I was excited about this at one point, but I missed it when it was in theaters. I thought it was a diamond heist movie starring Billy Bob Thornton, but it turns out Billy Bob is the co-star and there are no diamonds. The ice in the title is literal, because it’s winter. Christmas Eve, to be exact. There’s not snow though, just frozen rain, which is not something you see in Christmas movies very often, and rings true to me since here we’re lucky to even see that. (I don’t know about Kansas.)

It’s not exactly a heist movie because like RESERVOIR DOGS or something you never see the theft itself. John Cusack (the rich man’s Scott Baio) is a Kansas mob lawyer and Billy Bob Thornton (ON DEADLY GROUND) is his partner in skimming. They have just stolen upwards of $2 million from their boss, but can’t leave town yet due to the ice. The movie is about them trying to hang out and play it cool for a few hours before they can leave. They figure the boss won’t know about the missing money until they’re gone, but this seems to be incorrect since Cusack keeps seeing an enforcer played by Mike Starr (ON DEADLY GROUND) going around town looking for them.

I like the sort of rambling feel of the story, since it’s about killing time. Before the guns come out and it turns into more of what you expect from a crime movie, the plot seems kind of random. Alot of the movie is spent with him having to look after his drunk friend (Oliver Platt, EXECUTIVE DECISION), who is also married to his ex-wife. We find out that he has two kids – a daughter who misses him and a son who hates him. He only sees hiw own children on Christmas Eve by coincidence. He happened to be in the same restaraunt as drunk Oliver Platt and roped by the management into driving him home. This sad family life to me was the most interesting part of the movie because at first he seems like a reasonably cool guy, but then when you find out about the kids he neglects you wonder what the fuck his problem is. Later on, in the middle of the night, he buys his kids cheap ass Christmas presents at a convenience store. True, he doesn’t have the stolen money at this point, but you still gotta figure he’s being an asshole. Even a legitimate lawyer oughta be able to afford something decent a week before the big robbery is planned. He tells his daughter he’ll see her on Christmas and his son says he’s lying. I figured because this is a movie he really would make an effort to show up, but it’s more true to life than that. He is lying. He’s leaving town. (more…)

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