Film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert gave the film Two Thumbs Up , with Gene Siskel calling it the best film of the year , and Roger Ebert calling it Ang Lee 's best film yet . Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 84 % based on 63 reviews , with an average rating of 7.69 / 10 . The site 's consensus reads : " Director Ang Lee revisits the ennui-laden decadence of 1970s suburban America with deft humor and gripping pathos " . Andrew Johnston , writing in Time Out New York , stated : " The 1970s have long been written off as a goofy embarrassment to our country , quite possibly because the actual details of the decade are too painful to us to remember , no matter how old or young we were at the time . Ang Lee 's film of Rick Moody 's novel cuts through the kitsch to explore the emotional black hole at the heart of the period , the result being an utterly devastating and truly adult drama of the first order . " The film was entered into the 1997 Cannes Film Festival , where James Schamus won the award for Best Screenplay
1997 Cannes Film Festival
1997 Cannes Film Festival
The Ice Storm (film)