The Ice Storm (1997) User Reviews

The Victims of Spoilhood

[thegouch23 · 8/10 · 4 November 2004]

Set in upscale, suburban New Canaan, Connecticut in 1973, The Ice Storm (based on a novel by Rick Moody) is a scathing social criticism of the values and ideals of upper-class American society during that time period. With the background for the movie being the Nixon Watergate scandal, the corruption is portrayed as extending all the way into the American Home through a short glimpse into the lives of two families: The Hoods and the Carvers.

Both families have two children (Carvers: two sons, Hoods: one son, one daughter), and appear perfectly normal and supportive at first glance. However, through a series of common experiences, and through the way the families struggle to communicate both within and with one another, it becomes clear there are deeply rooted problems. Director Lee uses the children to exemplify the failures of the parents, and their mistakes reflect heavily and harshly on the adults in their lives. The adults also make their own mistakes, and these are depicted as far worse - for as adults, they should know better. Their struggles in dealing with their children are at times almost comical, and show their lack of proper parenting skills. As a criticism, this structure is flawless, comprehensive, and unrelenting throughout. Except for a few fleeting scenes, the irresponsibility of the adults dominates the screen.

Of course, all these events are building up to a climax of epic proportions. The saying, "a stitch in time saves nine," comes to mind when discussing this movie. Had any of the adults taken the proper steps of good parenting anywhere along the way, the events that unfold would not have occurred. Like the failed parenting of the adults, however, it's too little, too late. Bad parenting, selfishness, lavishness, sexual promiscuity, greed, lack of communication, and foolishness lead these adults to make mistakes within their lives, the lives of their children, and the lives of their friends. And come the closing credits of this incredibly well directed, well acted film, they are the ones left to pick up the pieces.

A subtly sardonic look inside middle-class Americana.

[=G= · 8/10 · 17 January 2001]

"Ice Storm" not only describes the weather in the Connecticut countryside but is also a metaphor for the pall which hangs over a pallid and dysfunctional middle-class suburban family of four in the 1970s. Sporting a stellar cast with Ang Lee at the helm, this well crafted, sensitive, artful production takes the audience into four lives outwardly living the "American Dream" while inwardly existing in a state of empty unfulfillment and quiet desperation. The tedious and laconic nature of the film may lose the less patient audience while those with a taste for psychodrama should enjoy it.

Depressing as Hell and worth every consideration

[godmovingoverwater · 7/10 · 3 October 2002]

The first time I viewed this film I found it boring and pointless - actually falling asleep at one point. However, it left a sliver in my brain that just wouldn't go away.

A week later I watched it again, and realized what a brilliant film this is. Not boring but subtle.

Comparisons to American Beauty are quite valid, however the approach taken by Ang Lee is quite different and very effective. This is the 'American Dream' twisted and misguided. Beautifully showing what happens - what always happens - when we lose sight of the things that really matter in our lives for the sake of instant gratification and material desires.

Depressing as hell and worth every consideration.

One of Ang Lee's Finest Films

[jhclues · 10/10 · 18 March 2002]

The difference between adolescence and adulthood can be defined in terms of years or age, but when it comes right down to it, the only real difference is in the experiences the added years provide. As we mature, we are at some point confronted with the realization-- some sooner, some later-- that age and experience do not necessarily equate to satisfaction and personal identity in our lives, the two things we are all, though perhaps subconsciously, striving to attain. But it's an elusive butterfly we're chasing; and at a certain age, the lack of fulfillment in one's life may be dismissed out-of-hand by some as a midlife crisis in a feeble attempt to justify certain actions or attitudes. Attaching such a label to it, however, is merely simplifying a state of being that seems to be perpetually misunderstood, and we resort to using psychological ploys on ourselves in order to rationalize away behavior that is often unacceptable in the cold light of reason and morality. This, of course, is not a unique situation, but an inevitable step one takes upon reaching an age at which the awareness of mortality begins to set in, which is something we all have to deal with in our own way, in our own time. And it's an issue that lies allegorically at the heart of director Ang Lee's pensive, insightful drama, `The Ice Storm,' in which we discover that-- more often than not-- the adult we become is nothing more than an extension of the adolescent; we may shed the skin of youth, but the awkward confusion and uncertainty remains, albeit manifested in different ways, to which for awhile we may respond in opposition even to our own conscience, creating a double standard in our lives which only serves to exacerbate the confusion and unhappiness, leaving us alone to face the cold and frozen landscapes of our own soul.

