's a rhythmless, graceless piece of filmmaking. But if you have an ounce of misanthropy in your body, a picture like this can draw it to the surface the way a leech draws blood. Read full review

60

The Hollywood Reporter

John DeFore

A little more "Grifters" would have gone far here. Not toward making the film palatable for the mainstream, perhaps, but at least toward selling its neo-noir story to an audience already inclined toward such seedy material. Read full review

50

Film Threat

Michael Ferraro

For a comedy, it isn't that funny. For a thriller, it isn't that thrilling. In short, it would have been a much better movie if focused on either/or. Read full review

25

San Francisco Chronicle

Neva Chonin

What a waste. Read full review

SEE ALL 32 REVIEWS

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User Reviews

10

SusanneA.

Nov 27, 2005

Terrific!

0 of 0 users found this helpful

8

jacobg.

Dec 12, 2005

This is one of the better neo-noirs in recent memory. The Ice Harvest adhered to the genre more specifically than many similar movies (Man Who Wasn't There, One False Move, Red Rock West, Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang etc. . ) The only deviation keeping this from being a great noir is the This is one of the better neo-noirs in recent memory. The Ice Harvest adhered to the genre more specifically than many similar movies (Man Who Wasn't There, One False Move, Red Rock West, Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang etc. . ) The only deviation keeping this from being a great noir is the optimistic ending. This would never have happened in the 40's and 50's. The film mixes a good deal of humor, all of it born of pain, with a macabre, bloody, slutty, and somewhat convuluted existensialist plot. I use convuluted positively as it was a trademark of great noir-see The Big Sleep. This film has Connie Nielsen whispering and swiveling her way toward Stanwyck and Bacall territory. And it has John Cusack as the everyman tired of his nothing life-of his own bad decision making-of his own amorality-desperately trying to steal a piece of the pie for himself. None of it works out for him-as it shouldn't. Billy Bob Thorton's character is a bit thin but has two great scenes with Cusack-a drink and conversation sequence and a hilariously devious ridding of bodies. Overall the ending and a few of the more ridiculous plot holes make this film not quite perfect noir-but today in my cineplex, pretty good noir is always welcome.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

6

DougR.

Apr 14, 2006

Not bad, not good. You won't feel like you wasted $9, but you leave feeling it could have been much more.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

4

Rev.R.

Nov 26, 2005

Harold Ramis intends to offer us a dark comedy for Christmas. The humor is definitely there; but, the moments of true sophisticated humor are spaced, what seems to be, aeons apart. You don't laugh in this movie, you smirk and nod your head in an attempt to say, "I got that one!" It is Harold Ramis intends to offer us a dark comedy for Christmas. The humor is definitely there; but, the moments of true sophisticated humor are spaced, what seems to be, aeons apart. You don't laugh in this movie, you smirk and nod your head in an attempt to say, "I got that one!" It is hard not to believe Ramis had "Kill Bill" in mind as a prototype for this film, or even "Bad Santa." However, this movie is weak in comparison, often sedating the audience as we wait for the next intellectual flash of humor. Our adrenalin gland is working overtime this time of year, so this movie feels sooooo slowwww. If you have time to kill, it might be worth a viewing.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

4

SusanM.

Mar 7, 2006

Not funny, bad storyline, so glad I didn't go see it in the theatre!

0 of 0 users found this helpful

3

MarkB.

Dec 2, 2005

John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton have heretofore been two of my favorites, but they deserve nothing but coal in their Christmas stockings for being such bad little actors this year! In this indifferent attempt to add some bitter, unsweetened chocolate to the usual lump of big-screen John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton have heretofore been two of my favorites, but they deserve nothing but coal in their Christmas stockings for being such bad little actors this year! In this indifferent attempt to add some bitter, unsweetened chocolate to the usual lump of big-screen holiday-themed treacle, Billy Bob does nothing more than repeat his performance in this summer's Bad News Bears...which was in itself an extremely faded carbon copy of his brilliant, gutbusting work in 2003's Bad Santa. The best that can be said of Cusack's somnabulent work here and in 2005's earlier Must Love Dogs is that he gives both scripts about as much (or as little) energy as they deserve. The two play partners in crime in a Christmas Eve heist that goes foul due to the unpredictable machinations of various other individuals, Mother Nature and each other; the film goes out of its way to be assaultive and offensive, what with copious strip-club nudity, gore, nasty behavior even for this genre, and repetitions of Tony Montana's and Eric Cartman's favorite noun/verb/adjective/adverb, but it just doesn't have the conviction or energy to leave any marks. Redeeming traits include cinematographer Alar Kivilo's lighting of costar Connie Neilsen (Gladiator, Brothers) as though she were the reincarnation of Rita Hayworth (can't completely argue with that) and two performances that at least momentarily allow the film to partially reach its Donald E. Westlake-like aspirations: Oliver Platt is so oddly and genuinely endearing, of all things, as a serial alcoholic that I wouldn't be surprised to see M.A.D.D. start picketing the multiplex, while Randy Quaid shows everybody how it's done by delivering a truly creepy, menacing and funny performance before disappearing all too soon. But the movie's fatal flaw is its lackadaisical direction: let's face it, this material cries out for a Walter Hill, a John Dahl or a Carl Franklin...someone with a reel feel and love for the noir genre. What it gets is Harold Ramis, an increasingly uneven and erratic comedy specialist whose long career includes two films, Caddyshack and Groundhog Day, that have taken on lives of their own as cult movies. Ramis may be going for the hat trick here, but the closest that The Ice Harvest is gonna get to picking up a cult of its own is if all the copies of it that will soon be filling the $5.99 DVD bin happen to be near the checkout counter of a video store that's located next door to the local Hare Krishna headquarters!… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

0

PedroB.

Nov 30, 2005

I'm a fan of Cusack, Platt, Billy Bob, Quaid and Ramis but...this was a miserable movie. I'm embarrassed that I did not walk out and demand my money back. It wasn't a film noir - it was a film dreary.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

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