Themes: Class Differences, Faltering Friendships, Love Triangles
Main Cast: Jason London, Lee Majors, Willie Garson, Zach Galifianakis, David Koechner
Release Year: 2001
Country: US
Run Time: 89 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Four wacky guys take on a pack of rich stuffed shirts (does this premise sound at all familiar?) in this broad comedy. Rick (Jason London) is a slobby but good-natured snowboarder who is mending a broken heart after splitting up with Anna (Caroline Dhavernas), a girl he met while on vacation in Mexico. Rick has headed back to Bull Mountain, AK, where he and his buddies Luke (Zach Galifianakis), Anthony (Flex Alexander), and Pig Pen (Derek Hamilton) spend their days riding the slopes and their nights partying hard. Rick and his pals hope to someday open a hangout for fellow boarders, but after Papa Muntz, the city's founder and largest landowner, passes on, his son Ted (Willie Garson) sells most of his property to John Majors (Lee Majors), a wealthy but pompous developer who wants to convert Bull Mountain into Snownook, an upscale ski resort catering to yuppies. Determined to keep Bull Mountain safe for like-minded burnouts and radical skiers, Rick and the gang declare war against Majors and his associates, though Rick feels a bit conflicted by the fact that John is Anna's father -- and his daughter is tagging along with her father as he relocates to Alaska. Anna, however, has a rival for Rick's attention, as Jenny (A.J. Cook), a cute ski bum, has shown her interest in him. Out Cold was the first feature film from sibling directorial team Brendan Malloy and Emmett Malloy, who previously worked in television commercials and created several snowboarding videos. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Flex Alexander - Anthony; A.J. Cook - Jenny; David Denman - Lance; Caroline Dhavernas - Anna; Derek Hamilton - Pig Pen; Thomas Lennon - Eric; Victoria Silvstedt - Inga; Lewis Arquette - Papa Muntz; Todd Richards - Barry
Credit
Jim Steuart - Art Director, Randi Hiller - Casting, Coreen Mayrs - Casting, Sarah Halley-Finn - Casting, Carla Hetland - Costume Designer, Richard Cowan - First Assistant Director, Lee Cleary - First Assistant Director, Emmett Malloy - Director, Brendan Malloy - Director, J.J. Makaro - Second Unit Director, Jeffery Wolf - Editor, Gary Barber - Executive Producer, Roger Birnbaum - Executive Producer, Lauren Shuler-Donner - Executive Producer, Michael Andrews - Composer (Music Score), Michael S. Bolton - Production Designer, Richard Crudo - Cinematographer, Lee R. Mayes - Producer, Jonathan Glickman - Producer, Michael Aguilar - Producer, Louise Roper - Set Designer, Allan Galajda - Set Designer, Jay Mitchell - Set Designer, Eric Batut - Sound/Sound Designer, Patrick Dodd - Sound Editor, Jon Zack - Screenwriter
Also,
out for the count;
out like a light. Unconscious; also, asleep. For example, He crashed into the wall and was out cold, or Willie punched him too hard, and he was out for the count or Don't call Jane; she's out like a light by ten every night. The adjective cold refers to the lack of heat in a dead body and has been used to mean "unconscious" since the second half of the 1800s. The first variant comes from boxing, where a fighter who is knocked down must get up before the referee counts to ten or be declared defeated; it dates from about 1930. The last variant alludes to turning out a light and dates from the first half of the 1900s.
Out Cold is a 2001comedy film about a group of snowboarders in Alaska. It is the first feature film by the music video directing team The Malloys. The movie presents itself as something of a parody of 1980's "ski school" movies and could also be considered a parody or modernization of the film Casablanca. Many elements of the latter including plot, characters' names, and even some famous lines were incorporated into "Out Cold".
The story covers the lives of snowboarding buddies Rick (Jason London), Luke (Zach Galifianakis), Anthony (Flex Alexander), and Pig Pen (Derek Hamilton), who are living large in their beloved hometown of Bull Mountain in Alaska. Partying hard, looking for girls, and doing just about anything to have a good time is what life on Bull Mountain is all about, but that all looks to have a quick end when town founder Papa Muntz dies, and his son Ted (Willie Garson) decides to sell the mountain to slick Colorado businessman John Majors (Lee Majors). Nobody supports his plans to turn the mountain into an "espresso-and-tofu" ski resort, and it's up to Luke, Pig Pen, Anthony, Jenny (played by A. J. Cook), Rick and the others to keep Bull Mountain yuppie-free. Once they realize John's purchase will change the town drastically, they enlist the aid of Major's beautiful, rebellious daughters, Inga (Victoria Silvstedt) and Anna (Caroline Dhavernas), to sabotage the purchase.
Characters
Rick Rambis is a ski area employee, the unofficial leader of his group of friends, and is one of the more normal residents of Bull Mountain. He is also the reigning "King of the Mountain", a title awarded for a downhill drinking and boarding contest. His dream is to build a lift to the top of Bull Mountain's tallest point (called Hangman's Peak), which he believes will turn Bull Mountain into one of the most popular ski areas in the country. He is also still pining over Anna, with whom he had a brief romance during a vacation to Cancun, Mexico.
John Majors is a slick businessman from Colorado who wants to buy Bull Mountain and turn it into a yuppie resort town, along the lines of Aspen, Colorado.
Jenny is an attractive, down to earth snowboarding instructor and one of the only women in town. She has a romantic interest in Rick but knows that he won't be ready to date her until he gets over Anna.
Luke is Rick's best friend and the older brother of Pig Pen. Luke has a habit of drinking until he passes out, which often results in him being the target of pranks by those who are still standing.
Pig Pen is Luke's pot smoking younger brother and possibly the stupidest man in town. Although he has a schoolboy crush on Inga, he is too clumsy and awkward to express it properly.
Anthony is another of Rick's friends and a pitifully bad snowboarder who never fails to crash whenever he attempts to ride.
Lance is the effeminate bartender of the local tavern. Despite the fact that he is clearly gay, he does not seem to realize it and even considers himself to be a macho ladies' man.
Anna Majors is John Majors' half-French, half-American daughter and the woman who left Rick heartbroken when she unexpectedly left him in Cancun. When she shows up at Bull Mountain, Rick's life is thrown into turmoil.
Inga Majors is Majors' other daughter and Anna's stepsister. Hailing from Sweden, Inga is a gorgeous, busty blonde who quickly becomes an object of lust to the men of Bull Mountain.
Barry is Anna's fiancee. A former snowboarder who was paralyzed after an accident at the Winter X Games, he's now a doctor and a pilot.
Eric Montclare is a widely-disliked senior employee of the ski area who becomes one of Majors' top lackeys when the plans to sell the resort are announced.
Papa Muntz is the late founder and late owner of Bull Mountain. He founded the town after winning the property in a game of poker from a bunch of drunken Eskimos.
Ted Muntz is Papa Muntz's only son and the current owner of Bull Mountain. He plans to sell the mountain to Majors and use the money to live out his dream of moving to the tropics.
Stumpy is a hard-drinking, tall-tale telling, possibly insane barfly who often makes outrageous claims about his own accomplishments (such as that he invented snowboarding). He warns Rick and the gang not to trust Majors. At one point in the film he claims to be Rick's father, although it is unclear whether he's telling the truth, joking or simply delusional.
