By: debbie lynn elias
There’s thin ice. There’s black ice. Put them both together as a showcase for Greg Kinnear and Alan Arkin and you’ve got yourself THIN ICE – one of the blackest comedies around. And while there are safe patches of solid black comedy, unfortunately, overall THIN ICE cracks and breaks in the blink of an eye.
Cherub-faced Wisconsin insurance agent Mickey Prohaska could sell ice to Eskimos. He’s fast-talking, innocent looking and very very smooth, skating through sales pitches that have more holes than Carter has pills and which unsuspecting customers easily swallow thanks to the packaging. Sadly, there’s also a level of arrogance and conceit that he wears like a Teflon coated badge of honor, lording over everyone around him, seeing all as gullible schmucks. But you know what they say. The higher you climb, the harder you fall. And as high on that pedestal as Mickey has himself, you know the fall is gonna be a killer.
We first meet Mickey at an insurance conference. Hobnobbing with industry colleagues for whom he has great disdain, its easy to see the oil slick Mickey leaves wherever he goes. And while he may think everyone is buying his act, they aren’t; well, except for newbie Bob Egan, an energetic middle-aged man whose gullibility Mickey sees coming on like a freight train and tries to lure Bob to Wisconsin with promises of employment. Initially, Bob turns him down, but imagine Mickey’s glee when the situation reverses.
Knee deep in Wisconsin snow, Mickey lets Bob do all the running and pitching and make all the sales. He even goes so far as to tell Bob to forge his name as the sales agent on the policy applications, never casting a glancing eye on anything; that is until Bob tries to sell a homeowners policy to Gorvy. A lonely elderly man, and not the brightest bulb in the box, Gorvy’s only companion is his dog, Petey. To Mickey, he’s a pigeon. Initially dismissing Bob’s attempts to sell to Gorvy, once Mickey meets Gorvy and hears Gorvy talk about the antiques and “old things” in his house, Mickey’s interest is more than piqued. This man could be the goldmine he’s been waiting for.
I love Greg Kinnear and I love Alan Arkin. Put them together and magic happens. So, naturally I was enthused about THIN ICE. And while the two of them shine with their performances as Mickey and Gorvy, respectively, it’s not enough to keep the film from falling into cold murky waters. As for the individual performances, Kinnear first appears as a character we’ve seen from him before, but it’s a welcome sight. Believable. Amiable. Affable. Conning people with that slick used car salesman sensibility, but he’s likeable when he does it. But as the film progresses with its vaarious plot twists, Kinnear falls apart like a two dollar watch, becoming hapless and lacking any believability in the performance. Thankfully he does resuscitate in the end so we leave him on a upbeat note.
As for Arkin, one can’t help but love his Gorvy. Playing Gorvy as slightly befuddled showing some mental signs of old age, he is quite endearing. However, Arkin gives Gorvy this indescribable edge that perks up the senses, causing the audience to start suspecting Gorvy isn’t what he seems, heightening the anticipation of wanting to see what Gorvy is hiding.
Local locksmith Randy (hired to install a security system in Gorvy’s house) rears his ugly head compliments of Billy Cudrup. Distressingly, Cudrup is pure annoyance and his chemistry with Kinnear (which is a major plot point) is completely lacking, due in large part to much of the implausibility traits infused into Mickey (i.e., story holes). There is so much disbelief between Cudrup and Kinnear that causes one to not buy the plot set-up and entanglement between Mickey and Randy .
David Harbour’s character of Bob Egan, while an eager beaver to be sure, lacks sincerity and any believability with the eagerness feeling too forced. A great loss is the under use of Bob Balaban as a violin maker/expert. Topping it off is the fact that the character is poorly written, lending to a “blah” performance by Balaban. As Mickey’s realtor ex-wife JoAnn, Lea Thompson adds a freshness to the story, but is essentially a throw away character that just disappears from the film with no explanation. Similarly, Michelle Arthur as Mickey’s secretary Karla. Provides perfect set-up for plot twists and then disappears.
A big casting highlight though – Petey the Dog!!!
Written by Jill and Karen Sprecher and directed by Jill, THIN ICE has the potential to be so much more than what it now is. The premise is one which lends itself well to dark, dark comedy. Unfortunately, the story is so poorly constructed with sooooo many holes and an ending that is harder to navigate than a 20 page insurance policy, that the comedy is overshadowed by the script’s problems.
Anyone keeping track of dialogue and production design could see that Bob sold more insurance policies than there were residents in town (not to mention the fact that they were all auto policies and only one homeowners policy, the latter being to Gorvy) and for a street smart guy like Mickey to never question or notice jumps out like a red flag, flawing the image being created for Mickey. To the observant eye, bar scenes between Mickey and Randy fall apart with incongruities thanks to conflicting dialogue; i.e., we go to the bar for the “best steaks in town” yet Cudrup’s Randy has a line of dialogue that says “I only come here for the cheese curds/curls”. (Cudrup’s enunciation of words throughout the film was deplorable). So how would he know they have the best meat if all he eats is cheese. Then look at the very noticeable menu board listing food items. Not a meat item on it. Arguably, this could be construed as depicting Mickey as not being as savvy as first depicted, but that’s a stretch. Scenes at Gorvy’s home are equally flawed, notably with security system installation where the installer is picking and setting the homeowner’s codes. And how about washing blood out of a wool Persian carpet? Doesn’t happen with soap and water and no matter what cleaning product is used, there will be a stain. And who would wash a carpet on their hands and knees in a suit and tie, cleaning for perhaps 15 minutes? That one sequence destroyed the entire film for me.
With a set up that portrays Kinnear’s Mickey as being so observant and so savvy and in the opening scenes he clearly is with his people observations, it all falls apart very quickly and Mickey looks like he has absolutely no idea what he’s doing.
I stayed involved and interested and curious so as to see how the bloodied carpet without a stain would be explained and play out and I held on until we got to the “big reveal”, which only served to be a big let down.
I have to say though that the visual look of the film is appealing and the fact that the film was shot in Wisconsin in the dead of winter not only adds to that appeal, but helps provide one of the funniest scenes in the film out on a frozen lake. And while I do like the premise of the film, Jill and Karen Sprecher are unable to deliver anything cohesive or comedically satisfying.
THIN ICE is just too thin to keep from cracking and sinking…fast.
Mickey – Greg Kinnear
Gorvy – Alan Arkin
Bob Egan – Dave Harbour
JoAnn – Lea Thompson
Randy – Billy Cudrup
Directed by Jill Sprecher. Written by Jill and Karen Sprecher.
