Editorial Review:

Description:
When a self-centered husband's relationship with his wife and mistress grow cold, it takes a wife-swapping "key party" and a freak ice storm to clear the air and change their lives forever. Director Ang Lee offers a compelling look at a controversial era.

Amazon.com essential video:
Asian American director Ang Lee sums up America in the early 1970s by focusing on the arrival of the sexual revolution in the 'burbs. Isolationism within a family, consumerism, and selfishness are personified by a cast that captures the self-obsession within two New England families. As the children struggle awkwardly with adolescence, their parents stumble through sexual experimentation. In the days of Watergate and Vietnam, society is breaking boundaries and ignoring convention. Following suit, these families are eschewing polite barriers and social taboos, with disastrous results. The "ice storm" of the title refers not only to a natural phenomenon but is a (rather heavy-handed) metaphor for a pervasive emotional temperament. The entire cast delivers textured, finely nuanced performances. This movie lingers in the psyche not only for the scope of the tragedy at its conclusion, but for Lee's often humorous and stingingly accurate assessment of pop culture. Based on Rick Moody's novel, this won the best-screenplay award at Cannes in 1997. --Rochelle O'Gorman

My first actual reaction to this plodding frustrating plot was the attempt to retrieve ice from that horrible contraption which I almost forgot till the moving scene of fighting to extract a cube...lots of defrosting challeneges, search tasks in the freezer, cold food items, ice, ice, baby...everywhere...then you get the stunted dialogue with no follow-up answers and the bookend of no communication... no, worse... blank stares, not a wise crack (save my love Kevin Kline!), smile, complete anihilation of senses...EXCEPT they just jump in with the Key Party theme without anyone knowing who are neighbors n even the pastor deals in, and Christina with her I'll show you mine, etc. and being so shockingly blunt about "here's the deal" attitude...just did not make for an even treatment of film message about family. I will defer to the Daddy scene carrying his little girl...that was presh. I was very surprised that this was directed by Ang Lee, not growing up on the east coast during this time as I did showed in dialogue, tone, and theme. Ang's best efforts to intensify emotions was credible but who wouldn't get choked up seeing death of a child. I relegate my review to the visuals which were absolutely perfect and my only spidey sense that Ang's skill was inate and it's core strength. Oh yeah, INCREDIBLE concentration of talent!!

Average Rating:

Rating: - THE ICE CUBE TRAY STORM
My first actual reaction to this plodding frustrating plot was the attempt to retrieve ice from that horrible contraption which I almost forgot till the moving scene of fighting to extract a cube...lots of defrosting challeneges, search tasks in the freezer, cold food items, ice, ice, baby...everywhere...then you get the stunted dialogue with no follow-up answers and the bookend of no communication... no, worse... blank stares, not a wise crack (save my love Kevin Kline!), smile, complete anihilation of senses...EXCEPT they just jump in with the Key Party theme without anyone knowing who are neighbors n even the pastor deals in, and Christina with her I'll show you mine, etc. and being so shockingly blunt about "here's the deal" attitude...just did not make for an even treatment of film message about family. I will defer to the Daddy scene carrying his little girl...that was presh. I was very surprised that this was directed by Ang Lee, not growing up on the east coast during this time as I did showed in dialogue, tone, and theme. Ang's best efforts to intensify emotions was credible but who wouldn't get choked up seeing death of a child. I relegate my review to the visuals which were absolutely perfect and my only spidey sense that Ang's skill was inate and it's core strength. Oh yeah, INCREDIBLE concentration of talent!!

Rating: - It's time to warm up to this chilly film...
A lot of people I know compare this film to `American Beauty', and I totally understand why. Both films explore suburban family life in a way that is honest and flawed and completely exploitive without ever appearing overdone or, well, exploitive. I completely adore both films, but while `American Beauty' excels in really capturing the insecurities and eventual demise of the middle-aged man, `The Ice Storm' takes a different route (albeit similar circumstances) in that it exposes the moral breakdown of the average family.

Both films involve a family unit, complete with children, and both films expose a marriage on the rocks (complete with an affair) as well as childish rebellion and self discovery on both sides of the spectrum, but to be `The Ice Storm' works a little more in that it actually feels invested in every character.

