Christmas movies tend to fall into two camps: sappy affairs earnestly celebrating the Yuletide spirit (i.e. 'It's a Wonderful Life,' 'Miracle on 34th Street') and those that use the most stereotypically joyous and romantic of holidays to overtly contrast with their nastier content. Harold Ramis' cynical neo-noir 'The Ice Harvest' is the latest attempt to provide a cheerfully- bleak antidote to the sugary onslaught of Christmas-themed cinema, but it is too lopsided and strained to differentiate itself from any other lackluster black comedy.
Ramis and screenwriters Richard Russo and Robert Benton offer up a fairly standard tale of stolen loot, ne'er-do-well thieves, fierce gangsters, sultry femme fatales and a colorful array of supporting characters. In this case, mob lawyer Charlie Arglist (John Cusack) and his even sleazier accomplice Vic (Billy Bob Thornton) have embezzled a cool $2 million from a much-feared goombah (Randy Quaid, wisely cast against type), but they just cannot seem to get out of town. Charlie's perpetually-hammered best friend Pete (Oliver Platt) and Renata (Connie Nielsen), his seductive but mysterious love interest, also factor prominently into the grim proceedings along with a few other recurring characters.
Ramis used to be one of the funniest guys working in Hollywood, with memorable starring roles in classic '80s comedies like 'Ghostbusters' and 'Stripes' and countless co-writing credits, including 'Animal House.' Although it is being marketed as a goofy crime comedy, 'The Ice Harvest' is his first explicit attempt to make a thriller. Surprisingly, Ramis displays a surer hand with the darker, violent aspects of the film than the occasional bursts of comedy, which are mostly provided by the plastered shenanigans of Platt.
Wichita is an apt setting for this icy tale of avarice and generally cold-blooded behavior, and despite the lack of dynamic camerawork, the city supplies a suitable amount of intriguing images. Cusack appears wearier than usual, dialing down his trademark charm to create a devious, casually amoral character, while Thornton is his dependably grubby self. The two play pretty well off of each other, especially once the third act twists start. Nielsen makes a decent female lead, while Platt scores a few laughs, even though his character mostly comes across as sloppily-written comic relief.
With 'The Ice Harvest,' Ramis has decent performances and an atypical locale to his credit, but the quality of the pitch-black second half cannot overcome the plodding, mostly tedious first half. Even though 'The Ice Harvest' clocks in at just below 90 minutes, it wastes much time with laborious, superfluous setups that either do not go anywhere or forecast too much.
Until the body count starts to rise, 'The Ice Harvest' is largely inert, characterized by slipshod writing and a strangely lackadaisical pace. There are teasing distractions along the way, particularly the subplot regarding Pete's rocky marriage to Charlie's ex-wife, but until Thornton re-enters, Ramis' film lags. The second half frustrates because it successfully showcases Ramis' understated flair for dark humor and, even though its revelations are pretty easy to spot, has a wonderfully pessimistic and subversive 'happy' ending'its skill woefully calls attention to the clumsy lack of setup in the first half.
Overall, 'The Ice Harvest' is a film that tries too hard yet somehow comes across as lazy, only offering scattered bits of mean-spirited fun. It is not altogether bad, but it is as forgettable as 'Bad Santa' is memorable. When Ramis' dour film finally comes to life, it's too little too late. Those looking for a film with anti-holiday bile will have both a better and cheaper time drinking spiked egg nog and watching 'Bad Santa' for the umpteenth time.
