Thin Ice

Reviews From the Dark Side presents:
Thin Ice
Released 2/17/12

This movie may be the only one in history that takes place in Kenosha, WI.  Well, the only one I know anyway.  Greg Kinnear, who in my opinion, is a very underrated actor, stars as Mickey Prohaska.  Mickey is a smarmy, fast talking, down on his luck insurance salesman.  Mickey has had a tough go of it lately.  His business is failing, he's separated from his wife, and cash has started to dry up.  He needs to drum up more business or a big score.  He gets an opportunity when he steals a potential client from his new protégé. 

The client is Gorvy Hauer (played by Alan Arkin), an eccentric old farmer who tries to pay for his new homeowner's policy with a large jar of change.   It also happens that Gorvy has a violin that belonged to his late sister that he has appraised while Mickey in his home (and Gorvy's sound asleep).  The appraisal comes in at $25,000 as Gorvy is in possession of an expensive copy of a classical violin.  Mickey's wheels start turning as he tries to think of way to con Gorvy out of his valuable instrument.  He lies to the farmer about the value and offers to take it off his hands for his stepson for a "reasonable" total of $10.  Gorvy is hesitant to sell it to Mickey as the appraiser later contacts him and gives him the true value.  Mickey comes up with a plan to steal the violin and replace it with a knockoff while the farmer is out of town. 

One problem.  At the suggestion of Mickey's protégé, Gorvy has installed a home security system.  Luckily, he already met the locksmith (Billy Cruddup) who installed the system on an earlier visit (who Mickey also catches trying to steal the old farmer's clock).  He asks the locksmith to open the house and shut down the alarm because he accidentally left some insurance papers.  The locksmith reluctantly opens the house as Mickey blackmails him with calling the police for the attempted theft of the clock earlier.  Mickey heads up to the attic and switches the expensive violin for the knockoff (witnessed by the locksmith).

 Mickey's luck is all bad as Gorvy's neighbor stops by to check on the house.  The neighbor thinks nothing of Mickey being in the house at first because he helped introduce him to Gorvy.  He gets suspicious when he sees Mickey holding the gym bag carrying the violin and neither Mickey nor the locksmith can come up with an explanation.  The neighbor tries to call the police and that's when things get haywire.  Turns out the locksmith is a bit of a psychopath who has a record.  He smashes the neighbor in the back of the skull with a hammer while a scared-to-death Mickey looks on.  He then takes a Polaroid of Mickey standing in the house to blackmail him into assisting with disposal of the body. 

The rest of the movie involves cover up, an insurance policy, false appraisals, and Mickey's life spinning more and more out of control.  I'll stop here and won't spoil the punchline at the end.  There are several twists and turns with events at the beginning of the movie having significance at the end.  Keep Mickey's words in mind as you watch, "Believe nothing you hear and only half of what you see." 

This is an interesting movie with a couple of good performances.  I've already mentioned my feelings on Greg Kinnear.  I really liked Alan Arkin in this as the eccentric and confused (?) Gorvy. Billy Crudup goes from zero to psycho in a split second very well.    Thin Ice is a dark comedy in the same vain as say, Fargo.  In both movies, a simple crime that should have no casualties gets comically out of hand.  I wouldn't necessarily say it's going to be on everyone's must watch list, but if you're looking for something entertaining and different, give it a shot. 

The Dark Lord of the Sith says:

***stars

Ratings Legend
Zero *= Don't waste your time. Pure dreck! Dreck is too good for this! Blind me please!
1 *= Fuggedaboutit!
2 *= Average, Mediocre, Nothing Special
3 *= Good viewing. Much better than a poke in the eye.
4 *= Great. Could possibly foot the price of a non-Matinee.
5 *= Pure eye candy. Hall of Fame material here.