Women love him. Boasting a strong female fan base and playing characters in a handful of chick flicks, including "High Fidelity," "Serendipity" and this year's "Must Love Dogs," John Cusack is known for his roles as the cute and charming lovable loser.

This all changes with his role in Harold Ramis' latest film "The Ice Harvest," which opens Nov. 23. Cusack plays Charlie Arglist, a conniving, sordid mob lawyer trying to leave Wichita Falls, Kan., after stealing $2 million with his seedy cohort Vic (Billy Bob Thornton, "Bad Santa") on Christmas Eve. What follows is part thriller, part comedy depicting the wild mishaps and obstacles facing the duo before they can successfully skip town. Charlie's eventful escape is littered with betrayals by supposed friends, sticky situations and an ill-intentioned seduction by Renata (Connie Nielsen, "Gladiator"), the bombshell femme fatale hoping to take the cash for herself.

While "The Ice Harvest" brings together ingredients that should result in something of a masterpiece, the film decidedly fails to do so. Too disjointed to please viewers, the film seems more like a sequel for a movie that has yet to actually be made. Funny moments are littered throughout, all of them containing the improvisational talent of Oliver Platt ("Pieces of April") as Pete Van Heuten, Charlie's bumbling, alcoholic friend. Although chuckle-inducing, these moments are not funny enough to keep viewers satisfied throughout the length of the film.

The screenplay, based on Scott Phillip's novel of the same title, is a story of redemption, one teeming with sordid, shady characters. "There's no drama playing someone enlightened," said Cusack, during a press junket attended by The Badger Herald. "People in pain are usually so fun to watch."

And in pain they are. With each character enraptured in their own journey of financial gain and personal redemption (or lack thereof), the actors involved certainly had their work cut out for them. Confessing to a difficulty in portraying such unlikable characters, Platt revealed the importance of bonding with the character played. "[As an actor] It's your job to make a bond with your character. You don't have to like your character, but you have to understand them. You need to make characters empathetic."

Joining in, Nielsen said of her character, "It's fascinating to look at someone with no conscience. But human beings are really complicated, and no one sees themselves as the good guy or bad guy finally."

With such a shady group of characters, Platt reveals the importance of abstaining from quick judgment, although that can prove to be a rather tall order. With each character serving as their own vessel of deceit and ruthlessness — stealing each others' wives, choosing booze and waitresses over family obligations, killing for cash — no character ever fully reveals themselves in the film, leaving audience members in the dark as to what each individual character's purpose truly is.

Weather, more specifically severe weather, plays a huge part in both the plot and production of the film. The novel and screenplay both called for a blizzard, but because of budget constrictions, Ramis deviated from that specification, changing the snowstorm to an environment of ice and slush. Ramis explained, "We couldn't afford snow, so we had a wet Christmas, not a white Christmas."

The winter weather depicted in the film reflects the more realistic nature of the Midwest's finicky climate and casts an appropriate bleak shadow over the movie.

The film's uninviting and depressed aura may remind viewers of a film noir, but Ramis asserts that his intentions were not to create replications of other directors' works. "I'm not a film student," said Ramis. "I never thought we were making a genre film. We just did the film, and then we looked at what we had made."

The general consensus among cast members was that they had created a film based off a truly fantastic script. "The best combination is when you have a beautifully written script and the opportunity to fill in the blanks," says Platt.

Cusack even went so far as to allude to the fact that he did certain chick flicks just so that he could take advantage of a really great film, like this one. "I couldn't do [this movie] without doing romantic comedies."

Based on some of Ramis' comments, though, the director would not have minded being in Cusack's position. After explaining that directing is his favorite aspect of the industry because he "gets to do it all," Ramis did confess wanting to "get in there and push [the actors] aside — especially for the love scenes."

Humorous comments and charming demeanors on the parts of those involved with the film does not remedy the fact that "The Ice Harvest" is full of clouded information and confusing plot points. Cusack ruminates, "Why someone would end up in a strip club in Wichita Falls on Christmas Eve is a philosophically challenging question."

Platt, while describing character development in the film, says audience members "know a tiny bit less than [they] need to." This is exactly the feeling that the film evokes. While the film had its moments, and discussion with those most closely involved in its production added an interesting and personal twist, at the end of it all, "The Ice Harvest" remains a movie about redemption with few truly redeeming qualities.

Grade: C