Cold Weather

Having been a lover of Sherlock Holmes since he was a young kid, Doug has always dreamt of one day being a detective. Graduating with a degree in forensic science, he moves in with his sister, Gail, after an unsuccessful relationship sends him from Chicago to Portland. But before he has much time to settle in, our troubled protagonist is thrown into a serious situation, one that will challenge his detective skills and give him the chance to live out his dream and crack the case like his good old friend, Mr. Holmes.

While Cold Weather wasn’t anything that I expected, I can’t say that I was overly disappointed with the feature. It wasn’t very exciting, and seemed to take hours to get started, but once the pace picked up, it did contain some good qualities. Were those qualities enough to save the picture? For that, the jury is still out.

Cris Lankenau does a good job at bringing our leading male, Doug, to life. His quirky mannerisms, mischievous behavior, and love for mystery make his a character to like—though his actions never read of intensity or anxiousness. He is always calm, a trait in which he shares with his detective hero, and his knowledge of literature code cracking will bring a smile to your face.

I found myself fighting off sleep during the first thirty minutes, and with good reason. Not only did director Aaron Katz take forever to introduce his characters, but the actual mystery was late in development. I believe it was a strategy that was meant to compliment the peculiar, somewhat mundane characters that comprise Cold Weather; a course of action that seemed to backfire tragically.

But for those who stick around, the film offers a bit more in the form of idle entertainment. The story is fun and entirely innocent, and the characters are as quirky as they are entertaining. To an extent, I felt as if I was watching an adaptation of a ‘Nancy Drew’ mystery novel; one that occasionally throws an f-bomb in for good measure. And while that might entertain a niche group of viewers, it will leave little interest in the rest.

My C+ rating is probably a bit kind, though I feel that my expectations for Katz’s Cold Weather were probably a little high. It was entertaining to a degree, but lacked that special push that would have allowed it to escalate into a film of power and suspense. I am fresh off of Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island, and to be quite frank, this one doesn’t hardly compare intellectually or in pure entertainment value.