MovieChat Forums > Aspen Extreme (1993) Discussion > So many things bothered me in this film....

So many things bothered me in this film...


Ok I appreciate the nostalgia that some folks might have for this movie, but the writing was so sloppy at times it killed the enjoyment for me. Some things are minor flaws but some major.

1. Why do they both act like being a ski instructor is the only way they can survive? There's a hundred different jobs one can do on a ski hill, not to mention around town...

2. What's with the head ski instructor's fancy office.. this is ski school not a bank.

3. How are two guys who grew up skiing a tiny hill in Michigan so good at skiing? They say in the movie how they've never left the state. I don't care how good you are, the gap between skiing a small hill in the east and a mountain with cliffs and crazy powder in Colorado is huge.

4. When they go warm up at the radio station: "How much do we owe you for the coffee?" Uhh what. It was one cup of home made coffee. I get that he was trying not to be a charity case, but that question is so beyond normal it's ridiculous. And she acts like she's doing them a favour by not charging them...

5. A real complaint now: What's the deal with Tina? We see her once for her introduction, and maybe(?) one other time very briefly. Yet TJ brings her up a couple times to Dexter as if she's some bad influence. Yet we barely know her. She needed at least one other scene focused on her for her character to make any sense.

6. On that note, Dexter's character arc is weak. He does a brutal job muleing a giant bag of coke (looked like way more that 10k worth). Then a few scenes later he's suddenly a drug addicted alcoholic. Then the next scene he gets thrown in the shower and he's fine. [also why are they doing a major drug deal in a bar]

7. Also related to that. The passage of time is very poorly demonstrated. There's one scene where it looks like the seasons change, but it doesn't feel like it has been that long in the movie at all. Near the end Dex says "I've been following you around this town for 2 years!" I was like WHAT?? To me it felt like a few months, tops. Just the way the relationships developed, the settings were the same (same caboose apartment), etc. It felt like a movie adaptation of a novel, because that's what is most commonly gotten wrong.

8. I like how during the chase scene, the ski patrol is still doing tricks while chasing TJ.

9. TJ. Ok, we get it; he's handsome and he's a womanizer. Seriously, every piece of dialogue in the first 25 minutes of this movie alludes to either a woman fawning over him, or him chasing tail.

10. Paul Gross. I can't take him seriously as an actor. Something about his face.

That's only the ones I can remember a day after viewing. Don't get me wrong, I was entertained by this movie. The skiing is sweet and the cliche story is fun to watch play out. But it seemed like every other scene had something fundamentally wrong with the writing, which really hampered my enjoyment.

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Hard to argue with much of what you said. The "how much do we owe you for coffee" was more of joke I think.

My friends and I all like this move be we always ask the same question, how did two guys from Detroit become so good at skiing?

The movie took some major liberties and could have been better. With that said i really like this movie.

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Its a terrible film. I think they were going for a serious ski film with no gratuitous nude scenes. They even brought in aged Filona Hughes to reprise her role from 'Staying Alive'. But it all fell flat. Way too 80s.

Gorgeous young Teri Polo is the highlight.

I'll take Punctuality

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How are two guys who grew up skiing a tiny hill in Michigan so good at skiing? They say in the movie how they've never left the state. I don't care how good you are, the gap between skiing a small hill in the east and a mountain with cliffs and crazy powder in Colorado is huge.


Actually there are way more ski areas in the East than the West and the 1980 Winter Olympic Games were held in Lake Placid, NY, which means the slopes can't be too wimpy. While Michigan hills can't exactly compare with the Adirondack Mountains, there are currently no less than 43 ski areas there. TJ and Dex were able to learn all the basics they needed to be competent ski instructors in Colorado, where they'd naturally become even more skilled at their craft living at a famous ski resort. Speaking as someone who has skied in both the East and West (as an intermediate skier), the mountains are higher and more impressive in the West, but so what? The same principles apply.

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