Big Chill

Kate Beckinsale experiences the big chill in "Whiteout."
Beckinsale is a remarkably fresh faced u.s. marshall who's gone to Antarctica to live the quiet life and try to forget a case gone bad. But with a big storm moving in and the science base about to close down for the winter, Beckinsale is called to investigate a murder.

Whiteout has plot holes big enough to drive a snowplow through. I particularly enjoyed the fact that Beckinsale is trudging all over the arctic landscape tracking down clues and flailing in snow storms in nothing more than a fuzzy hat. But the second she comes in a door, she looks like she'd just come from the makeup counter at Macy's.

The movie never aspires to be anything more than just dumb fun. And for the first 40 minutes or so it succeeds but its finally buried under an avalanche of implausabilities.

"Whiteout:" C