Thin Ice
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Even though we shouldn’t enjoy the plot of Thin Ice, how could we not? Greg Kinnear as an insurance salesman who considers himself a bit of a con artist, trying to put one over on a retired farmer (played by Alan Arkin) out of a violin that could be worth $25,000? In short: think Fargo, but maybe not quite as cold.
Oddly, the director Jill Sprecher might be feeling slightly frigid about the finished project as Thin Ice has been tweaked from her originally named Sundance-debut, The Convincer, and had some cuts forced upon it as well as having to rescore the movie. But rest assured, Jill: the critics have acted with warmth. “Enjoyably fuses cleverness and sheer desperation,” concludes EW. “The plot does fold together with the kind of cruel logic that these sorts of twist-a-thons often lack,” notes The AV Club. “Working the long con and damn near getting away with it … makes for a surprisingly entertaining and nonderivative February time-passer, its wretched mid-winter Wisconsin setting notwithstanding,” writes The Village Voice. Overlook the references to the weather (and we’re as guilty as anyone) and it sounds like you shouldn’t overlook Thin Ice.
MORE: TIME’s Top 10 Movies of 2011
NewsFeed’s Flicks Pick: You can’t skate on war or a Ghost Rider, but you can when it comes to Thin Ice, which is this week’s choice (though we do have a soft spot for McG).