Colin
and Mitch are ex-brothers-in-law. Hallmark probably does not have a card for
that, but Mitch is not a Hallmark kind of guy. Colin sort of is, but it hasn’t
worked out for him. To ease the sting of his recent divorce and financial hardships,
he reluctantly agrees to accompany Mitch on a first class tour of Iceland in
Martha Stephens & Aaron Katz’s Land
Ho! (trailer
here), opening
this Friday in New York.
After
Colin sunk his savings into his second wife’s dubious business scheme, she
rather brusquely left him holding a bag of debt. The well-heeled Mitch feels
rather bad about that. The shamelessly outgoing surgeon still fancies himself a
player, but his ego is still bruised from his involuntary retirement. Hoping to
revive their spirits, Mitch books passage to Iceland, cracking wise every step
of the trip. As anyone who has seen Robert Altman’s The Player should know, Iceland is very green, whereas Greenland is
very icy. Nonetheless, they find plenty of snow during their genial series of
misadventures.
Frankly,
that is sort of the long and short of it. Sure, they argue and meet up with
some attractive female companions (distant relatives mind you, so nothing
brewing there), but Land is not
exactly a plotty film. Instead, Stephens and Katz basically rely on immense screen
charisma of their two principals, which largely bails them out.
As
Mitch, the devilishly lewd hedonist, Earl Lynn Nelson scores consistent
medium-sized laughs. There probably isn’t an earthy punchline he can’t land. Paul
Eenhoorn nicely counter-balances him, as Colin, the reserved everyman. They develop
a terrific bickering, bantering rhythm that is highly watchable. Eventually,
they do address their fundamental issues of mortality and human frailty, but
the proceedings never get excessively deep.
