The Ice Harvest (2005) poster

2005 · crime · comedy · drama

The Ice Harvest

Directed by Harold Ramis1h 28m2005

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.

Our read: The Ice Harvest (2005) reads as a sombre, steady, grounded crime · comedy · drama entry — measured in intensity, mid-stakes in scope, cold in temperature, nihilistic in outlook.

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Cast

John Cusack Billy Bob Thornton Connie Nielsen Randy Quaid Oliver Platt

Movie DNA

Sombre, steady, measured crime / comedy, grounded in texture. Nihilistic, mid-stakes, cold.

ElsewhereIMDb6.226kMetacritic62

sombre
intense
bleak
cold

Game · before you press play

Watching The Ice Harvest tonight? Spin for your lens.

Everyone on the couch spins once and gets one craft to watch for. After the credits, compare what you caught.

Your lens for tonight

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Everyone on the couch gets one craft to watch for. Spin the wheel to get yours. Sound on: the narrator reads your mission.

DNA · twelve axes

How The Ice Harvest feels to watch.

Each axis is scored by hand, not from votes or genre averages. The bar uses the film's own colours.

MoodHeavy ↔ Cosy

PacingSlow-burn ↔ Kinetic

IntensityGentle ↔ Extreme

WeirdnessConventional ↔ Surreal

HopeNihilistic ↔ Redemptive

StakesIntimate ↔ Epic

HumourNone ↔ Broad

RealityGrounded ↔ Fantastical

DensitySparse ↔ Twisty

WarmthCold ↔ Tender

AuteurTransparent ↔ Signature

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

“You want a sardonic Christmas Eve heist where every partner schemes double-crosses.”

ends warmyou’ll be fine aftersteady all the waygrips by minute 8attention 3/5breezes by

Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around

Heads-upgraphic violencenudity

Skip it tonight — Skip if strip-club noir and holiday violence feel too sleazy for tonight.

If The Ice Harvest is your film

Snowbound greed, deadpan wit, and criminals outsmarting themselves

(unless Midwestern bleakness feels colder)

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

Christmas crime banter with lovers you cannot trust

(unless LA snark replaces your Midwest mood)

The Ladykillers (2004)

Crooked crew unraveling over stolen cash and bad weather

(unless broader Coen slapstick annoys you)

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