Ice Angel (2000 TV Movie) User Reviews

Wish I could rate it higher

[Snootz · 6/10 · 17 January 2018]

I went into this film expecting pure schlock... and it delivered in that area. From chasing the angel around the table to the "guy walk" all the way through the movie, from the oogie-oogie to the oy-oy (you just have to see the flick to understand) there was no schlock opportunity missed.

But that's okay. Because in addition to that this film presented some very unexpected emotional moments as well as being a good lesson in ethics and figuring out what matters and what doesn't. There were heart-clencher and tear-jerker moments and even once (just once) when they got an actual laugh out of me. That was more than I expected.

Unfortunately, if I'm going to be honest I can only rate it 6 stars. That is admirably above my 5-star "just mediocre" score... which gives it credit for delivering more than expected. But there were three major flaws: 1) corny 2) highly predictable and 3) sloppy no-effort ending. I can forgive the corn and predictability, but not a sloppy ending. It's like the writers and director got lazy and decided to just drop the story in the audiences lap. Without spoilers, the final plot concept has no sensible reason nor any forecasting throughout the film. The director drops it on us like a bomb... and that's how it hits. It is writer and director stupidity at its worst-- sheer laziness. "Okay folks, we hit our 90 minute mark. That's a wrap!"

This was like a Disney after-school movie with a little more heart thrown in and for a more adult audience. If it had a better, more sensible ending I'd have no problem giving it a good, solid 7 stars. But the ending stunk and cost them in this review. Had the rest of the film been less enjoyable it could have cost them a lot more, but I actually enjoyed the film. In the end game, that's about as good as one can say about any kind of entertainment.

Sweet, well done

[Billy-116 · 4/10 · 28 December 2000]

Nice movie and Nicholle Tom does a fantastic job playing the "guy in the girl's body", she really does it well.

A sort of teen version of many other movies, but well done.

Well casted, from "Matt" to "Matt2".

its a good little film!

[caleb-j · 10 April 2003]

Comparing it to Heaven can wait, which was made on a major motion picture's budget, at the pace of a feature film (twice as much time to film as a tv movie) is hardly fair.

This film is quite nice for a low budget film produced for a cable network. The lead actress was good in her role. Her performance was on a par with Ellen Barkin in Switch, as a friend of mine commented.

The pace of the story is good, and the fantasy elements are kept believable by the writing and acting skills. There were some performances that were simplistic, but mostly for secondary performances, not those of the lead characters. The parents did border on being parodies of dumb parents however in a few scenes.

Skating scenes were also believable.

The film may not be an Oscar winner, but it had heart and soul, and relied on more than cliches to tell the story. (Not that there were no cliches!) But it was a good, enjoyable film I would watch again.

Did I blink and miss the ending?

[MysDik · 2/10 · 26 April 2003]

!!! Spoiler alert!!!

The point is, though, that I didn't think this film had an ending TO spoil... I only started watching it in the middle, after Matt had gotten into Sarah's body, but then I became fascinated by the bizarreness of the plot, even for a Channel 5 movie... and couldn't possibly see how Matt wld end up happy. What about his fiancee? At one stage looked like he was gonna get with his best friend, surely icky and wrong... and then the whole 'oggi oggi oggi' thing does NOT WORK as a touching buddy-buddy catchphrase, tis just ridiculous... so was going 'surely he can't just come back to life? and yet how can he live as a woman?' and then the film just got over that by ending and not explaining anything at all!!!!! What's that about??? I was so cross, wasted a whole hour of my life for no reason at all!!! :) but was one of the funniest films I've ever seen, so, swings and roundabouts

A movie well worth re-watching

[fsd283 · 7/10 · 13 July 2005]

For years I've watch all the figure skating movies I'e come upon. This one has become my favorite. It goes beyond the story of a skating career and casts an amused but compassionate glance on the human condition.

It is surprising with all the modern interest in unconventional sexual themes that movies where the member of one sex experiences the life of another are so uncommon. I don't mean transvestite stories like TOOTSIE, but plots wherein a person undergoes a real change. This gives a film a real chance to explore sex roles, a theme ostensibly so important to modern consciousness. There have been some such films, but these have been shallow comedies going for simpleminded yucks, like "Dr. Jeckyll and Ms Hyde" and "Switch" that really have nothing to say about the being a better humanbeing. Wouldn't it be better to address ideas of courage, compassion, and resilience in the face of difficulty? I thought Sarah's story of coming to grips with a new kind of life, of making peace with the past and moving on to the future, of friendship and striving to excel, made the story as warm as it was funny.

