The Ice Harvest (2005)

Tagline: Thick Thieves. Thin Ice.
Cusack Plays: Mob Lawyer Charlie Arglist.

So After Must Love Dogs things can only get better. And they do, but only really marginally in this fairly mediocre black comedy. Charlie is a lawyer, who along with Billy Bob Thornton steals over $2 million from his mob clients on Christmas Eve. But things don't go so smoothly and soon hes scrambling around town without knowing who to trust.


The comedic elements work fairly well, with the icy weather preventing their quick escape and facilitating some falls, crashes and deaths, and the story does keep you guessing as to whats coming next. However, overall it just feels fairly thin and unsubstantial but if I watched it again, it would be mainly for Oliver Platt's drunken turn as Cusack's ex-wifes current husband. Apparently the book of the same name, set in 1979 is far superior.

Must Love Dogs (2005)

Tagline: The hardest trick is making them stay.
Cusack Plays: Jake, boat builder and recently divorced

So, this is the one I've been dreading, the one I felt like walking out of the cinema at. "If that dog jumps into the water, so help me god...." And I think I might have figured out why. Cusack must have had a tough 2004 becuase he seems to have aged considerably in this time. Or perhaps the film did not have good lighting (*grasps at straws*)

The story is that recently divorced Sarah (Diane Lane) is encouraged to start dating again by her big family, with her sister setting up an internet profile for her insisting potential dates "must love dogs". Through this she meets with fellow divorcee and boat builder (another one of those random movie careers), Jake whose friends are also encouraging him to get back out there.



Some problems I have with this film.

• Talented actors, wasting themselves on a seriously sub par romantic comedy.
• Sarah is a teacher so we get cute, no sorry, annoying children saying things like "Lord it's a gusher" when they get hit in the face in class.
• A barrell of cheesy lines.
• The cringeworthy scene where Sarah and Jake run all over town trying to find a shop selling condoms.

I just want to reach into the screen and drag Cusack away from all this. He sounds and looks fed up.

Can I find anything positive to say? Well it has an okay-ish soundtrack, and Christopher Plummer (Captain Von Trapp!) and Stockard Channing (Rizzo/Abby Bartlett!) are in it. Also, the main character has a great name.

Now I'm off to pretend that this film does not exist.

For a slightly more benevolent review, visit my fellow Cusack Challengee