The best movie about snow days ever! - Orange Julius
Within the first five minutes of "Snow Day", you realize that it differs in no other way from any other offering from Nickelodeon Studios. It stars popular actors from the network, has a fairly well-written plot, shys away from violence, foul language, and sex, and everything turns out right in the end. It's formulaic and predictable, but that's exactly why it succeeds. The joy is in watching the story unfold. The only question is how entertaining the ride will be.
Helmed by first time director Chris Koch, the story centers around a day in the life of the Brandston family. But this day is unlike any other day... it's a SNOW DAY, a day filled with magic and wonder, a day where, as the male lead Hal (Mark Webber) says, "anything can happen." The anything in this case is winning the heart of high school hottie Claire Bonner (Emmanuelle Chriqui). Hal has a grand plan in mind... when he returns the dolphin bracelet that he found to Claire, his winning personality and the magic of the snow day will capture Claire's heart. The only problem, as his tomboy friend Lane (Schuyler Fisk) points out, is that Claire not only has a boyfriend, but she doesn't even know he exists.
Meanwhile, Hal's younger sister Natalie (Zena Grey) has a tall task ahead of herself, too. In the history of the town, there has never been a second snow day, thanks to the evil Snowplowman (Chris Elliot), who is rumored to make the chains on his snow tires from the braces of kids he's run over. Natalie and her elementary school friends must devise a plot to foil Snowplowman and get their second snow day. It won't be easy, as the fiendish Snowplowman's only loves in life are his pet raven, and making kids suffer by shattering their dreams of snow-filled streets.
The rest of the Brandston family isn't sitting around idly, however. Father Tom Brandston (Chevy Chase) is a meteorological genius who is getting pasted in the ratings by a charlatan weatherman with dazzling charisma. As the two scurry around town covering slice-of-life stories for their stations, Tom ends up as the hard luck loser trying to one-up the new king of weather. His wife Laura (Jean Smart) is still trying to telecommute, but the playful antics of their youngest son Randy are keeping from getting any work done.
Will Hal win Claire's heart? Will Natalie defeat Snowplowman and get her second snow day? Will Tom regain the respect he has lost? Will Laura learn to relax and enjoy a day off? What does Lane want from this snow day? Can Principal Weaver weather the ceaseless barrage of snowballs and make it back to his house? Why does Iggy Pop continue to appear in children's movies? Are T-Boz and Left-Eye angry at Chilli's newfound movie career? Why do I, after looking at the cast on imdb, have no recollection of Carly Pope being in this film? Most of these questions are answered in entertaining fashion in "Snow Day".
In all seriousness, this isn't a bad movie at all, but it's SERIOUSLY tailored towards kids, so if you're expecting laugh out loud funny or intense drama, my only hope is that you're pre-adolescent. Critics HATED this movie, one going so far as to say he'd eat yellow snow before sitting through it again. But it grossed $60 million during its run through theatres in 2000, so parents and their kids apparently approved of it. If I were twelve, this would probably be my favorite movie of all time (assuming I hadn't yet seen "The Goonies").