On paper, it seemed so promising: John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, a tonic for what director Harold Ramis calls "Christmas glop," referring to syrupy holiday albums and the umpteenth viewing of "It's a Wonderful Life."

Chuck Hodes, Focus Features via AP Charlie (John Cusack, right), an attorney for the sleazy businesses of Wichita, and his unsavory associate, the steely Vic Cavanaugh (Billy Bob Thornton), embezzle $2 million from a Kansas City boss in "The Ice Harvest." Click photo for larger image. 'The Ice Harvest' Rating: R for violence, language, sexuality/nudity. Starring: John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton. Director: Harold Ramis. "The Ice Harvest" Web site

Truth be told, I love Christmas glop. But I was willing to entertain something designed to run counter to that. Heck, I sat through "Bad Santa" with its record number of profanities from Thornton as a rummy in red.

But, in the end, "The Ice Harvest" is a cinematic lump of coal.

It has one smile-inducing surprise at the end, but until then it's a parade of unsympathetic characters doing despicable things, set against a Christmas Eve backdrop of strip clubs, bars, violence and weather that seems to change on a whim.

Based on a Scott Phillips novel set in Wichita, Kan., on Christmas Eve, this self-styled "film noir with laughs" stars Cusack as an unhappy, sleazy lawyer who conspires with a porn peddler, Vic (Thornton), to embezzle $2.1 million from a mob boss. All they have to do is act normal for a few hours and they'll be home free.

But in the hours between Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, there are plenty of chances for the money to go missing, for double crosses and for the inevitable femme fatale, played by Connie Nielsen in a turn reminiscent of Kathleen Turner in her "Body Heat" wave.

"Ice Harvest" works best when Cusack and Thornton are together, which isn't nearly often enough. The story gets bogged down in details about an impending ban on nude dancing, a compromised councilman, some dust-ups involving strippers, boyfriends and bartenders, and Charlie's ex-wife, now married to an alcoholic pal, Pete (Oliver Platt), who suggests everyone has regrets. "Guys our age, what else is there?"

Using Christmas Eve as a subversive backdrop isn't the fatal flaw here. Screenwriters Robert Benton and Richard Russo plop unsavory characters into a vaguely defined universe and then further foul the water by adding children to this dark mix. The pool of people we care about keeps shrinking.

"The Sopranos" can take all of the same elements as "Ice Harvest" and make magic out of them. "Ice Harvest" just left me cold.