Almost--- but not quite... so close yet so far

Look, I think Ang Lee is a fine director, but this film misses the mark despite aiming for the right target.

Lee effectively uses a melancholy, wintry backdrop -- along with the Watergate scandal -- in his attempt to convey the post-60s disillusionment that existed in the bleak and almost-cozily forlorn early-70s... I can almost see Mary Richards driving thru the snow with songs by BREAD going "bwwwwooonggggg--- bwwwwonnggggg...."

Almost.

Unfortunately, the wonderful opportunity to capture this now-so-distant era wound up being reduced to a cliche`d cartoon. The acting mostly isn't very good (even from good actors) and the dialogue seems forced and trite in its efforts to feel "to period".

Sure, THE ICE STORM is considerably better having been shot in the '90s than it would have been had it been filmed in, say, the self-conscious '80s when any period picture felt illegitimate (such movies tended to be much more sincere in the '90s), but the overall texture of the thing is off. It all feels more than a little pretentious.... It's not the subject-matter; it's the execution.

Ang Lee clearly had the right idea in mind with this movie, and the physicality of it is near-perfect. But the effect is undermined by what feels like too desperate an effort to be "meaningful", rendering the "My God, what have we done to our children??" type finale more silly--- and ultimately ringing hollow--- than anything else.

Worth a look, to be sure, but the script is dire.

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