Working from an insightful and intelligent screenplay by James Schamus (who also wrote Lee's `Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' and `Eat Drink Man Woman,' among others), Lee has crafted and delivered a lyrical and poetic-- though somewhat dark-- film that tells the story of two neighboring families living in Connecticut in the early ‘70s: Ben and Elena Hood (Kevin Kline and Joan Allen) and their children, Paul (Tobey Maguire) and Wendy (Christina Ricci); and Jim and Janey Carver (Jamey Sheridan and Sigourney Weaver) and their children, Mikey (Elijah Wood) and Sandy (Adam Hann-Byrd). And it's a story to which many will be able to relate on a very personal, individual level, as it reflects an issue common to us all-- that of trying to make a tangible connection with someone or something in our life that we can hold on to and take comfort in. Ben and Elena have grown apart; she has distanced herself emotionally and sexually from Ben, and unfulfilled, she longs again for the freedom of her spent youth, while Ben seeks solace in an emotionally vapid but physically satisfying relationship with another woman. Jim, who spends much of his time on the road, has become completely disconnected from his entire family; his children are apathetic to his very presence, and Janey exists in a constant state of promiscuous numbness, yet cold and indifferent to her own husband.

The Hood and Carver children, meanwhile, are suffering the pains of adolescence and trying to figure out the world in which they live, exploring their feelings with and for one another and attempting to understand the whys and wherefores of it all. And to whom can they turn for guidance in an era that's giving them Nixon and Watergate, new age spiritualism and self-absorbed parents who teach one thing and do another?

The story unfolds through the eyes of sixteen-year-old Paul, whose meditations on the literal and figurative ice storm that descends upon the two families over a long Thanksgiving weekend forms the narrative of the film. And it's through Paul's observations that Lee so subtly and effectively presents his metaphor, in which he captures the beauty, as well as the ugliness, that inexplicably coexists within and which surrounds the turbulence and turmoil of the Hood's and Carver's world, which is ultimately visited by tragedy as their drama proceeds to it's inevitable climax. It's sensitive material that will undoubtedly touch a nerve with many in the audience, and Lee takes great care to present it accordingly, with a studied finesse that makes it an emotionally involving and thoroughly engrossing drama.

Lee also knows how to get the best out of his actors, and there are a number of outstanding and memorable performances in this film, beginning with that of Kevin Kline. Kline does comedy well, but he does drama even better, as he proves here with his portrayal of Ben. The final scene of the film, in fact, belongs to Kline, as it is here that we discover the true nature of the man he is in his heart of hearts. It's a superb piece of acting, and one of the real strengths of the film.

Joan Allen also turns in a strong performance through which she reveals the insufferable inner conflict that so affects Elena's life, and especially her relationship with Ben. And it's in Allen's character, more than any of the others, that we see how fine the line is between the adult and the adolescent. It is not unusual to find a bit of the mother in the daughter; but Allen shows us through Elena just how much of the daughter is actually in the mother, which underscores one of the basic tenets of the film. It's a performance that should've earned Allen an Oscar nomination at the very least.

Also turning in performances that demand special attention are Maguire, Ricci, Wood and especially Jamey Sheridan, whose portrayal of Jim is one of his best-- it's believable, and totally honest. Penetrating and incisive, `The Ice Storm' is remarkably poignant and absorbing; without question, it's one of Lee's finest films. 10/10.

The best film of 1997

[tom130 · 10/10 · 1 September 2002]

I went to see this film with one of my friends, in a cinema I had never been to before. It was one of those rare and delightful experiences where you are the only people in the theatre. No one around to distract you. No kids munching on crisps, or couples quietly muttering sweet nothings, or idiots trying to tell the characters what to do. It was great.

The film was just brilliant. It really nearly broke my heart. Every performance is perfect. The direction by Ang Lee is deliberate and painful as he slices into you with the lives of those he makes you watch. It looks amazing, in a beautifully bleak way. It is also one the most compelling and painful movies that I have ever come across. The family life portrayed is messed up and all the relationships that are displayed are disfunctional on some level or other. But still I was forced to care for them - all of them. Such is the brilliance of the acting and the script writing.

I own this film, but I can't watch it alot. Once a year is just enough. It's to traumatic and beautiful to watch more than that.

Beautiful, intelligent and yet utterly disturbing

[goldilocks_78 · 4 August 2004]

I am deeply touched. I can not believe it took me 7 years to get to see this movie. It goes straight into my top ten.

The movie is based on Rick Moody's 1994 novel about the life of two suburban families in New Canaan, Connecticut during the time of the Watergate scandal: A time of sexual liberation and of disintegration of existing social norms and of the nuclear family. The characters may stand as symbols of the kind of people that are created out of a society with decreasing social norms. They are ordinary people who live in material welfare, bored, unhappy, confused, scared of conflicts, and constantly seeking something else than they already have.

