First Snow is problematic in that it’s one of those films with a medium set of strengths and weaknesses. It’s got a decent engaging start, but a meandering middle section that leaves you looking at your cell phone clock. Guy Pearce is solid but not amazing and Piper Perabo is sexy, but not given enough sexy time during the film. These are the most difficult reviews to write, the even handed ones that don’t fit into either the awful or the amazin’ category.
One thing that is easy is the plot. Guy Pearce plays a flooring salesman though thankfully the technical ins and outs of that job have very little to do with the movie. Guy visits a fortune teller (played by J.K. Simmons who IS strong) and some strange things start happening to him. The fortune teller predicts that Guy will die with the first snow of the season. This drives Guy to severe distraction and speeds the film towards that middle lull.
So let’s get into it, that dreaded lull. First Snow turns out to be a thriller in disguise because the first 30 minutes are pretty quiet. Pierce sets up his character very well, though he’s still morphing into Val Kilmer with every passing moment. Pierce is a fellow who’s trying to escape his destiny, a theme which the movie delves into in a major way. It’s after the set-up things get a little easy and cliche. It’s like “Ah, ok, he’s trying to escape his destiny. Got it. Oh, there he goes! Trying to escape his destiny again.” If you think this repetitively for about ten scenes in a row you’ll be in the mindset I was when the plot finally started building towards culmination.
That said, the ending is fairly cool and different. I mentioned before that Piper comes off pretty well here (she’s the girl from Coyote Ugly) and I’d like to see her get more work. First Snow is only 95 minutes, and although it makes that 30 minute entertainment absence all the more annoying, it also means you can catch this and still get home in time for dinner. So respect on that 95 minute running time, especially since those IMDB freaks have it listed at a gaudy 121 minutes. Perhaps I walked out on 30 minutes worth of end credits.
Verdict: Maybe see it. It’s a decent thriller and it’s got Guy Pearce. But maybe don’t see it. It’s slow near the middle and you might lose patience. That’s the best I can do for a movie with equal measures strengths and weaknesses.
