Snow Day (film)
Snow Day is a 2000 American comedy film directed by Chris Koch, written by Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi, produced by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies, and starring Chris Elliott, Mark Webber, Jean Smart, and Chevy Chase with supporting roles by Schuyler Fisk, Iggy Pop, Pam Grier, John Schneider, Zena Grey, Josh Peck, Jade Yorker, Emmanuelle Chriqui, and David Paetkau. The film premiered on January 29, 2000, and was theatrically released on February 11, 2000. It tells the story of a snow day occurring as a group of kids plan to thwart a snowplow driver so that the snow day can occur for one more day as well as the film featuring other subplots occurring. 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 | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Chris Koch |
| Written by | |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Robbie Greenberg |
| Edited by | David Finfer |
| Music by | Steve Bartek |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 89 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $13 million |
| Box office | $62.5 million |
It was met with generally negative reviews, but was a box office success, and the soundtrack single "Another Dumb Blonde" became the biggest chart single of Hoku's career. It was released on home video on October 3, 2000, and re-released on September 26, 2017.
A musical remake is currently in production for Paramount+.
Plot
The film focuses on a group of elementary school students in Syracuse, New York, led by Natalie Brandston (Zena Grey), who get a snow day, and try to keep their school snowed in and closed for a second day by stopping a snowplow driver (Chris Elliott) from plowing the streets. Meanwhile, Natalie's older brother, Hal (Mark Webber), tries to win the heart of popular high school girl Claire Bonner (Emmanuelle Chriqui), with the help of his best friend, Lane Leonard (Schuyler Fisk), who secretly harbors feelings for him. Also, their father, Tom (Chevy Chase), is a television meteorologist who must face off against a rival, Chad Symmonz (John Schneider), in order to continue his career. Their workaholic mother, Laura (Jean Smart), is stuck at home with their mischievous brother, Randy.
Eventually, Natalie and her friends, Wayne (Josh Peck) and Chet (Jade Yorker), take over the plow and "unplow" the streets (move all the snow back in the way). After endless love demonstrations (and being rescued by Natalie), Hal finds out he, in fact, loves Lane. He is even encouraged by Claire to go after her. Tom unmasks Chad on live TV, showing the viewers that he is fake, and winning back his status. Chad is arrested and Laura takes the day off from work to look after Randy.
When Principal Weaver gets home, the kids bombard him with snowballs.
Cast
- Zena Grey as Natalie Brandston, a young girl out to preserve the snow day that happens to Syracuse.
- Mark Webber as Hal Brandston, the older brother of Natalie. He serves as the narrator of the film.
- Jean Smart as Laura Brandston, the mother of Natalie and Hal.
- Chevy Chase as Tom Brandston, the father of Natalie and Hal who works as a weather man.
- Chris Elliott as Snowplow Man, a mean snowplow driver who has a reputation of eliminating snow days.
- Josh Peck as Wayne Alworth, a friend of Natalie.
- Jade Yorker as Chet Felker, a friend of Natalie.
- Schuyler Fisk as Lane Leonard, the best friend of Hal who harbors feelings for him.
- Emmanuelle Chriqui as Claire Bonner, a teenager and expert diver who is Hal's love interest.
- Iggy Pop as Mr. Zellweger, a boring disc jockey.
- Pam Grier as Tina
- John Schneider as Chad Symmonz, a weather man who is Tom's rival.
- Damian Young as Principal Ken Weaver, the principal of Natalie's school who becomes a target of snowballs on snow days which becomes a running gag throughout the film.
- Connor Matheus as Randy Brandston, the baby brother of Natalie and Hal.
- J. Adam Brown as Bill Korn, a friend of Hal.
- David Paetkau as Chuck Wheeler, an ill-tempered boyfriend who becomes Hal's rival for Claire's affection.
- Kea Wong as Paula
- Carly Pope as Fawn
- Tim Paleniuk as Mailman
- Rozonda Thomas as Mona
- Katharine Isabelle as Marla
Production
In February 1999, it was announced Nick and Paramount would team on Snow Day.[1] 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.