Instead of being examples to their children, the parents are constantly trying to run away from their own emotional confusion for instance by seeking casual sex and thereby hurting each other. In the meantime the children are left to their own upbringing, watching bad TV shows, emptying their parents' drinks, blowing up toys on the balcony, shoplifting, experimenting with sex and drugs. The communication between parents and children is terrible, or should I say non-existing. They all live in their separate worlds, all the time more disconnected, until a tragedy caused by a natural disaster finally calls them back to life and, hopefully, makes them look beyond themselves and see how valuable and fragile life is. May this provoke back the belief in what the family as a unit can do for each other if they stand together?

The movie is both uncomfortable and at the same time enormously satisfying to watch – perhaps because the theme is presented in such a human and recognizable manner. The dialogue is great and there are even very funny scenes at times. These people seem so real and so fragile, like you and me. It is as if we can see right through their souls and their pain.

The cast is brilliant (except for that irritating Katie Holmes with her cheap Hollywood teenage series look). I have never seen a movie plenty of child actors acted out as professionally and convincing as this one. Christina Ricci is the best and Elijah Wood is also excellent (much more enjoyable than in LOTR), making me wish they were young again so they could have more roles in movies like this.

The atmosphere caused by the weather gives a kind of somber mood stressed by the dimmed colors and the mystical music score.

Contrived Drama

[kenjha · 6/10 · 26 December 2012]

Thanksgiving weekend in Connecticut in 1973, two families work through their problems. Talk about dysfunctional families! This one has two such clans, and every member of each family is assigned an issue (kleptomaniac, sex addict, social misfit, absentee parent, depression, etc.). It makes for a very contrived drama. The impressive cast manages to overcome some of the shortcomings of the script, but it all seems so heavy-handed. As a couple whose marriage has fizzled, Kline and Allen come off the best. The makeup department went a little overboard trying to evoke the 1970s look, with Weaver looking particularly odd as a woman who's cold as ice.

Powerful, Thought-Provoking and Eye-Opening

[MichaelMargetis · 9/10 · 21 November 2007]

'The Ice Storm' is an incredibly bleak and dark film set in the 70s about two connected families during the holiday break of Thanksgiving. The first family consists of Ben (Kevin Kline) and Elena (Joan Allen), and their two kids -- 16-year-old Paul (Tobey Maguire) just home from boarding school, and 14-year-old Wendy (Christina Ricci) a wannabe anti-war/anti-Nixon elitist who is coming to terms with her own sexuality. The second family consists of Janey (Sigourney Weaver) whom Ben is having an affair with, her husband Jim (Jamey Sheridan), and their two boys -- the neurotic intro-vert Mikey (Elijah Wood) and his younger shy pyro-maniac brother Sandy (AdamN Hann Byrd). The film takes place during Thanksgiving day and the day after in the lives of these people -- including Ben and Elena's marriage being put to the test at a swinger's party with Janey and Jim, Paul's love conquest in New York City with a girl from boarding school named Libbets (Katie Holmes), and Wendy's sexual misadventures with Mikey and Sandy both.

'The Ice Storm' is an incredibly powerful and relevant ensemble piece about the complexity of family and relationships both sexual and non-sexual. Ang Lee once again proves he is a director of great skill and exquisite understanding of human emotions, and James Schamus provides a harrowing and painfully realistic screenplay. Kevin Kline delivers yet another near-flawless dramatic performance, while Sigourney Weaver is great in her interesting yet limited role. The children of the ensemble cast (Maguire, Byrd, Wood, Ricci, Holmes, Krumholtz) are all excellent, especially Christina Ricci who owns her role. However, the real scene-stealer in my eyes is the marvelous Joan Allen who plays her role with such intensity and elegance that I'm shocked she didn't receive a Best Actress Oscar Nomination.

In conclusion, 'The Ice Storm' is a powerful little movie that's interesting yet not exciting. It isn't groundbreaking by any standards, but it's incredibly well-made. 'The Ice Storm' was totally ignored at the '98 Oscar Ceremony, but that comes to no enormous surprise. It was competing in the same year 'L.A. Confidential', 'Boogie Nights', 'Amistad', 'The Sweet Hereafter', 'As Good as It Gets' and the dreadfully overrated 'Titanic' were. A small little character study like 'The Ice Storm' didn't stand a chance. If you can appreciate a movie like this, I highly recommend this oldie I just got around to seeing. Grade: A-

Engrossing if a little depressing and pointless...

[JakeGiddes · 7/10 · 30 April 2001]

Angst, despair, family discord and pointless sex played out against the dross of the empty decade. At times it has the can't turn away compelling voyeuristic nature of one of those MTV real life shows. The story is moody and slow at times but the performances ring true as do the situations and dialog. Elijah Wood is very good as the voidoid adolescent whose odd and tragically meaningless demise seems to hold the key to what's at the center of this story. The first time through I didn't think much of this movie but subsequent viewing yields a more coherent and heartfelt slice of life circa 1975. If you are looking for an uplifting film stay away, far away.

