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Nice effects though.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Blistering performances.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Insurance agent Mickey (Greg Kinnear) is blackmailed by Locksmith Randy (Billy Crudup) over the theft of a valuable violin owned by Gorvy Hauer (Alan Arkin).The movie setting is winter in Wisconsin and although we see some ice and snow from time to time, we wished there were more wintry scenes. You see, they kind of help cool us when we are watching this in the summer heat wave we have now. Bummer. Returning to our story, we see that Mickey is in debt and is willing to steal Gorvy's violin as Gorvy isn't aware of the true value. Enter Randy and the cover-up begins, but both are surprised by a neighbor who feels something isn't right and threatens to call the police. What to do? What to do?That is as far as I will go because the rest is complicated. We like Mickey and hope he can find a way to make things right. However, because most of this happens in the beginning, we see that there is a lot more story (read movie) to go and things get even more complicated and go progressively worse for Mickey. Okay, okay, I went a little further but, we see there is enough time for Mickey to make things right. That is our hope. There are many twists and turns in here and you need to keep up. We keep rooting for Mickey, but things go further and further south for him. Greg Kinnear plays Mickey to perfection. We feel his pain even though he did something wrong. The acting performances of the rest of the cast are perfect, but it is Mickey we care about and he needs to find a way out of the mess he helped create. We can only hopeWe see Randy as a normal person, but when he gets surprised by something that doesn't go right, he loses it big time for a while and then he reverts back to being quiet and normal again. This happens 2-times in the movie. I guess this is the comic relief within. Pretty good though. Kind of reminds us of William H. Macy in FARGO when he beats the hell out of his vehicle when his plans are upset. These temper tantrums are great scenes. Kudos. The key to the whole movie is Arkin's Gorvy, who is naïve and agreeable to insurance suggestions by Mickey's new agent hire, Bob (David Harbour). Alan Arkin is becoming a real acting treasure in his later years and we like his screen presence. Okay, okay, the real key to the movie is Mickey and his greed. You will see why. Okay? Tough room.Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No.

"Thin Ice", much like Fargo, is a murder-story set in a snowy-midwestern town. The lead character is an immoral salesmen who's life is literally falling apart around him.The good news is that "Thin Ice" provides the audience with an even-more-twisty-tale. The performances are steady across the board. Now, I'm not saying this is as good or better than Fargo, IT'S NOT! But, it's a good movie.The twists in the last 30 minutes are hefty and hard to scrutinize. There are a few aspects of the plot that were a little predictable, but for the most part the twists in the end were well-concealed and somewhat believable.The film moves fairly slow, but never came off to me as boring. It doesn't really have any style to speak of, and the other director elements are nothing special. Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin, and Billy Crudip do a fine job with an average script that is completely void of comedic moments(style and comedy were two of Fargo's strengths).The plot twists in the last third of the film DO set this one apart, and while the film DOES lack style and comedy, the acting helps keep it afloat.I'd say this deserves a bit higher ranking than it's current 6.1 here, but it also isn't something that you should feel the need to move up to the top of your list.A Coen Brothers story without some of the Coen Bro's trademarks.I'm stuck between 6 and 7 here at 65/100, but rounding up and taking into consideration the low 6.1 score.You might like this if you liked: American Gun(not as good), Fargo(better), Burn After Reading(about even), and Millions(not as good).

It was interesting and entertaining, even if just for the acting alone, which is superb. The movie pulled you into its uncomfortably edgy, eerie and yet comical approach. A good mix of turmoil, tension and comedy.Greg Kinnear is fantastic as is Billy Crudup. Alan Arkin is great but not in it as much as the other two. Lea Thompson should have had more of a role, really like her. Agreed, some of the way part of the film was handled is questionable but overall I liked it a lot. Though, I would like to see the original version (cut) too as it's supposed to answer some of the complaints some have had with the film. The opening scene reggae song and closing credits tune are really good as well.

I can't believe all the butter up tossed into the laps of the Sprecher sisters when they told critics more than 20 minutes of this film was re edited without their approval. Greg Kinnear is great as an insurance salesman pulled into a scheme to steal farmer Alan Arbus's violin worth 25,000 dollars only to have locksmith Billy Crudup murder the neighbor and blackmail Kinnear into helping him cover up the crime. The snowy streets, ice ponds and backwood bars provided a suspenseful atmosphere to this noir comedy/drama until just 90 minutes in a cheery narrative tells us the farmer staged the whole thing, a management office paid him to do it, etc. It just got me lost it was so long and talky. Like Roger Ebert noted, it was a great drama unfolding in the real and unplanned sense until the hokey voice over arrived. The Sprechers seem to have liked their characters so much they could not give them a negative resolution or denouement of any kind. It seems dad was selling insurance and maybe he wouldn't sign a life story release or they just couldn't hurt his feelings. I kept thinking "Push Billy Crudup into the ice pond, you idiot. Make up your mind about something." Unfinished film project rates a D plus.