It 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 US$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.[2]
Critical response
Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported 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."[3] Metacritic gives it a weighted average score of 34 out of 100, based on reviews from 22 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews."[4] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.[5]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called it "An uninspired assembly of characters and story lines that interrupt one another." Aside from the film itself Ebert also complained saying, "What a thoughtless place is Hollywood, and what talent it must feel free to waste" noting that Pam Grier had been given another "lousy role" after her "wonderful performance" in Jackie Brown.[6] Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman wrote "Even Snow Day's winter wonderland looks fake," and gave it an F grade.[7]
Accolades
| Year | Award | Category | Recipients | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | YoungStar Awards | Best Young Actor/Performance in a Motion Picture Comedy | Mark Webber | Nominated |
| 2001 | Young Artist Awards | Best Family Feature Film - Comedy | Nominated | |
| Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Actor Age Ten or Under | Connor Matheus | Nominated | ||
| Blockbuster Entertainment Awards | Favorite Song from a Movie (Internet Only) | Another Dumb Blonde performed by Hoku | Nominated |
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.[8]
Soundtrack
The film's soundtrack peaked at number 183 on the Billboard 200 chart.[9]
| Snow Day: Music from the Motion Picture | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Various artists | |
| Released | February 8, 2000 |
| Recorded | 1999 |
| Length | 41:16 |
| Label | Geffen Records |
| Producer | Various artists |
| Singles from Snow Day: Music from the Motion Picture | |
| |
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [10] |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Performed by | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Another Dumb Blonde" | Antonina Armato, Tim James | Hoku | 3:49 |
| 2. | "My Heart's Saying Now" | Paul Barry, Mark Taylor | Jordan Knight | 3:50 |
| 3. | "The Reason Why" | Arnthor Birgisson, Patrick Tucker | LFO | 3:46 |
| 4. | "Still" | Dave Deviller, Sean Hosein, Justin Jeffre, Drew Lachey, Nick Lachey, Jeff Timmons | 98 Degrees | 4:00 |
| 5. | "Picture of You" | Andrew Watkins, Paul Wilson, Eliot Kennedy, Ronan Keating | Boyzone | 3:25 |
| 6. | "Lifetime Affair" | Danny O'Donoghue, Terry Daly, Wanya Morris, Mark Sheehan | Mytown | 4:35 |
| 7. | "There She Goes" | Lee Mavers | Sixpence None the Richer | 2:41 |
| 8. | "Come On Come On" | Greg Camp, Steve Harwell | Smash Mouth | 2:32 |
| 9. | "Say You Love Me (Radio Edit)" | Sherree Ford-Payne, Rhett Lawrence, BeBe Winans | Dina Carroll | 3:13 |
| 10. | "Wasting My Life" | Ariel Rechtshaid | The Hippos | 2:39 |
| 11. | "Noise Brigade" | Dicky Barrett, Dennis Brockenborough, Joe Gittleman | The Mighty Mighty Bosstones | 2:14 |
| 12. | "Waiting for a Girl Like You" | Lou Gramm, Mick Jones | Foreigner | 4:32 |
| Total length: | 41:16 | |||
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"
References
- "Nick, Par pair again in 'Snow'". Variety. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
- "Snow Day (2000)". Box Office Mojo.
- "Snow Day (2000)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
- "Snow Day Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved December 11, 2012.
- "Find CinemaScore" (Type "Snow Day" in the search box). CinemaScore. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
- "Snow Day movie review & film summary (2000)". Roger Ebert.
- "Archived copy". ew.com. Archived from the original on 29 February 2000. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - O'Rourke, Ryan (March 1, 2022). "'Snow Day': Nickelodeon Begins Production on Musical Movie Adaptation". Collider. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
- "Snow Day - Original Soundtrack". AllMusic. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
- Phares, Heather. "Snow Day - Original Soundtrack". AllMusic. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
External links
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Wikiquote has quotations related to: Snow Day (film) |
- Snow Day at IMDb
- Snow Day at the TCM Movie Database
- Snow Day at AllMovie
- Snow Day at the American Film Institute Catalog
- Snow Day at Rotten Tomatoes