Best movie in penetrating average American lifestyle. Remarkable, melancholy.Five Stars, vote 9 out of 10.

[littlebliss · 9/10 · 15 February 2001]

I was astonished to find out how many bad reviews in this site for "Ice Storm" here. I voted 9 out of 10 without hesitating. I've seen this movie twice, and the 2nd time was even more disturbing in a remarkable sense, which compelled me into a deep thinking mode. Phillip, (on the message board), you're so right! `Ice Storm' was indeed a gem that entitles equally what "American Beauty" has earned. Both movies were focusing on the American mid-class's love lives, their middle-aged marriage crisis, and teenagers beguiled by sex. `Ice storm" was filmed in a musically melancholic tune than `American Beauty'. It's about life, brutally honest, and objective. It's about the rotten love lives of average American couples, inwardly, those who would dare to break the rules, for exchanging a moment of stealing pleasure, such as Sigourney Weaver; Kevin Kline, who has surrendered to sexual seduction; Jane Ellen, Kevin Kline's wife, frustrated by the dysfunctional marriage, yet tuning away from sexual liberation. Sadly, the victims of typical contemporary Hollywoodia pace has found `Ice Storm' a `slow and dull' movie that makes them yawning. Why not simply obtain satisfactions over weeping for an affected Hollywood's love tale `Titanic'. Other noteworthy, is the music scores of `Ice Storm' is depressing, enchanting, very beautiful.

Now, it's only been 12 hours since I screened &quo...

[UltraMagic · 7/10 · 19 August 1998]

Now, it's only been 12 hours since I screened "Ice Storm" and I gotta say the material falls surely into that slot in my brain reserved for material that is not disposable. "The Ice Storm" is soul source material that resonates in the long term, Cassavetes-style.

The performances are A+, the art direction exemplary, the story a well -structured, multiply parallel progression presented with a high degree of tension generated by offscreen awareness of plot/character developments.

This film IS pressure, temptation, collapse carefully dragging the viewer where you know you don't wanna go, but secretly can't help needing to find out the truth from the Truthteller, and you know you're gonna get the real magillah. Ugly, icky, and at times disturbingly stimulating (I shudder ).

"Ice" is like knowing there is going to be a serious accident on the highway at a particular road marker, you are compelled to go stand at the spot and watch it, then you can't turn away from the scene after the collision occurs.

The only problem/issue that continues to come up in my analysis is the presence of the director's hand in all this. I am recognizing that what I think is missing or lacking is not a failure of the director, but is, rather a conditioned expectation of a non-descript cinematic element that I NEED to be represented. When something unique comes along with this level of cinematic skill and quality star value/performance, I apparently have this need to also feel an awareness of the filmmaker's consciousness in an overt sense.

"Ice" is NOT this. Ang transfixes the plot/story drama with covert control techniques that simultaneously disarm and dominate your conscious faculties , while skillfully cranking up the Emotionometer by creating a conscious, quasi-real time frame/spatial identity to this suburban nightmare. I have a deep respect for those special, few-and-far-between filmmakers reminding me that there is more than one way to direct a contemporary film.

Beware, this is one that will stay with you for a long time...

not the kind of film to watch right before you want to go to sleep; one of the best films of 97

[Quinoa1984 · 10/10 · 2 February 2006]

The summary statement I write I mean as a compliment. In short, this film will keep you up thinking about the characters, the whole swarm of tragedy sewn into these characters, as it is a true look at American familial dysfunction. It's also the Chinese-directed cousin of American Beauty- in some ways just as compelling (if maybe a little more heavy on the metaphors)- and by the end of it, however down and drained the film made me feel, I knew I'd seen my favorite Ang Lee film thus far. He takes the subject matter- the script by James Schamus, and the nuanced performances- and makes it so that we feel for these people, however trapped into their upper-middle class walks of life. The ice theme does work for a good lot of the film, and even when it gets hammered down to the line, I was still moved by how these families intertwined, the bleakness but also the little bits of light coming through.

In fact, the film shares a good deal with American Beauty- two families, both fairly screwed up, with infidelity, drugs, procrastination, young lust, and a certain pining for the old days going steadily down the tubes. One family are the Hooods (Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Christina Ricci and Tobey MaGuire); the other are the Carvers (Sigourney Weaver, Elijah Wood, Henry Czerny, and Adam Hann-Byrd). Either side has their share of dilemmas, psychological cramps, and just total aimlessness. The performances from all are unique and quiet, desperate, and at least a few (in tune with the 'ice' theme), in particular Weaver, Wood and Allen, are numbed. Basically, there isn't as much story as there is attention to the fates and parallels of the characters.

