Directed By:Harold Ramis
Written By:Richard Russo, Robert Benton, Scott Phillips
The Ice Harvest
Metascore
Generally Favorable
62
User score
Generally Favorable
6.6
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
62
63% Positive
20 Reviews
20 Reviews
28% Mixed
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
9% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
91
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.
80
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.
75
The Ice Harvest doesn't have much heft or resonance. But as an antidote to the sugary confections of the season, its hung-over cynicism works wonders.
67
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.
50
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.
50
Ice Harvest's plot sounds like an antidote to the season's holiday sweetness. And it's being touted as this year's Bad Santa. But the only similarities are the holiday season, the criminal milieu and Thornton.
25
Goes awry within moments and never gets on track. The scripters and director Harold Ramis have no idea whether to aim for cynical humor, film-noir romance or post-crime tension, so they miss all three targets completely.
User score
Generally Favorable
6.6
40% Positive
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
53% Mixed
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
7% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
May 16, 2013
8
More drama than comedy, but dark in any case. I am a Cusack fan, and he does a fine job. Well worth a watch to see these miserable **** cretins fail and screw each other over at every turn.
Mar 14, 2015
5
When two low level mafia members are frustrated with their roles, they come up with a plan to steal two million dollars from their boss. Everything goes off without a hitch, and now, they just have to wait one night before they can get out of town and move on to a new life, but things are never that simple. The Ice Harvest was an interesting film, with a great cast, and had they been able to pull off what they were attempting to do, it would have been a classic. Producers decided to make this film a modern day, 1930's type noir film, but at the same time, they wanted to mock how cheesy and over the top these films could be. It was a great idea, but it didn't work because the mocking wasn't subtle. In fact, the film takes it so far, that it becomes exactly what they were trying to make fun of in the first place. John Cusack stars and he can make any film better. This guy can play anyone and is always amazing, I just can't understand why he doesn't take on bigger roles. Here he's paired with Billy Bob Thornton, who under the right circumstances, can be hilarious. While he was pretty funny, he has almost no chemistry with Cusack and that hurt the film. These guys were partners, but on completely opposite pages and it just doesn't work. The Ice Harvest was an interesting story and I wish they had been able to pull off what they were attempting to do, but very quickly the film becomes a farce of itself, brutally predictable, and simply a waste of time.
