SNOW DAY A film review by David N. Butterworth Copyright 2000 David N. Butterworth
**1/2 (out of ****)
On a snow day, anything can happen. Young love can be requited. A TV weather forecaster with falling ratings can win the approval of his community. A mother can learn to put her family before her cell phone. And the scourge of the neighborhood, a demonic snowplow driver with bad teeth and a pet raven, can get his comeuppance.
"Snow Day," a family film with the emphasis on family, doesn't get too bogged down delivering on these individual plotlines, but it does have a lot of fun getting there. A Paramount Pictures/Nickelodeon Movies production, the film features "big name" stars in Chevy Chase, Chris Elliott, Jean Smart, and Pam Grier but, wisely, relegates them to minor roles and allows its real stars, its child actors, to shine.
Most engaging of these is Philadelphia's own Mark Webber, who plays highschooler Hal Brandston. Hal sees the unseasonably mild winter's first freak snowfall as a sign to pursue the girl of his dreams, high-dive beauty Claire Bonner (Emmanuelle Chriqui). Hal's little sister Natalie (Zena Grey) is more obsessed with derailing the efforts of the menacing snowplow man (Elliott) in an effort to set the Syracuse record of two snow days in a row. Their flatulent younger brother Randy, played by Connor Matheus, spends most of this time rolling around in the white stuff like a beetle on its back.
Chase and Smart are their parents, both heavily involved in their careers, with Chase as Syracuse's No. 2 meteorologist playing second fiddle to John Schneider's flashy Chad Symmonz, and Smart as a soft drink marketer who cannot let the phone ring unanswered even if it means losing a bet. Also a joy to watch is Schuyler Fisk, daughter of Sissy Spacek and art director Jack Fisk, as Hal's down-to-earth friend and confidante Lane Leonard--this is a promising performance from Fisk; watch for bigger things from her in the future.
"Snow Day" is not a remarkable film in any way, but in today's age of indiscriminate sex and violence it's refreshing to watch a film in which sexual situations are replaced by sincere expressions of teenage love and violence is reduced to a high school principal being bombarded by unseen snowball assailants.
Chris Koch's film is silly and fun, tapping into that primal excitement of hearing one's school closing number on the radio.
-- David N. Butterworth dnb@dca.net
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