Among the lot though, Kline has some of his best work to date, with his controlling demeanor masking something very insecure; Hann-Byrd and Wood are totally complimentary, so to speak, in that they work well at being brothers of the same weird seed; Allen, not much more to say that hasn't been said by others; and even smaller roles filled by Katie Holmes and David Krumholtz are worth the time. There stories all lead up to the big chunk of the story (ala the 'day you die' stuff in American Beauty), and at times it's painful, cringe-inducing, darkly amusing, and at the end hitting notes that had me eyes go wide. And the ending, when it comes, is sentimental, but never unrealistic. This is the kind of tone that Lee would also use for Brokeback Mountain, but here it contains even more depth and intrigue into the dysfunction, ironically in only the span of a few days vs. the span of twenty years in Brokeback.

You may, whether you like the film or not, will want to talk about it once it is over. It of course can be argued, and I would argue it, that the 'ice' motif is pushed to as far as it can go, and then some (then again it IS called the Ice Storm). But in contrast, another minor theme is handled superbly, involving the Fantastic Four comic book that Maguire's character gives some narration about. By looking through an abstract of a comic book, there's some extra meaning that can be put into the film, the power that can be taken away from superheroes as well as the enclosed New Canaan citizens. Along with some great 70's era period use- the Nixon/Watergate stuff adding another layer to the frustration (leading up to a truly disturbing moment involving a Nixon mask)- including music, creates a very impressive atmosphere. Maybe I'll check out the film again, when it's not past midnight, though even after hours the film packs a small wallop. 9.5/10

Not shaken...not even stirred

[parenthetical_expressions · 7/10 · 19 February 2001]

I originally watched The Ice Storm back in 1998. Some friends who had seen it (then) commented on how "powerful" and "moving" it was. I felt out of the loop because The Ice Storm stirred up no such emotions in my soul.

Nearly three years later, with a greater appreciation for art and film, I thought I'd give it a second chance. I'm sad to report, that in three years, and two viewings the movie has scarcely improved.

What does the movie comment on that we, as a society, aren't already largely acquainted with. Adultery? Sexual experimentation during adolescence? Bah! Hardly new issues!

The entire production is so controlled I wonder if all the actors were mandatorily prescribed Valium to help tone down their performances. They're is nary an outburst of emotion -- it's as if they're all experiencing emotional hypothermia! Ohh, is that the point? Perhaps. But it doesn't appeal to this viewer.

The acting was adequate, but I'm starting to think that Joan Allen has been type cast. I mean, in which movie does she not play a timid, repressed house wife?

If you've seen The Sweet Hereafter, you will notice a lot of parallels between the two movies. Great direction. Lovely shots and interesting narration.

Not entirely a waste of time, but it left me neither shaken, nor stirred.

A Pointless Emotional Train Wreck

[samkoc · 1/10 · 12 April 1999]

"The Ice Storm" left me cold, really cold. At the end of the movie I was left with the feeling of being sucked dry. I spent 90 minutes enduring an endless series of pointless dysfunctional encounters that made me squirm in my chair with terminal embarrassment. The characters were dismal emotional wrecks with no moral inclination whatsoever. They had managed to ruin perfectly good lives and then inflict themselves onto me.

If there was a point to this story it might have been - Adultery, wife swapping, and etc. will destroy you and all those around you. So what ? I never formed any emotional ties to any of these people anyway.

How could you take so many talented actors and create a story no one should ever see? The writers obviously had talent, how else could they create situations that actually had me hiding my face waiting for the agony to subside. They had talented actors like Joan Allen and Kevin Kline, and yet wasted their time and ours. I found it hard to believe that this came from the same director/writer team that produced the charming "Eat Drink Man Women".

On the plus side, the acting was good, the circa 1970's homes and wardrobes were the best 70's piece ever, and the cinematography outstanding. If you are the kind of person that stops to enjoy the carnage of a good train wreck, then this movie might just be for you.

Tedious exercise in dysfunction

[spicyburrito · 16 September 2011]

First I should say, this movie could have been about my town and my family. I grew up in Connecticut and was 11 years old when the ice storm hit. My family was probably the typical dysfunctional unit of the 70's – emotionally clueless, parents headed for divorce (though we didn't know that yet), so I should have been able to relate to this film.

The problem with the movie is there's no humor, no humanity. It's just one dysfunctional, sad, deviant event after another. It's like someone from another planet was assigned a homework exercise to depict dysfunctional families on Earth. I couldn't relate to the characters and there was no one to like.

I'll give it 4 stars for the nice cinematography, the all-star cast, the good period sets and clothes. Although Toby Maguire gives his usual staring-into-space, deer-in-headlights, stupid-half-smile, what-am-I-supposed-to-be-doing-again? performance, I thought the rest of the cast did their best with the material – i.e. it wasn't the actors' fault!