Outside of Spacey, `American Beauty' loses some footing.

Ben and Elena Hood are seemingly happy parents with a daughter at home and a son off in school, but when their son Paul comes home for a visit they begin to visibly unravel. Both Paul and his sister Wendy are beginning to explore their own individuality, which as per usual involves some sort of distorted intimacy, and this coincides with their parents beginning to acknowledge their own inadequacies. Ben has been fooling around with Janey Carver, the mother of Mikey, Wendy's current flame. Elena is most likely privy to the affair, even if she refuses to admit it to herself, but what is even more pertinent is that the children here all know and understand far more than the parents want to believe.

What is so beautiful (tragically so) about `The Ice Storm' is that it exposes the messes we parents make while we falsely believe that our children are too young to understand all that they are witnessing.

Sigourney Weaver's character Janey is the perfect example of this very idea.

Across the board the film is filled with stellar performances that really ignite on contact. Kevin Kline has rarely been better (and when you consider that he also starred in the uproarious `In & Out' this same year you really have to hand it to him) and Joan Allen is all sorts of stellar as Elena, giving her a true sense of uninformed (or should I say unacknowledged) dread. Tobey Maguire, Adam Hann-Byrd, Christina Ricci (OMG amazing here), Elijah Wood and Katie Holmes all astound in their roles (some great child acting here); but it is one name that resounds loudest and that is Sigourney Weaver. Her understanding of the unaccepted flaws of Janey is just marvelous. That final scene, after the party, alone in the house and then suddenly aware of the truth; it's just a heart-stopper.

In the end I must say that `The Ice Storm' is one of the most sublimely done films on family tension I've ever seen, exposing the heart of human frailty without coming across as preachy, contrived or clichéd. It is honest, dark and surprisingly inspired, and the final moments (where eyes are opened for the very first time) add a layer of hope that is much needed in the world we live in today.

Bravo.

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Rating: - Historically inaccurate
I used to love this movie. I think all of the acting is excellent, and that it perfectly portrays the suburban ennui of Connecticut in the 1970s that, albeit in a different form, still exists to this day. My complaint is this: I searched for "weather in New Canaan, Connecticut, November 23, 1973" in Wolfram Alpha recently (Novemebr 23 being the date of the titular ice storm) and the result I got was -- are you ready for this? -- "temperature average: 48 °F, conditions: fog, overcast, cloudy, partly cloudy, few clouds, clear." That, my friends, is a far cry from an ice storm. It is sad to see a movie go so far in recreating a historical period -- costumes, Watergate hearings, houses, even waterbeds -- and get this one crucial piece so very wrong. For shame, Rick Moody and Ang Lee!

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Rating: - Another dysfunctional suburban family
I have loved every Ang Lee film I've seen...Sense and Sensibility, Crouching Tiger, Brokeback Mountain and Lust,Caution. So I had high expectations for this, especially with the stellar cast.

I kept thinking I'd seen the film before---it reminded me a lot of Revolutionary Road, another look at morally bankrupt suburban Connecticut families...even to the point of the hasty, clumsy sex in the car between the two neighbors. That was directed by Sam Mendes, another good director from another culture. One wonders what fascination this bit of Americana holds for these foreigners...Are they so eager to see the dark side of our culture?

The first time I saw a film about the underside of the affluent white suburbs was back in the 60's I think, with Robert Redford's brilliant film, Ordinary People, starring Mary Tyler Moore and I think Timothy Hutton. That was a real breakthrough in showing how things weren't as pretty as they seemed on the surface. But gee, that was a long time ago...and I think we've all gotten the message. I don't know when the novel from which the book was taken was written...perhaps it had relevance at that time. But to me, this is just rehashing the same old ideas and I don't see that Lee adds anything to our understanding about the scene at all. Lot of stupid sex among the adults and the kids, lots of alcohol and drugs and talk about the meaninglessness of life, or whatever was in that comic book that Toby McGuire kept reading. Boring, pretentious stuff.

The actors are all very good and they the best with the material.
It is better than Revolutionary Road which I really hated...at least these characters have some redeeming values.

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Rating: - Good
Shiping was sooner than posted. product was as promised and in unopend and in retail packaging condition

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