In criticism, it was too bad that the film didn't deal more with Sarah's social adjustments and less with skate training. Time to do so could have been salvaged from, for instance, that street hockey scene that was pretty much a throwaway. I think Ms Tom was a little too mature for the way the role was written and an actress who looked the age of Tara Lipinski would have been more suitable. Nonetheless, Tom does a good job and it is a shame that she doesn't get the chance to do more movie work (It is also a shame that her NANNY role was so restricted, and she was never allowed to break out of the background, as Nikki Cox did in UNHAPPY EVER AFTER).

Like "Heaven Can Wait," "Ice Angel" is clearly inspired by the classic "Here Comes Mr. Jordan." I hold it is superior to the former movie in thought and content, though shot on a small budget.

I'm amused by Nancy Kerrigan fans (which I count myself one)who express the wish for more screen time for our star. The few lines she had in the movie showed her limitations in delivering a dramatic line. She is a wonderful skater, but not an actress. Tara Lipinski did much better as the second lead.

Another cheesy remake of "Here Comes Mr. Jordan"

[hep kat · 3/10 · 11 March 2000]

I fail to understand why anyone would allow a sub-par director to put drivel like this onto celluloid. This movie has already been made at least two other times that were better than this ("Here Comes Mr. Jordan" - 1941, and "Heaven Can Wait" - 1978). The only saving factor for figure skating fans might have been some nice ice skating done by a professional cast of skaters, but this just does not happen. The closest thing the audience sees to good skating is when Tara Lipinski's character takes a turn on the ice for a just a moment. Others like Nancy Kerrigan and Elvis Stojko are hidden in the background and do not do any figure skating at all. There is not much real emotion shown, and there is not really any reason to tune in to this obviously Made-For-TV Movie. My advice: rent the original.

Heaven Can Wait On Ice

[JamesHitchcock · 4/10 · 28 January 2011]

For some reason this film appears to have two different titles. It was shown on British television by the rather clumsy title "On Thin Ice- Going for Gold", but I will refer to it by its simpler alternative title "Ice Angel". It is essentially a remake, with a twist, of "Here Comes Mr Jordan" from 1941 and "Heaven Can Wait" from 1978. Both those films were about a sportsman named Joe Pendleton (a boxer in the first film, a gridiron footballer in the second) who dies prematurely because of an error by an inexperienced guardian angel and then has to return to Earth in a new body because his own has been cremated.

The main male character in "Ice Angel" is also an American sportsman, in this case Matt Clark, the captain of the USA ice hockey team, who dies prematurely during a match because of an error by an inexperienced guardian angel and then has to return to Earth in a new body. And here comes the twist. In both "Here Comes Mr Jordan" and "Heaven Can Wait", Pendleton was reincarnated as a businessman named Farnsworth. Matt, however, is reincarnated in a female body, that of figure skating champion Sarah Bryan, no suitable male bodies being available. He is sternly forbidden to reveal his true identity to anyone or to contact anyone he knew in his previous existence, including his girlfriend and his best friend. As Sarah, Matt faces two great challenges- to adapt to life as a woman and to learn the techniques of figure skating in time to win a gold medal in the Olympic Games.

Unlike some sports, figure skating has not inspired many films, and certainly no great ones. It was, however, popular in the 1990s, especially after all the interest created by the Battle of Wounded Knee (aka the Waterskate Affair) between Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding in 1994. Nancy actually has a small part in this movie and another famous skater, Tara Lipinski, a more important one. Tara plays Sarah's great rival Tracy Hannibal. (She significantly has the same initials as Harding; doubtless the scriptwriter toyed with the idea of giving Matt's female alter ego a name like Nina Kelly or Nicola Knight but rejected it as too obvious). Of course, this being a sentimental comedy there has to be a happy ending, so Sarah and Tracy end up the best of friends. On this showing Tara will never win an Oscar to put on her mantelpiece alongside her Olympic gold, but in all honesty her acting is no worse than that of the professional actors who make up the rest of the cast, and in some cases rather better.