A movie of raw emotional power. **** out of ****

[Movie-12 · 9/10 · 6 August 1999]

THE ICE STORM (1997) ****

Starring: Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci, Elijah Wood, and Katie Holmes Director: Ang Lee 113 minutes Rated R (for strong sexual content, and for drug use & language)

By Blake French:

Ang Lee's "The Ice Storm" is such a provocative and unsettling experience that it made Gene Siskel's top movie of 1997. Since then, Siskel has recently passed away. But Being an avid film reviewer and buff, I thought that it would be appropriate for me to screen "The Ice Storm" for a second time, this time in full awareness of Siskel's thoughts on the film. After careful inspection, I think that I agree with my favorite movie critic's opinion, and feel obligated to post a review explaining why.

Watching "The Ice Storm" is a unique occurrence. Movie's don't get this powerful every time one visits a local multiplex. The story is basically a series of sins and involvement's that dig the characters deeper and deeper into an emotional crater.

The time period is about thirty to forty years ago. Kevin Kline and Joan Allen are Ben and Elena Hood. They have a son whose 16, Paul, and a sexually confused 14 year old daughter named Wendy. This is not a happy family and the film never pretends otherwise.

Ben is having an adulterous affair with his neighbor's wife, Janey Carver. Her husband, Jim, is pretty much unsuspecting, but Ben's wife is dubious of her mysteriously acting spouse. The Carvers also have teenage children named Mikey and Sandy. Mickey is ready to explore a sexual underworld with Wendy, and she is prepared to experiment with whoever comes down her path first.

Elena is caught stealing from a local party store one day and that triggers an effect that causes her to react openly to her husband about his involvement's with Janey Carver. When Ben and Elena visit a wife swapping party where the guests put their keys in a dish to see who an individual will sleep with, things become even more adulterous with the Carvers.

The film is propelled by unique, one of a kind performances by all the actors in the cast. Sigourney Weaver, receiving a best supporting actress nomination for her performance, is superb, in a slutty, whorish kind of a way. Joan Allen is also perfection delivering a sense of egresses and desire without ever speaking that much. Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci, Elijah Wood, and Adam Hann-Byrd all act well as the teens. Basically all the one screen appeal of "The Ice Storm" is top class.

But there is something more than just the on screen appeal with this movie. Something that allows the audience to experience a feeling of confusion along with the characters. We can become so involved in the story because all the story consists of is a pile of heavy sins. We feel the character's needs. Relate to the issues. Things happen that struck me so profoundly that I find myself listing the film on my list of top 100 movies of all time. In the last scene of "The Ice Storm" a key character brakes down and cries like a baby, with his family next to his side. We look back at all the wrongdoing he has done, at all the sins he has committed, and all the reasons he has to cry, and we fell his pain--and somewhere, deep down, we try to forgive him.

One of the greatest.

[jacobmhoff · 10/10 · 28 December 2019]

This film is a full blown masterpiece. The rating is currently 7.4 which is just sad, this film should easily be on the top 250 and regarded for what it is, brilliant cinema.

I won't review the content of this film; I mean why? It's an experience you just need to have. It's a human experience, not just a pretty picture, a slice of life that could only really be compared to other masterworks like "Death Of A Salesman" or Tolstoy. There is a universal human bond to this film that will keep it relevant forever.

The direction, I mean my God. The acting, tone, writing, pacing, its all in a league of its own.

This community has problems.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 13 December 2021]

I truly wouldn't want to share a Christmas in Connecticut with these narcissistic people, upper middle class and yet classless. Troubled marrieds Joan Allen and Kevin Kline have two teen kids (Christina Ricci and Tobey Maguire), and Kline is having a fling with the self centered Sigourney Weaver whose husband Jamey Sheridan doesn't seem to care what she does. Their troubled son (Elijah Wood) likes to blow things up yet his awkward encounters with the curious Ricci brings him despair over their curiosity over each other's bodies. So you got a bunch of weird people here, especially the adults in the community who have spouse swapping in involving a bowl of people's car keys to determine who will sleep with who.

Not a great film by any means, this is still interesting for its oddball characters and particularly the performance of Sigourney Weaver whose character seems to be in control but is truly a mess. There's not enough time spent on individual major characters so you'll get a little bit with Allen and Kline, then a scene with Kline in bed with Weaver then Weaver dealing with her troubled son and finally the troubled son dealing with the young Ricci.

Kate Burton and Allison Janney are among the swinging housewives, show me that this is indeed a morally bankrupt neighborhood and these people certainly aren't the best to be bringing up teenagers in the turbulebt 70's during the Nixon era which leads to several funny anti Nixon diatribes by Ricci. When she is giving the Thanksgiving blessing, it's basically a serious variation of what she had done, comically in "Addams Family Values". The film gets more melodramatic as the film goes on leading to the climactic ice storm, and it's obvious that's a psychological ice storm in the minds of all of these troubled characters.

