Aspen Extreme

"Aspen Extreme" is by a first-time writer-director with a TV background, "21 Jump Street's" Patrick Hasburgh.

The film starts off like a youth comedy on the slopes, with a pair of go-nowhere deadheads from Detroit, Mich., deciding to chuck their jobs to become ski instructors in Aspen, Colo.

This subject might seem like fertile ground for exploring a culture clash between the ritzy rich and more grounded blue-collar middle Americans. But noooo.

Instead, "Aspen Extreme" takes our heroes down the expected, movie-cliche path. Good-looking T.J. (Paul Gross), becomes a boy-toy for a rich snob (Finola Hughes), though we know he'll ultimately get together with the good-girl disc jockey in town (Teri Polo). And the more goofy of the two, Dexter (Peter Berg, another "A Midnight Clear" alumnus), falls into sloth and drug use following an unfortunate encounter with bad company.

The film also abandons the amiable comic tone of the first quarter and becomes a thuddingly tedious soap opera, a stark shift in tone from which it never recovers.

The players are all appealing and the film is bolstered by some eye-popping ski footage, including a stunningly photographed avalanche. But the story and characters are so dull, and the film is so long (a full and very tedious two hours), that the audience will likely be snoozing before it's over.

"Aspen Extreme" is rated PG-13, though there is considerable violence, nudity and profanity, as well as cocaine abuse.