‘Frost’ Bites!

But not in a sucky way. In a 'Lydia Hearst takes her top off in an independent movie' kind of way.

Meet Jack Frost (Jason Behr). His world is shattered when his best friend and supposed lifetime love Carolina (Monet Mazur) gets engaged to another man. He's an unfortunately named playboy whose wealth enables him to maintain a dour personality and still attract a bevy of beauties with ridiculous names like Parsley and Serafina. Welcome to Frost, the world of playboys and socialites.

The film opens with the innocence of young love. Flashbacks of a pre-teen Jack and Carolina dancing and laughing hint at a simpler, happy time. But isn't everything simpler and happy when you're 11? The appearance of Sophie (India Ennenga), Jack's 11-year-old neighbor, suggests yes. A precocious pre-teen, Sophie becomes Jack's companion and—as precocious pre-teens in the Dakota Fanning tradition always do—helps him find his way to contentment.

With beautiful shots of New York City and a cast of attractive young things, the film is a solid independent effort. The expressive soundtrack complements the witty screenplay, which was co-written by director Steve Clark and Thomas Moffett. As Jack mopes his way through an existential crisis, comic relief comes via Scotch, a wannabe playboy played by Mike Landry, one of the film’s producers, who refers to himself as “Scotch on the Rocks” and spouts phrases like “pessiminism” and “Let’s fuck.”

The “last international playboy” realizes too late that he loves Carolina. But is he really in love with her or the idea of loving her? We won’t give away the ending! [Ed. note: It’s the idea of loving her.] —Ariel Vered

Frost premieres on January 19 at the Slamdance Festival in Park City.