The way we REALLY were

[connorarroyo-1 · 10/10 · 10 August 2008]

I was Paul Hood's age during Thanksgiving of 1973. If you were a teenager during 1973 you must see this movie. Ang Lee brings that era back in spades. The wardrobe is just amazing. 1973 was a really weird year anyway, people were depressed the sixties were over, nobody knew what would be next.. It was a really strange time. There was the first gas shortage in US history, and the price doubled. When you could find it. Terrific soundtrack, and a thought provoking look back at the US of that time. An all star cast, I won't repeat a lot of what's already been said, but the movie is like a virtual time machine.

I think we were a better society then, a more tolerant one. Even Nixon seems benign compared to our current government.

The serendipity of Tobey Maguire reading Marvel Comics is surreal now, with that whole Spiderman career of sorts which followed. The Party he thought he was going to be alone with Katie Holmes was evocative as well.. If you weren't partying, you weren't connecting. Human connection and family is the core of this movie. The recurring attempts at a real human connection was thematic. Joan Allen's quirky shoplifting and bicycle riding, her encounters with the long haired Reverend Philip Edwards was insightful. This is a movie with layer upon layer of pathos.

I do think a special mention is reserved for Allison Janney. Great as the hostess, Dot Halford, The Halfords annual party; this time with the twist of being a key party. Her role, though small, was memorable. Especially the Zebra dress. Very 1973. The upper-middle class average woodsy exurban living kind of mirrored my own. It's almost spooky exactly how spot on everything was. I think Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Joan Allen, and Jamey Sheridan were horribly overlooked during the Academy awards decision making process.

The most hilarious scene in an otherwise dark movie was Wendy's (Cristine Ricci, who the camera just loves by the way,) trombone recital at home. It consisted of playing two notes (badly), over and over.

There were a couple of others, like when Sigourney Weaver's character Janey Carver parked her station wagon, heard a loud pop, and looked at her tire, as if it had blown out. Turns out her number two son, Sandy, (deftly handled by Adam Hann-Byrd) was playing with fireworks and generally creating mayhem.. The offer of the whip to play with was priceless. (The keys she later fishes out of the bowl were attached to a rather long leather woven tether, it works well the way she handles those keys in a way similar to the way she handled the whip.) Then when she goes inside to inquire of Mikey (One of Elijah Wood's best performances to date), if HE were aware of the fireworks outside. Mikey, sitting with Wendy while they both watched television, was oblivious. Sigourney Weaver, hearing THAT just shakes her head and rolls her eyes in a combination of disbelief and exhasperation and goes back upstairs.

Sigourney Weaver was excellent and Oscar worthy in my opinion for her credibility in this movie. I knew this character type from then.

Ang Lee's use of ice as a recurring theme, was well established, early and often.. Ice Trays, the old fashioned kind you had to actually crack open really set the tone for that. Even the turkey that Kevin Kline and Joan Allen wrestle with is frozen. The fact that the final 18 minutes or so of the movie is without dialogue isn't really noticed, at least not by me. Very moving anyway, that whole dénouement.

I think I was one of the 4000 people that actually saw this movie in theatrical release. It's a movie best watched alone or with one other person. It was an early matinée and I had the entire theater nearly to myself. That was great too. I've since then owned in sequence, the VHS version, the original DVD, and I now own the CRITERION DVD and I watch it every Thanksgiving now. The richness of this film is astonishing. The Criterion treatment is well done indeed.

A wreck of a film an intersection of pain, sorrow, and discovery.

[blanbrn · 6/10 · 14 June 2016]

When watching "The Ice Storm" you get the feel that life is somewhat of a dread and a dark nature, as you see the characters in the movie struggle with things and everyday real life. Still the picture teaches the need to explore and it shows how everything and everybody's life is connected in one way or the other. The film is well acted too with an all star cast as the on screen chemistry is top notch.

Set in 1973 Connecticut "The Ice Storm" looks at the life of one family that being the Hood family and how they deal with nature and human nature combined with emotion and dysfunction. The main themes involve abuse and casual sex as Ben Hood(Kevin Kline)is a self centered husband who's in an affair with a middle age mistress named Janey(the elegant and sexy Sigourney Weaver)and due to this Ben's relationship with his wife Elena(Joan Allen)is growing colder as Elena does a husband swap at a friends party. Plus to complicate this all both children of the Hood's have growing pains with drugs and sex as Paul(Tobey Maguire)is a comic book reading nerd who's exploring the vices of sex and drugs for the first time as the same holds true for the daughter Wendy(Christina Ricci). Thru it all change and acceptance and discovery and coming to terms with life is reached by all in this movie true, this film is dark in nature still it's a drama that teaches patience and dealing with life.

