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Snow Day (film)
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Wikipedia article
'Snow Day' is a 2000 American comedy film directed by Chris Koch, written by Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi, and produced by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies. It stars Chris Elliott, Mark Webber, Jean Smart, and Chevy Chase with supporting roles by Schuyler Fisk, Pam Grier, Zena Grey, Josh Peck, Emmanuelle Chriqui, and David Paetkau. The film premiered on January 29, 2000, and was theatrically released on February 11, 2000. It takes place during the events of a record snow day in upstate New York, depicting various subplots including a group of kids planning to thwart a snowplow driver in an attempt to get a second snow day. This is the first of two films to star both Josh Peck and Zena Grey, the other being 'Max Keeble's Big Move', released the following year.
'Snow Day' was met with generally negative reviews but was a box office success. The soundtrack single "Another Dumb Blonde" by Hoku became the biggest chart single of Hoku's career. The film was released on home video on October 3, 2000, and re-released on DVD on September 26, 2017.
A musical remake is currently in production for Paramount+.
Plot
The film opens with a voice-over describing how snow forms from crystallized water and how a snow day isn't just an event when schools close, but a day of magic. Despite an unusually warm season, a snow storm descends upon Syracuse, New York, leaving the Brandston family's neighborhood covered in blankets of snow. Each member of the Brandston family celebrates the record snow day in events that are narrated by eldest son Hal.
Father Tom, the local weatherman, is involved in a rivalry with Chad, a weatherman from another station. Even though Tom predicted the previous nights snow storm first, Tom discovers Chad is taking credit for the news. Tom is able to prove Chad is a fraud when hes unable to answer basic meteorology questions on air, proving he discovered the storm first. Mother Laura is a workaholic, but cannot make it into work as she and youngest son Randy are severely snowed in. Stuck at home with Randy, she eventually takes her mind off work and lets loose with her son in the snow.
Daughter Natalie plans to use the magic of the snow day to take on her archenemy Snowplowman, a local villain who is said to run over kids and plow the streets so efficiently that there has never been a second snow day in years. With her friends Chet and Wayne, Natalie tricks Snowplowman into thinking Wayne is dead in the street. The diversion works as Snowplowman leaves the plow to investigate, and Natalie sneaks inside the plow. She's attacked by his bird Trudy and ends up kidnapping the violent creature. Snowplowman retaliates by grabbing Wayne. Snowplowman agrees to make a swap with NatalieWayne and a second snow day in exchange for the bird. However, when the prisoners are swapped, Snowplowman goes back on his word and continues on his route to plow the snow. Natalie is about to give up when she devises a plan. Later, on Snowplowman's last road of the day, Natalie faces off with him alone. He taunts her, but she reveals an army of kids have united to stop him. The kids tie him to a street sign and commandeer his plow, restoring the snow onto the roads.
Meanwhile, Hal plans to spend the day trying to win over his crush, Claire Bonner, the schools most popular girl who has just broken up with her loud jock boyfriend Chuck. His friend Lane expresses disbelief at his plan, reasoning to him that love is about finding someone you can stand to be around for more than ten minutes at a time, but she agrees to accompany him on his mission. Hal tries everything from reaching out to Claire live on his dads news station and facing off with Chuck in a snowmobile chase. When Hal shows no signs of giving up, Lane gets angry with him and admits she hasn't done what she wants to do for the snow day. When Hal asks what is it, she kisses him and leaves. Hal later meets up with Claire at the school's pool where she kisses him, but Hal realizes that he was wrong and he has stronger feelings for Lane. Claire encourages Hal to go after her.
In search of Lane, Hal is attacked by Chuck. A fight ensues, but Hal is saved when Natalie and friends plow Chuck away into a snow bank with the plow. Hal is impressed with Natalies accomplishment of her mission and says he wants to spend the soon-to-be second snow day with her. Hal finds Lane at the local skating rink and apologizes to her. He repeats her line about true love being about finding someone you can stand to be around for ten minutes, and then asks her "You got ten minutes?" They kiss and the film ends with the beleaguered school principal arriving home, only to be greeted by a volley of snowballs from kids.
Cast
* Zena Grey as Natalie Brandston
* Mark Webber as Hal Brandston
* Jean Smart as Laura Brandston
* Chevy Chase as Tom Brandston
* Chris Elliott as Roger Stubblefield aka Snowplowman
* Josh Peck as Wayne Alworth
* Jade Yorker as Chet Felker
* Schuyler Fisk as Lane Leonard
* Emmanuelle Chriqui as Claire Bonner
* Iggy Pop as Mr. Zellweger
* Pam Grier as Tina
* John Schneider as Chad Symmonz
* Damian Young as Principal Ken Weaver
* Connor Matheus as Randy Brandston
* David Paetkau as Chuck Wheeler
* Kea Wong as Paula
* Carly Pope as Fawn
* Rozonda Thomas as Mona
* Katharine Isabelle as Marla
* Tim Paleniuk as Mailman
Production
In February 1999, it was announced Nick and Paramount would team on 'Snow Day'. The film was filmed in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, as well as Edmonton and Calgary, Alberta. Much of the outdoor snow scenes were filmed at the Bonnie Doon Park in Edmonton, which had recently had a do-over and offered a natural setting in an urban location.
The story was originally set to be based on the television series 'The Adventures of Pete & Pete', but the idea was scrapped and it was rewritten as a stand-alone story.
Reception
Box office
The film opened at number three at the North American box office, making 14.3 million in its first weekend, behind 'The Beach' and 'Scream 3', the latter of which was on its second week at the top spot. 'Snow Day' was a box office success, earning $60,020,107 in its domestic run, and $62,464,731 worldwide.Critical response
Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports the film holds an approval rating of 29% based on 66 reviews, with an average score of 4.26/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Weak assembly of characters and story lines made this movie forgettable and silly." Metacritic gives it a weighted average score of 34 out of 100, based on reviews from 22 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.In a comparison to 1983's 'A Christmas Story', Roger Ebert of the 'Chicago Sun-Times' called 'Snow Day' "an uninspired assembly of characters and story lines that interrupt one another until the battle against Snowplow Man takes over just when we're hoping he will disappear from the movie and set free the teenage romance trapped inside it." Aside from the film itself, Ebert also wrote, "What a thoughtless place is Hollywood, and what talent it must feel free to waste", in reference to Pam Grier being given another "lousy role" after her "wonderful performance" in 'Jackie Brown'. 'Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman wrote "Even 'Snow Day's winter wonderland looks fake," and gave it an F grade.
Accolades
Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack peaked at number 183 on the 'Billboard' 200 chart.
{{Infobox album
| name = Snow Day: Music from the Motion Picture
| type = Soundtrack
| artist = Various artists
| cover =
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| released =
| recorded = 1999
| venue =
| studio =
| genre =
| length = 41:16
| label = Geffen Records
| producer = Various artists
| prev_title =
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The following songs were included in the film but not featured on the soundtrack:
* Al Martino "Love Letters", "Fascination" and "To Each His Own"
* Irving Berlin "Heat Wave"
* Smash Mouth "Satellite"
* Ernest Gold "The Big W"
* Simon Chardiet "Drag Blob"
* The Wiseguys "Ooh La La"
* Schuyler Fisk "It's Not Her"
* The Brian Setzer Orchestra "Switchblade 327"
Remake
On March 1, 2022, it was announced that a remake of the film had gone into production in Montreal. Reimagined as a musical, it will star Ky Baldwin, Jerry Trainor, Laura Bell Bundy, Rob Huebel, Michaela Russell, Shelby Simmons, and Fabi Aguirre. It is set to release on Paramount+ later in the year.
References
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