Cool As Ice
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Cool as Ice'' is a 1991 American
musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...
teen drama In film and television show, television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or docudrama, semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humour, humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional te ...
film, directed by David Kellogg, written by David Stenn and starring rapper
Vanilla Ice Robert Matthew Van Winkle (born October 31, 1967), known professionally as Vanilla Ice, is an American rapper, actor, and television host. Born in Dallas, raised in Miami, he was the first solo white rapper to achieve commercial success foll ...
in his feature film debut. The plot focuses on Johnny Van Owen, a freewheeling,
motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...
-riding
rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...
who arrives in a small town and meets Kathy, an honor student who catches his eye. Meanwhile, Kathy's father, who is in
witness protection Witness protection is security provided to a threatened person providing testimonial evidence to the justice system, including defendants and other clients, before, during, and after trials, usually by police. While witnesses may only require p ...
, is found by the corrupt police officers he escaped from years ago. Developed as a vehicle for Vanilla Ice, the film was widely panned by critics, and was a
box office bomb A box-office bomb is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the combined production budget, marketing, and distribution costs exceed the revenue after release has te ...
, grossing only $1.2 million from a $6 million budget.


Plot

Johnny Van Owen is a rapper who drifts from city to city. Johnny is performing at a
nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...
, rapping and dancing with his crew and a club background singer playing "
Cool as Ice (Everybody Get Loose) "Cool As Ice (Everybody Get Loose)" is a song written by Vanilla Ice, Gail "Sky" King and Jennece " Princessa" Moore, and performed by American rapper Vanilla Ice featuring vocals from English model Naomi Campbell. Produced by Gail "Sky" King, it ...
". While the group passes through a small town, Johnny falls for honor student Kathy Winslow. The crew is stranded in the town after a member's motorcycle breaks down and has to be left at a local repair shop. While waiting for repairs, Johnny uses the opportunity to see Kathy. She already has a boyfriend named Nick, whom he advises Kathy to dump. Johnny shows up with his crew at a local club frequented by Kathy and her friends. Noticing that no one was enjoying the live music playing at the club, Johnny and the crew decide to perform a musical number, "People's Choice", by unplugging the other band's instruments and taking control, shocking the audience and ending with Johnny sweeping Kathy off her feet, humiliating Nick. He offers to forgive Kathy and take her home, but she refuses and walks home by herself. Unbeknownst to Kathy, she is stalked by two strange men in a car. She is saved by Johnny, who takes her home. At the club's parking lot, a jealous Nick and his friends smash up motorcycles belonging to Johnny's friends. Nick's friends attack the rapping biker who fights back, leaving Nick and his buddies unconscious and Nick himself in the hospital with a broken nose. Kathy's father, Gordon, becomes suspicious of Johnny, and warns Kathy to stay away from him because they can't trust strangers. The next day, Kathy goes for a ride with Johnny against her father's wishes. They ride all over town, including a construction site. When they finally return home, they are greeted by an angry Gordon, who coldly warns Johnny to stay away from his daughter. Gordon, under pressure from his wife Grace, reveals to Kathy the secret of his past—he was once a police officer. They were on the run from two corrupt cops and were able to escape using fabricated documents, explaining why he kept his life a secret from Kathy all these years. Kathy criticizes her father, saying it was not fair that he lied to her in order to protect her, yet refuses to permit her to see a total stranger. The next day, Johnny agrees to give Tommy, Kathy's younger brother, a ride on his bike. They cruise through the streets, and finally back to the Winslow home, where Tommy is later kidnapped. At the repair shop, the crew prepares to leave town since the bike has been repaired, but they tell Johnny to say goodbye to Kathy. When Johnny arrives at the Winslow house, he finds an envelope meant for the family. It turns out to be a message from the crooked cops with Tommy recording it. Fearing the worst, Gordon accuses Johnny of criminal involvement, much to Kathy's dismay. When Kathy asks Johnny to play the tape left behind by the kidnappers, he hears a loud clanging noise from a construction vehicle, revealing the message was recorded at the construction site. The gang ambushes the kidnappers and rescues Tommy. When the police arrive, the gang return Tommy to the Winslows, and Gordon apologizes to Johnny. The rapper tells Kathy he has to move on, but she decides to follow him. Nick arrives in his car, telling Kathy to get used to being a biker chick because she will never see him again. Kathy holds on as Johnny uses the car as a ramp and the two new lovers ride off into the big city. The film ends with Johnny reaching his destination, rapping "Get Wit It" and dancing with his crew to an audience at a nightclub. Kathy joins him on stage after the show is over, dancing alone in the spotlight.