"Perhaps you find in books what I try to find in people."

[classicsoncall · 8/10 · 2 June 2018]

An ice storm is the perfect metaphor for virtually all the characters in this movie, as each walks the Earth with a virtual glaze of frozen mist covering their eyes while attempting to navigate family and personal relationships. The country was well on it's way to losing it's moral anchor in the 1970's, the chronological setting of the film, and no wonder. Sexual experimentation led to an 'if it feels good, do it' mentality, while drugs and alcohol loosened any inhibitions one might have had on the way to a swinging lifestyle. For the most part, it only led to alienation and a dissolution of self respect. It might have been helpful if this story had even one redeeming character, but instead, each one operated in a moral vacuum, adults and teen children alike. But after all, aren't the kids just following their parents' example?

Ang Lee directs superbly in this ensemble study of defective middle class values and senses devoid of feeling. Aside from the effective character study, I'd have to question the judgment of someone like Jim Carver (Jamey Sheridan), suggesting that he and his neighbor Elena Hood (Joan Allen) go for a ride in the middle of one of the nastiest ice storms on record. Not only did they drop all pretense of acting like responsible adults with their wham-bam affair, but who in their right mind thinks you can navigate a vehicle on a roadway of sheer ice?

Pretty Decent Overlooked Film

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 23 April 2015]

1973, suburban Connecticut: middle class families experimenting with casual sex, drink, etc., find their lives out of control.

Film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert both gave the film Two Thumbs Up, with Gene Siskel calling it the best film of the year, and Roger Ebert calling it Ang Lee's best film yet. Siskel was probably overstating things, while Ebert was probably right. Even now (2015), this remains a largely overlooked film despite Lee's direction and the many actors who were big or have since become bigger.

Personally, I really liked the comic book (Fantastic Four) angle, and wish this had played a bigger role. But I will take what I can get and I think it was well done.

Still one of Lee's best films.

[MOscarbradley · 9/10 · 14 February 2019]

The lives, or at least the sex lives, of two small-town American families. "The Ice Storm" is Ang Lee's brilliant adaptation, with, as usual, a screenplay by James Schamus, of Rick Moody's novel. In the wider world, Watergate is happening but only the 14-year-old daughter of one of the families is interested. The parents are more interested in their infidelities and in stopping their children from screwing around while all the while the weather gets colder and wetter and more deadly.

This is the kind of smart, funny and adult film we don't see very often these days and, of course, it's brilliantly acted and not just by the older players, (a smug Kevin Kline, a wound-up Joan Allen, a sluttish Sigourney Weaver), but by the youngsters as well, (Christina Ricci showing real promise as well as Tobey Maguire and Elijah Wood). Amazingly, the film didn't receive a single Oscar nod though Weaver did win a BAFTA for her performance and it's still one of the best things Lee has done.

A subtle suburban drama dealing adolescence and mid life crisis

[SumanShakya · 6/10 · 16 October 2021]

Based on a novel and set in 1973, the film deals with adolescence and mid life crisis featuring some discontented middle class families in American suburbs. It's a film which is hard to put in words. It's a film to be relaxed about and enjoyed with refreshing performances of the stars, Tobey Maguire, Eljah Wood, Christina Ricci, all featured as the teenagers. Despite a common theme, much refined in "American Beauty" and a forced ending dealing an accident which doesn't take the story to a proper conclusion, is still worth a watch for tremendous direction of Ang Lee and the superb background score he uses.

Rating: 2 stars out of 4.

Paxil Can't Help You

[iampurplediva · 1/10 · 26 February 2008]

I cannot tell you how many times I have used this movie, "The Ice Storm" as an example of how so many good things in a film can go horribly wrong. I was sucked in by the cast (most of my favorite actors) and the director. I mean, really, how can you lose? Well, it was absolutely one of the most depressing things I've ever seen in my life. Ever! And I love all kinds of movies.

I will say, I never knew what a key party was, and the thought that my parents or relatives might actually have engaged in that kind of partying is an image I don't need. Seriously, I felt like slitting my wrists. Reviews calling this movie riveting are correct. It's like watching a train wreck. You know you should look away, change the channel or pop out the DVD/tape, but you don't. You keep waiting for it to get better. You can't believe people can be so miserable. And for no good reason other than they live in the suburbs and they're bored out of their minds.

Believe me, I got all the allegory, metaphor, symbolism, etc. And yet, I couldn't care. It wasn't the type of tale that makes you say "Oh my! Let me exam my life and make changes". It just made me want to drink a pitcher of liquor, take a shower, and watch cartoons to forget all the sad, sad people. But, to no avail. The images are imbedded.

Oh! There is one thing I love about this movie. I now know where the bottom for me is (of movies that were actually trying to be good).