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Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci ... see more see more... , Elijah Wood , Henry Czerny , Jamey Sheridan , Katie Holmes , Michael Cumpsty , Adam Hann-Byrd , David Krumholtz , Allison Janney , Glenn Fitzgerald

Set on Thanksgiving weekend of 1973, The Ice Storm looks into the lives of a wealthy Connecticut family who are calm and civil on the outside, but whose lives are quietly falling into chaos. Sixteen-y... read more read more...ear-old Paul Hood (Tobey Maguire) is home for the holidays from prep school; he'd just as soon have stayed at school, given the usual level of tension around the house and his desire to win the affections of Casey (Katie Holmes), a girl living in Manhattan. His 14-year-old sister, Wendy (Christina Ricci), is already a hardened cynic obsessed with the ongoing Watergate investigation, and she has begun acting out sexually with a neighbor boy, Mikey (Elijah Wood). Apparently, this runs in the family: Wendy's father, Ben (Kevin Kline), is having an affair with Mikey's mother, Janey (Sigourney Weaver), though Ben sees a future in the relationship and Janey does not. Elena (Joan Allen), Ben's wife, knows something is wrong with her marriage and her life, but she has no idea what she should do about it. As the teenagers surreptitiously experiment with drugs and alcohol, and the adults drift into mate-swapping, a dangerous blanket of freezing rain begins to cover New Canaan. The Ice Storm was adapted from the acclaimed novel by Rick Moody. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Flixster Users

79% liked it

32,549 ratings

Critics

83% liked it

58 critics

R, 1 hr. 53 min.

Directed by: Ang Lee

Release Date: September 26, 1997

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DVD Release Date: May 13, 1998

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Stats: 1,474 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (1,474)

  • jennifxu
    May 2, 2011
    jennifxu
    Though I really dig the whole postapocalyptic end-of-the-world, freak of nature weather stuff, it was just too sapped of genuine emotion for me to care about this much.
  • flixsterman
    November 20, 2010
    flixsterman
    Powerful and, at times, daunting. With the possible exception of Janey Carver (Sigourney Weaver), all of the characters have depth and purpose. I still think Rick Moody's novel lends itself better to the stage but Ang Lee and his exquisite cast manage to get the most out of the... read more material.
  • fb619846742
    October 20, 2010
    fb619846742
    A near-masterpiece of a film concerning a few families in middle-class 1973 Connecticut whose lives intersect during Thanksgiving Weekend when an ice storm rocks the quiet town they reside in, as well as the extremely suppressed emotions coursing through each one of them - which ... read morein turn unleashes a storm of sexuality and self-pity that is not for the faint of heart. Ang Lee competently captures the look and feel of the 1970's, and details each one of his characters with excellence and subtle brilliance. It's not a fun movie by any stretch of the imagination, and it occasionally loses its hypnotizing grip on its audience, but for this most part this is superb stuff. The conclusion of the film is just absolutely perfect, despite it being incredibly tragic and near tear-jerking. The final ten minutes of this film are simply a master-class in subtle facial expressions and characters trying to keep the lid on their understandably explosive emotions. Deconstructing the seemingly "ideal" middle-class is not as original a theme anymore thanks to other great movies like "Happiness" and "American Beauty" (and the TV show "Mad Men"), but 'Storm' remains the undeniable most significant film concerning the subject.
  • ceWEBrity
    September 14, 2010
    ceWEBrity
    Acutely observed but dispassionate, it's taken me a long time to formulate what to write about The Ice Storm because I didn't have any particularly strong reactions to it. Kevin Kline is a literate but utterly unexciting actor; Joan Allen, normally reliable, is tensed beyond the ... read morepoint of much subtlety, though she's squarely in her wheel house as a tight-lipped, forcibly repressed woman and certainly does not disappoint. Surprisingly, the performance of note here is Christina Ricci, depicting a preternaturally sharp interpretation of a sexually confused young woman, far too intelligent with no outlet for it since the departure of her brother. Elijah Wood is also strong in a character that isn't quite as fleshed out. Several of the children here, in fact, are borderline autistic for no apparent reason. Short of Ricci, the portrayals here seem to somewhat miss the mark of what normal adolescence is like. Though their behaviors cohere, their personalities don't. Tobey Maguire's subplot is well-balanced with the rest of the film, saying a surprising amount in a very small amount of time - he hits his notes very assuredly, as a smart man not quite brave enough to go the distance with an also impressive Katie Holmes. Perhaps the greatest disappointment is The Ice Storm's lack of focus on the Carvers, especially when Sigourney Weaver would have been a much-needed bit of levity in this incessantly heavy film. The film's lack of interest in their characters, often utilized as sounding boards for their children or neighbors, makes the ending feel entropic and not entirely effective.

    This isn't to say that The Ice Storm doesn't feature strong figures, because it absolutely does. I just couldn't help but feel as I watched that they could have taken them even farther, and maybe have given the film a little more focus in general. The parts are there, but they aren't assembled quite right. Quite like something from IKEA, it requires considerable construction, but it's sleek and practical.
  • LWOODS04
    August 10, 2010
    LWOODS04
    Cast: Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Tobey Maguire, Henry Czerny, Christina Ricci, Elijah Wood, Adam Hann-Byrd, David Krumholtz, Jamey Sheridan, Kate Burton, William Cain, Michael Cumpsty, Maia Danziger, Katie Holmes, Allison Janney

    Director: Ang Lee

    Summary: Pr... read moreep-schooler Paul Hood (Tobey Maguire) returns home for Thanksgiving weekend and finds his family about to implode. While his father (Kevin Kline) tries to douse his sorrows with booze and infidelity, Paul's mother (Joan Allen) looks for answers in self-help books. The experimentation and liberalism that defined the 1970s lead to ruin as the family's environs literally freeze over during a freak storm in this insightful drama.