Cast

*
Vanilla Ice Robert Matthew Van Winkle (born October 31, 1967), known professionally as Vanilla Ice, is an American rapper, actor, and television host. Born in Dallas, raised in Miami, he was the first solo white rapper to achieve commercial success foll ...
as John "Johnny" Van Owen * Kristin Minter as Kathy Winslow * Michael Gross as Gordon Winslow/Hackett...James Anthony Hackett Jimmy * Deezer D as Jazz * John Haymes Newton as Nick * Candy Clark as Grace Winslow * Victor DiMattia as Tommy Winslow *
Naomi Campbell Naomi Elaine Campbell (born 22 May 1970) is a British supermodel. Beginning her career at the age of eight, Campbell was one of six models of her generation declared supermodels by the fashion industry and the international press. She was th ...
as Singer * Kathryn Morris as Jen * Jack McGee as Clarke * S.A. Griffin as Morrisey * Sydney Lassick as Roscoe *
Dody Goodman Dody Goodman (October 28, 1914 – June 22, 2008) was an American character actress. She played the mother of the title character in the television series '' Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman'', her distinctive high-pitched voice announcing the ...
as Mae *
Bobbie Brown Bobbie Jean Brown (born October 7, 1969), sometimes credited as Bobbie Brown-Lane, is an American actress, model, and former beauty pageant contestant. She appeared in the 1989 videos for Great White's " Once Bitten, Twice Shy" and " House of ...
as Monique * Allison Dean as Princess


Production

Initial development for the film began after record executives at SBK learned about Ice Cube's involvement in ''
Boyz n the Hood ''Boyz n the Hood'' is a 1991 American coming-of-age hood crime drama film written and directed by John Singleton in his feature directorial debut. It stars Cuba Gooding Jr., Ice Cube (in his film debut), Morris Chestnut, and Laurence Fis ...
'' and wanted to create a film project for Vanilla Ice to capitalize on the success of his debut album. Filming began in April 1991. The role of Kathy was offered to
Gwyneth Paltrow Gwyneth Kate Paltrow ( ; born September 27, 1972) is an American actress and businesswoman. The daughter of filmmaker Bruce Paltrow and actress Blythe Danner, she established herself as a leading lady appearing in mainly mid-budget and perio ...
. Her father Bruce Paltrow advised against accepting it, as he felt it could hurt her career.


Music

The film's
soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ( ...
contained four new songs by Vanilla Ice, as well as other material. It peaked at No. 89 on the ''Billboard'' 200.


Reception

The film opened in 393 theaters in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, grossing $638,000, and ranking at No. 14 among the week's new releases. Reviewers widely panned the film. On
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, the film holds a score of 3% based on reviews from 35 critics, with an average rating of 2.9/10. On
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, the film holds a weighted average score of 24 out of 100 based on 10 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews. ''
Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer (from Latin ''mixus, the PPP of miscere eng. to Mix)'' or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary ...
'' ranked Vanilla Ice's performance in the film as the seventh-worst performance by a musician turned actor. Director David Kellogg later disowned the film.


Awards


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cool As Ice 1991 films 1990s teen drama films American musical films American teen drama films 1990s English-language films Films directed by David Kellogg Films scored by Stanley Clarke 1990s hip-hop films Universal Pictures films Vanilla Ice 1991 directorial debut films Golden Raspberry Award–winning films Films about witness protection 1990s American films English-language musical films 1991 musical films