Directed by Harold Ramis

(Focus Features)



1 star



“Thank you sir, may I have another.” What college kid can forget the immortal wit of “National Lampoon’s Animal House,” which was co-written by Harold Ramis?

The esteemed Mr. Ramis than went on to direct “National Lampoon’s Vacation” (1983) and “Caddyshack” (1980), cementing his sterling reputation. He even wrote “Ghostbusters.”

More recently, Ramis has directed “Analyze This,” “Bedazzled,” and “Analyze That.” The years have not been kind to Ramis and his stellar career hits rock bottom with his latest film,“The Ice Harvest.”

Despite Ramis’ attempts to create visually intriguing scenes, John Cusack’s (“High Fidelity”) bitter wit, and Oliver Platt’s (TV’s “The West Wing”) slapstick drollery, nothing can save the hackneyed storyline of this too-dark comedy.

Based on the novel by Scott Phillips and adapted for the screen by Richard Russo (“Twilight”) and Robert Benton (“Superman”), “The Ice Harvest” reminds viewers of a darker “Grosse Pointe Blank.” Every 10 seconds, someone in Cusack’s latest film is shot or bludgeoned to death, with none of the gory details left out. But this time it’s not played for unique romantic comedy.

Just as in “Grosse Pointe Blank,” Cusack plays a man haunted by his shady past. In this case, his character, Charlie and his associate Vic (Billy Bob Thornton, “Monster’s Ball”) have embezzled $2 million from a mob boss and are being tracked down by one of the boss’s hit men. Cusack as a hard-nosed killer/mob lawyer, without any of the neurotic charm of “Gross Pointe Blank,” is a bit hard to stomach. One wonders what happened to that fun, lovable kid who played Anthony Michael Hall’s pal in “Sixteen Candles.”

Instead of Minnie Driver (“Good Will Hunting”) as the love interest, we’re presented with Connie Nielson (“Gladiator”) who plays Renata, a strip club manager. Nielson’s overly seductive, annoyingly serious Renata is no match for Driver’s subdued wit in “Grosse Pointe Blank.” Also, while the storyline of “Grosse Pointe Blank” was unique and attention catching in its day, “The Ice Harvest” feels like the generic comedic mob movie we’ve all seen before.

The only saving grace for Ramis is the performance he gets out of Platt as Pete Van Heuten, an old friend of Charlie’s who also had an affair with his wife. Pete’s drunkenness through 99 percent of the movie is integral. His goofy charm is particularly necessary in light of the fact that the screenwriters try too hard to push Cusack’s classic cool delivery on the sullen, nihilistic Charlie.

Another failing of this film is its dreary, comedy-sucking location. “The Ice Harvest” takes place in Wichita, Kan., specifically either in or in front of strip clubs or suburban houses. The lack of visual diversity of the scenes makes the 88-minute movie feel as if it will never end.

The most artistically developed sequence involves Charlie and Vic dragging a trunk, which is filled with an overweight hit man, across a dilapidated bridge in the dead of night. The scene is oddly picturesque: a large gray hill in the foreground is overwhelmed by a crystal blue sky, with the actors visible by their shadowed outlines.

With an unoriginal plot, dull setting, and lack of humor, all “The Ice Harvest” has to offer is its over-the-top violence. However, the unadulterated gore and violence does more to repulse the viewer than draw him or her into the film.

Wherever Charlie looks (bathroom stalls, lounge doors, shipping trucks), he sees the saying “As Wichita falls, so falls Wichita Falls.” The banal idiom represents so much of what the audience will find wrong with this movie: Ramis tries to make a point, but never explains its meaning, and the joke isn’t funny enough to keep repeating.

Hopefully, this will flop and Ramis will learn to refuse scripts so far below his past standards.