The Ice Harvest

    The Ice Harvest
    2005

    Synopsis

    A shady lawyer attempts a Christmas Eve crime, hoping to swindle the local mob out of some money. But his partner, a strip club owner, might have different plans for the cash.

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    Cast

    • John CusackCharlie
    • Billy Bob ThorntonVic
    • Connie NielsenRenata Crest
    • Randy QuaidBill Guerrard
    • Oliver PlattPete Van Heuten
    • Mike StarrRoy Gelles
    • Ned BellamySidney
    • T.J. JagodowskiOfficer Tyler
    • David PasquesiCouncilman Williams
    • Lara PhillipsRusti

    Recommendations

    • 91

      Entertainment Weekly

      In a season of bulging Movies Earmarked for Importance, it is almost startling to come across something as unhyped - and perfectly swell - as The Ice Harvest.
    • 80

      Village Voice

      From the cast and location to the attitude and premise, many things in The Ice Harvest are inescapably reminiscent of the Coen brothers. But as a director, Ramis is far less flashy and not nearly as pleased with himself. This is one of the most sustained movies of the year, as classic in its structure as "Double Indemnity" or "No Exit."
    • 80

      The A.V. Club

      Ramis is at his best when dealing with men facing a soul-defining crisis, and he finds plenty to work with in Russo and Benton's script, which offers Russo's trademark blend of colorful characters and slow-building dilemmas. The Ice Harvest finds them all operating in top form in as dark a territory as they've ever explored.
    • 80

      Washington Post

      This often macabre comedy allows us to doff such civilized traits as taste and decency. We're free to laugh at anything, and we do. Oh, the shame -- and the good time.
    • 70

      Variety

      Fine thesping in the service of characters as meaty as they are immoral makes this material a treat for grown up audiences with an ear for sardonic dialogue.
    • 67

      Seattle Post-Intelligencer

      It never achieves the bleak poetry and tawdry tragedy of the best examples of the genre, but the understated humor is nicely played by Cusack and Thornton.
    • 63

      ReelViews

      This is strictly B-movie fare. It tries to do some of the same things as "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" and suffers as a result of the comparison.
    • 60

      The Hollywood Reporter

      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.