the ice harvest is a 2005 american black comedy film directed by harold ramis and written by richard russo and robert benton, based on the novel of the same name by scott phillips. it stars john cusack, billy bob thornton, and connie nielsen, with randy quaid and oliver platt in supporting roles. it was distributed by focus features, and it was released on vhs and dvd on february 28, 2006, making it the last focus features film released on vhs format. "the ice harvest" grossed $10.2 million worldwide. the rotten tomatoes critical consensus says that it should have been funnier.