Nothing quite what it seems in 'Thin Ice'

There's something about the frozen Northern Plains, filled with folksy, trusting and righteous Dakotans, Minnesotans and Wisconsinites, that screams "insurance fraud" to screenwriters. The notion that there's nowhere in America quite so honest makes writers want to give the phrase "You can't cheat an honest man" a perverse workout.

That's what drives "Thin Ice," a darkly funny indie waltz -- or polka -- down "Fargo" and "Cedar Rapids" lane. Greg Kinnear plays an on-the-ropes, ethically challenged insurance agent who stumbles onto a new customer, tumbles into the idea of defrauding him and steps through the "Thin Ice" and in over his head.

Mickey Prohaska (Kinnear) cons gullible Bob (David Harbour) into taking a job with his agency. When Bob lands a semi-senile farmer-client, Mickey is more than happy to steal the commission and sell the man more insurance than he needs.

Gorvy Hauer (Alan Arkin, wheezy, scattered and hilarious) is high-maintenance. Mickey, always put-upon, is forced into being more helpful than he'd like. Then he learns that Gorvy has a violin that some famous collector wants. The next thing you know, he's planning to sell Gorvy's fiddle and pocket the cash himself.

An ex-con locksmith (Billy Crudup, creepy) gets involved, and that's when the film takes a dark, bloody turn.

Nothing is quite what it seems, but that makes "Thin Ice" play more clever than it is. But it's still an amusingly nerve-racking trek with the folks in the land of "you betcha."