    My Thoughts: "First off I want to acknowledge what a great cast this film has. So much talent in one film that it just had to be great, and it was. The adults and teenagers are all going through changes and transitions in the film. The story is surrounded by these two families, (Hood and Carver) who are sexually involved with each other in one way or another. But none of them are getting any pleasure from the sexual encounters. It's mostly just frustration to humiliation for them. Then with the arrival of 'The Ice Storm', their lives are to be forever changed with the passing of the storm and the dawning of a new day. The movie evokes the loss of innocence. Some experimenting with losing it, to others trying to get it back. Great film, great cast, great acting, and a great script. Definitely worth taking a look at."
  • bottcorecords1
    March 19, 2010
    bottcorecords1
    Ang Lee's 70s period piece version of "American Beauty", is a tale of disaffected teens and their equally disaffected parents. The parents are too wrapped up in their own disfunction to be parents, either because of illicit affairs (sigourney weaver and kevin kline) or they rese... read morent their spouses for their affairs. The sins of the parents are also found in the children though, as daughter Christina Ricci finds herself confused sexually while making out with both Elijah Wood and his younger brother. Meanwhile, her older brother (Tobey Maguire) is just as ineffectual as his father. I'm not really sure what the purpose of The Ice Storm is. It's not a terribly fun movie, and if it's meant to give some deeper insight into life, it needs to go beyond the cliches it so often returns to. Like many of Lee's movies (Finding Woodstock, for example) the characters don't seem to have a whole lot of control over their own destinies, things just "sort of happen" to them. The mistakes they make aren't necessarily mistakes, but they're almost always of their own doing. The Ice Storm seems to want to suggest "shit happens" and we should just roll with it. As Elijah Wood's character says, we're breathing in the molecules we smell, in effect consuming smells, and we don't necesssarily always have control over what we eat. There seems to be an attempt to draw a correlation from that to life and our relationships with one another. Even if we can't control who we're related to, we can control how those people make us feel. So the Ice Storm might be deeper than what I can give it credit for, but that doesn't necessarily make it valid. Ang Lee might have a unique perspective, but I can't necessarily get behind it.
  • middleeasternfilms
    February 25, 2010
    middleeasternfilms
    Headed up by 3 class actors/actresses with Tobey Maguire and Christina Ricci in tow, this film concerns a 70's key party during an impending ice storm. Add other minor plotlines to it (Kline cheating on his wife, etc) and director Ang Lee and it's an excellent movie. Not too fast... read more, but doesn't drag on, either.
  • stormyweather980
    September 14, 2009
    stormyweather980
    Weird
  • dreamfaeries
    August 22, 2009
    dreamfaeries
    Emotionally intense and messed up.
  • bbcfloridabound
    February 25, 2009
    bbcfloridabound
    Never heard of this one before and I have no idea how it got on my to see list, but its a Film that captured the 1969-1974 time frame, to my surprise Tobey Maguire (Spiderman) plays in this movie and one of the early scenes is he's riding on a train reading a Fantastic Four comic... read more. But the film shows the life of two families in 1970, notice I didn't say dysfunctional, hell we were all dysfunctional back then but because we all were, we were considered normal. Its a good film, would not be enjoyed by most, you have to have a flair for the unusual, like Harold & Maude have to be in your favorites list. My My how Christina Ricci has changed. Its worth 4 stars.

View All The Ice Storm Reviews

Critic Reviews

Todd McCarthy
July 28, 2008
Todd McCarthy, Variety

A well-observed and deftly performed examination of upper-middle-class emotional deep freeze... Full Review

Rick Groen
April 12, 2002
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail

A remarkable film that takes us straight into John Updike territory, duplicating on screen exactly what the writer achieves on the page. Full Review

Peter Travers
May 11, 2001
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

The best film about family so far this year. Just don't think Disney.

Kenneth Turan
February 14, 2001
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

It's unfortunate that as capable a team as director Lee and screenwriter-producer Schamus should have become fascinated with such unpromising material. Full Review

Roger Ebert
January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Despite its mordant undertones, the film is often satirical and frequently very funny, and quietly observant in its performances. Full Review

Stanley Kauffmann
January 1, 2000
Stanley Kauffmann, New Republic

Over and over again in Austen, [Lee's] framing, his course of action, his editing suited and amplified the essence of the scene. But here everything in his directing, absolutely everything, is banal.

Janet Maslin
January 1, 2000
Janet Maslin, New York Times

Lee daringly chooses to keep his story's motivational mysteries unexplained, leaving this richly observed film open to the viewer's assessments. Yet the sense of imbalance is ever-present and strong. Full Review

Charles Taylor
January 1, 2000
Charles Taylor, Salon.com

I don't know when I've seen actors realize so many affecting moments in such a muddled conception. Lee's aestheticized approach is its own kind of ice storm. Full Review

Joe Baltake
January 1, 2000
Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee

This is one of those films in which nothing seems to be 'happening,' but in retrospect, when it's over, everything seems to have happened. Full Review

Susan Stark
January 1, 2000
Susan Stark, Detroit News

Perceptively detailed in both the directing and acting, The Ice Storm commands strictest attention from start to finish. Full Review

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  • Which actress who starred alongside Elijah Wood in 'The Ice Storm' as Wendy Hood?  Answer »
  • Which movie has this tagline : " It was 1973, and the climate was changing "  Answer »
  • What actor who was featured in the 1997 movie The Ice Storm went on to play a superhero later in his career?  Answer »
  • Which actor/actress has starred in the following movies? Batman Begins Phone Booth First Daughter Go The Ice Storm  Answer »
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