Synopsis
A dishonest insurance salesman's life quickly disintegrates during a Wisconsin winter when he teams up with a psychopath to steal a rare violin at the home of a reclusive farmer.
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Cast
- Greg KinnearMickey Prohaska
- Alan ArkinGorvy Hauer
- Billy CrudupRandy
- David HarbourBob Egan
- Michelle ArthurKarla Gruenka
- Peter ThoemkeFrank Richie
- James Michael DetmarGlen Vanderhoevel
- Lea ThompsonJo Ann Prohaska
- Bob BalabanLeonard Dahl
- John Paul GamokeMan at Coffee Shop
Recommendations
- 83
Entertainment Weekly
Throw in a nagging divorce settlement, an unplanned murder, and Billy Crudup - hilarious! - as a raging security man, and Jill Sprecher's film enjoyably fuses cleverness and sheer desperation. - 75
The A.V. Club
The movie takes some dark, violent turns once Crudup enters the picture, and loses some of its initial soft, regional charm. But Kinnear and Crudup are funny, and the plot does fold together with the kind of cruel logic that these sorts of twist-a-thons often lack. - 75
Philadelphia Inquirer
Writing with her sister, Karen, Jill Sprecher rigs up an elaborate cause-and-effect comedy of errors, with Kinnear's predatory protagonist as both perp and victim. I won't say more than that, but Thin Ice is deeper than it first appears. - 70
Village Voice
Working the long con and damn near getting away with it, this kissing cousin to "Fargo," "Cedar Rapids," and "Win Win" makes for a surprisingly entertaining and nonderivative February time-passer. - 70
Arizona Republic
It's an entertaining film and a deceptively gritty thriller, and Kinnear conveys Mickey's mounting desperation in winning fashion. - 60
Time Out
When a movie is this predicated on aping the Coen brothers (effectively, it should be added, in fits and starts), surprise won't be its strong suit. - 60
Wall Street Journal
It is Mr. Kinnear's slippery charm that keeps Thin Ice from sinking into the frosty Wisconsin slush toward which it seems to be heading from the start. - 60
Los Angeles Times
If you can get past the rough patches - a slightly sluggish start and a coda that feels like one punch line too many - there is some sinister fun to be had in watching Kinnear skating toward disaster on ice that is very thin indeed.