Besides the films already mentioned, "Ice Angel" also owes a debt to cross-dressing comedies like "Tootsie" and "Mrs Doubtfire" which both involve a man learning how to act like a woman, with the difference that Matt now really is a woman, not just pretending to be one. There is, unfortunately, another difference. "Tootsie" and "Mrs Doubtfire" are classics, two of the funniest comedies of all time. "Ice Angel" is one of those films which could have been much funnier than it ends up.

There is nothing wrong with the basic concept. Apart from the fact that both take place on ice, ice hockey and figure skating have little in common. Ice hockey is a sport with an aggressively macho ethos, whereas skating is perhaps the most feminised of all sports, with even male participants wearing sparkly, glittery costumes. Female competitors are expected to maintain an image of ultra-femininity both on and off the ice; even before the Kerrigan affair Harding was frequently criticised because the strange contrast between her sexy, glamorous appearance on the ice and her off-ice image of a redneck ladette whose main pleasures were drinking beer, playing pool and hunting.

The idea, therefore, was to have the ultra-masculine Matt gradually learning how to be the ultra-feminine Sarah, but it just doesn't work. The film goes through all the standard clichés about tough guys and girlie girls, as Sarah's over-protective parents, who seem like something from a fifties sit-com, worry about why their daughter is now behaving like a tomboy and her coach wonders why she has suddenly lost her ability to perform triple axels. It never, however, manages to extract any humour from them, concentrating more on its sentimental sub-plot about Matt's girlfriend. One thing the film tactfully skates over (pun intended) is the question of the resurrected Matt/Sarah's sexual orientation; great fun could have been had with this aspect, but doubtless the film-makers felt that it was more important not to alienate the family market. One reviewer calls "Ice Angel" "a bit of a turkey". Make that a turkey reincarnated in the body of an ostrich. 4/10

Nice and easy to watch, a good afternoon time consumer.

[Xandar_Fukuyama · 9/10 · 11 April 2003]

I saw this movie on Channel 5 while flicking through to see what was on, and normally, if a program is absolutly terrible I'll get up and leave to do something more productive rather than sit there and suffer.

This film kept me seated though. I found it slightly hilarious and it had a pretty funny plotline which kept me captivated for the length of the film.

A little bit cheesy, yes, but it was entertaining. I gave it a 9 out of ten for a nice afternoon movie that didn't make me cringe with boredom or cheesed off with rubbish jokes.

A nice little film with good acting by Nicholle Tom.

A must-see

[smaniaci · 10/10 · 27 July 2001]

I have seen this movie several times. However, I agree that Nancy Kerrigan should have been featured more, though she had more than a bit part.

Tara Lipinski seemed to be more famous, in that she was featured more. Tracy was her role. Tara delivered it quite well.

I enjoyed this fantasy film because after the hockey player "died," it returned to become a woman. Does that ever happen in real life? I am not sure. Sometimes we all wish it did.

Nicholle Tom played her part of Sarah, excellently. All in all, it was very entertaining and worthwhile to see.

This film makes me wonder!!!!

[Scaramouche2004 · 8/10 · 10 March 2005]

Am I a girl? I am a 31 year old male, but just recently films with a strong emotional base seem to have my British stiff upper lip trembling all over the place.

Has (in a strange parody with this film) a girlie girl figure skater possessed my body with the sole intention of applying the water works to my eyelids? It appears so, because this film really had me choked up with emotion, it was great.

Make no mistake, this film is a bit of a turkey, and when I say a bit I mean a Christmas dinner that can feed a small nation, but none the less there was something about it that made it impossible to switch over.

Matt Clark the strapping captain of the U.S.A. Olympic ice hockey team, meets a premature demise but is returned to earth in the body of Sarah Bryan, a U.S.A. Olympic figure skater.

We start out with the usual gender bender clichés as the bewildered Matt tries to adapt to the body of a young and beautiful woman, but it is when this former 6 footer starts to take figure skating seriously the film starts to come into it's own.

Nicolle Tom I feel plays her part so well, even adapting her walk to be consistent with that of a male hockey player, which of course is in direct contrast to the thing of beauty she undoubtedly is.

I was really surprised with myself when in the final scene, I found myself cheering at my TV with the rest of the Olympic crowd with layers of built up tears in my eyes. It was fantastic though. A real feel-good moment.

When I think of how soft I seem to be getting lately.....I could blush really.

The biggest problem with this film however was the ending. There was no fanfares or fade outs, not even those silly little captions explaining what happened next. There was nothing. It just stopped dead. As dead as Matt Clark himself.

There was so many lose ends the audience was so desperate to see tied, like any further interaction between Matt's 'widowed' pregnant girlfriend and his best friend, who had both figured out that their former comrade and pal was locked inside Sarah's body.

Maybe just one outward reference to it would have put the icing on the cake. But sadly we are left hungry.

Well to recap, the film is enjoyable although it's not that good, the ending will excite you and then disappoint you in the same minute and I'm a big sissy girl, who can't keep his emotions in check.

And I'm going to end this review in the same style as the film where by I am going to......

it's like trying to kick a puppy!

[the_doctor · 12 April 2003]

Ever heard the critics' expression, "trying to give this movie a bad review is like trying to kick a puppy?" Well, it's most certainly true here. Make no mistakes, this is a bad film - the plot goes far beyond the realms of the improbable whilst somehow fitting in every cliché going as hockey star Matt is killed and reincarnated as a female ice skater.

The first half of the film concentrates on Matt's gender dysphoria as he tries to adapt to life as a girl, which is handled in a light hearted and, dare I say it, funny way. The second half of the film advances the plot as Matt/Sarah tries to make it as a figure skater.

This is mindless, made-for-tv viewing, but as I said at the start of this review, it's got a certain naive charm and a great feel-good factor that makes this a watchable film, although the fact that I was too far gone to change channel probably helped. Though I wanted to, I couldn't find it in myself to actually dislike this movie.

Even though it's spliced throughout with five minute no-dialogue-just-song montages to pad it out, the charm of this movie alone carries it through and above the drudgery of daytime TV. Watch this if you want to while away a bored hour and a half, it's a 'bad' film, but its not a bad film to watch.

Great Lovely Movie!!

[KrisKass · 9/10 · 9 February 2005]

I remember seeing the trailer on TV while it was advertised for Saturday lunch time and I thought it would be an interesting movie to watch it, so I recorded it and watched it later that day. And OMG I loved it so much! I never keep movies I record once I watch them but I kept that thank God because I can't find it anywhere on Video or DVD.

I had never seen Nicholle Tom before and I just fell in love with her, she was so great in the movie, she really did play well the frustrated guy inside the girl. Being a guy myself I think this movie is really interesting because it makes you think how would you react if you would be in a girl's body and still had the male mind in everything! Well it made me wondering! And that's what I liked the most about the movie.

Includes IMPORTANT Spoiler from this Point:

Some other comments about the movie. I believe the cast was great in every role, the only thing I didn't like was the sudden ending without any progressing with Matt/Sarah and his/her ex-G/F and buddy. It was kinda frustrating that we didn't get to see Ray and Danielle talking to Sarah while they both had kind of realized that Sarah was Matt.

I never understood this ending however after me and my friend watched it she noticed something I hadn't up until this moment which is very important and kind of explains why they ended the movie with Sarah smiling after her win. While Sarah is starting figure skating in the Final we see Saint Peter and this other Angel sitting together and watch her and then Saint Peter says exactly this: "You know after this performance Sarah will no longer have any memory being Matt" with the angel replying "I'm really gonna miss him". And I think this is why Matt/Sarah didn't get to talk with anyone after, because she wouldn't remember anything anymore from her former life as Matt which means she would continue her life as a normal girl. I don't like this ending but it's the only one I can give. I still hope he/she would get to say at some point to his/her ex-girlfriend that she was Matt..

Feel Good Film

[nicki_dee · 4 January 2001]

I thought this film, though pretty much the same as many other body switching films, was good fun. It was easy to watch, and didn't require any real thought on the viewers part. Nicholle Tom was brilliant in the part of Sarah, and even thought there was no major Hollywood talent to make it a hit, it's worth watching just for the Feel Good factor.

Ice Angel was thoroughly delightful!

[danasterling · 10/10 · 19 March 2000]

A wonderfully entertaining and delightful movie. Nicholle Tom was very persuasive in her role as Matt Clark / Sarah Bryan. A convincing portrayal of how one very macho man slowly comes to grips with his/her new persona and destiny and, along the way, gently guides the destinies of those he/she loves most. Use your imagination, something many of us have lost over the years. Put yourself into the role. How would you react if this happened to you? I for one found the entire movie thoroughly captivating and delightfully enjoyable! If this was available on video, I would be first in line to buy it! Watch it! I highly recommend it!

VERY GOOD PLAYING NICHOLE TOM

[MIKE-966 · 10/10 · 21 July 2003]

I saw this movie and was excited how Nichole Tom plays her role as woman/male act! she is excellent!!!!!! than the role of Tara Lipinski how she still skates!!! It is a film for the whole family, with the up and downs behind the scenes!! for me it is an excellent movie to let children and adults let know of the up and downs of figure skating! but see it and tell yourself what you think about it. I saw Nichole Tom in one of here best roles, also Tara Lipinski!!!!!!

Ice Angel is a great movie

[iceangelaaron · 10/10 · 22 June 2000]

I have watched Ice Angel everytime that it has been on, because Aaron Smolinski (who plays Matt Clark) is the best actor. If you have not seen this movie I would most definitely recommend it at least the first half hour of the movie with Aaron Smolinski in it.

Great to see when this comes to DVD as soon as possible

[KevinB12 · 9/10 · 20 March 2018]

I gave this television movie nine stars is that this movie is great as it gets. I hope this comes to DVD as soon as possible because I love this so much. This movie rules!

Feel good movie, with a different twist.

[seivadch · 10/10 · 6 September 2018]

As a winter sports nut, the idea of the USA hockey captain being reincarnated as female figure skater was to good to miss, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Although obviously made on a budget, it was well spent on a good script that needed few special effects.

The gender swap of the lead character is not the real story here. It just allows the film to appeal to boys (hockey) and girls (figure skating). But I agree it is an untold story.

The fun bits for me were Matt not knowing how to put a dress or bra on (bet he knew how to take them off). Trying to put on make up and assuming he could drive.

The more touching side was realising to live his (and Sarah's) dream meant hours of training to reach the top in another sport. And that is the real story, not being able to win at your chosen passion, but replacing it and winning at another. Even if you can't totally let go of the first.

There are a few weepy bits when Matt thinks his best mate has done the dirty on him, but then learns it's quite the reverse. And that leads me back to the excellent writing. There are several key pieces of dialog that make the film make sense. Without them you miss the full story.

I'm not going to tell you what they are, watch and Listen.

As the nurse says 'It's a miracle.'

Edit Rating upgraded. This has become a favorite watch of mine.

Great

[smiley1986 · 4 January 2002]

I myself thought that this film was great and witty too, its one of a few movies that Tara Lipinski (an Olympic Gold medalist) has appeared in but hopefully more to come because she is a rare talent and i think that this movie was really good. see ye Carol

Cute

[wheela1 · 21 October 2000]

No this movie isn't the best I've ever seen, but it is cute and has a unique story line.. The tie ins and ending of the movie are great even if slightly predictable. I would recommend this movie as a sit at home no date Saturday night movie, just for the fun of it.

TERRIFIC!!!

[mcdonb · 29 December 2000]

This movie was great! I've read other comments that state the movie was bad because it was Canadian, But frankly, I don't Believe that that has anything to do with the movie. I am glad to see a movie made for and about ice skating that wasn't a compation because most are, and they take place only on the ice. I am glad that this one didn't!

Not very good

[amyontheend · 17 March 2000]

I know for a fact that there are actresses who can act AND skate. The people in this movie can only skate. How about the little girl on "Dad, the Angel, and Me?" She could have taken Tracy's part. The acting isn't very believable. For instance, at the beginning, "Danielle's" cries were heard in a totally silent stadium. I would think that there would be a bit more commotion. Nicholle Tom's character is the only one slightly believeable. Her parents are the stereotypical worried parents. I think that this movie could have been better casted, and if it was, maybe been a bit better. Just because these people are famous skaters doesn't mean they are cut out to be in the movies.

nice movie

[daring291 · 11 January 2005]

I have saw the movie for the first time... I think it's a good movie... I really loved Nicholle Tom's acting... It's not easy to interpret a person of the opposite sex, the way Nicholle did. The way she sits, talk, the gestures etc... This movie really shows why Nicholle is a great actress...I love the movie... even though I don't like the ending... I mean... what happened to Mat and Sarah after that "Sarah" won?!!... But it's an enjoyable movie to watch... I don't follow the Olympics as such but you don't have to look at the film as though it gives a bad name to the hockey teams... You just have to enjoy watching the film... That's all!