I purchased "Aspen Extreme" solely as a vintage ski movie. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is a good movie by any standards, and it met my ski expectations.
The movie has well developed characters, a true story line, excellent production values, and good acting. This movie would be in the upper half of theatrical releases in any year.
I was never bored by the off-slope footage, which is a huge accomplishment for a movie that does have good ski footage.
I recommend this movie to skiers and general movie buffs interested in a light romance. This is way, way better than the recent releases that are on sale at your local video store.

Being that I am a Skier I guess I am more predisposed to liking this movie. But, that said, there is more here than just skiing. We get multiple stories woven into the thread of the Movie. It's one part buddy Movie, and one part guy gets girl, loses girl, gets girl again. Then add a Warren Miller element because the skiing in the Movie is good, really good. I would recommend this Movie as a very good Movie. I have heard some describe it as a great movie. I don't buy into that, but it is worth viewing and I have a hard time seeing how it will disappoint if you go into it just wanting to see a good movie.

If you love to ski or snowboard (especially if you love the 80's) you must see this film. It pretty much (along with Hot Dog!) defines the 80's ski scene. Great stunts, good story line and awesome clothes and soundtrack make this the perfect film to enjoy watching after a long day on the slopes (drink in hand of course!).

I watched this movie thinking it would be some shallow t&a movie- but one with great ski sequences (which I why i thought it worth a look). How wrong I was!

Aspen Extreme is one of the rare films about male friendship that gets its right.

It portrays, as few films do, how a close male friend can simultaneously be your emotional anchor and greatest competitor. Dexter and TJ ( the main characters) have that complexity and paul gross and peter berg are great actors- you actually believe they are lifelong friends who need each other, even while they know they may be going in different directions as they get older.

The ski sequences are excellent and teri polo shows why she should have become a major star a decade ago (if there was any justice in the world)

the only negative- fiona hughes was too one dimensional and not on par with the three leads- you never once get the feeling this person is a successful businesswoman!

the plot twist towards the end is a little shocking- but moving and effective.

"Dexter Rutecki lived a life that was short and funny and sad and hard and good. Most of the time it was good. It was good the day he died. The snow was deep and pure white. The sun high and cold. He was my best friend."

This film, while some will cry "Predictable", is entirely watchable and utterly enjoyable, almost to the point of sin. Granted, it's not "Chicago", "Phantom of the Opera" (2004 version), "Dances with Wolves", or "Titanic". However, it is certainly not cutting room floor crap either, and WAY better than "Hot Dog" because it doesn't rely on nudity to sell the story. Come to think of it, that's probably why the film wasn't a smash at the box office. YES! That's it! I'm sure of it! No nudity, that remains this film's fatal fault for the vast majority of America.

As for me, this film deals with far more human issues than simply throwing the odd breast on the screen to drawn in crowds. No, this film deals with two friends desire to attain success together (and not in that way).

This is an overall good film if one can manage to see the issues at hand. A man's climb to the top, the value of friendship, and the horror when your world comes crashing down. Then, yes, there is death, remorse, and dealing with all of those feelings in a way that leaves you among the living.

Predictable, yes, but if it wasn't it would either be "too real life" or "depressing". So what if it's predictable. That is why we see films. We watch to either be happy, or sad, or vindicated. Predictability is a good thing. If it wasn't, you'd take your date to what was supposed to be a "chick flick" and need a ride home at the end.

Bravo for predictability and Bravo for Aspen Extreme. It's a fine film and a guilty pleasure sure to be watched countless times over.

Lot's of skiing, women that were hot in the nineties, and a little bit of cheese combine to make this the best drama of all time for skiiers. This movie teaches essential survival skills like exactly how to handle a French jackass ski-instructor if he ever blames you for stealing his heli-ski clients. What you do is offer to split the tip with them, then when he says with his french accent, "I don wan to split de tip", just slam your ski locker in his face and come up with an extremly witty comment, then call him an azzhole as you walk away.....brilliant!!
Also, what do you do when you've been invited up to the mansion of a European lady with enormous teeth and you search the whole house for her, only to find her her in the indoor swimming pool wearing nothing but the fur under her arms? When she asks if you swim you answer, "like a fish" and whatever you do don't take your clothes off. This would take too much time. Just kick off your high-tops that aren't laced at the top and dive in. When you come to the surface of the water, the hair flip to get water out of your face must be perfect or she may not invite you to stay the night. PERFECT!!
I look at Aspen Extreme more as an instructional video for these situations. Thanks TJ & Dex, because of you I now live in my van and life is sweet.
I'm kidding about all of this but it still is my favorite ski flick for sure.

First of all, I bought this DVD at Best Buy for $5.99 so that shows right there that it was not a huge hit with audiences. I thought that price was a steal. Yeah maybe there is nothing special about this DVD and it is just basic and the quality is not that great, but just having the ability to watch it in my DVD player is a much better alternative than VHS.

I love the characters and how the develop them. Teri Polo has been one of my favorites in Hollywood since I saw her in this movie back when it came out back in 1993. Peter Berg is great as Dexter Rutecki and I like Paul Gross as T.J. Burke. How hot is Finola Hughes as Bryce Kellogg the rich and snobbish ski bunny. The skiing footage is great and breathtaking scenic views are plentiful. I realy enjoy watching this movie and it brings tears to your eye because these 2 best friends mean so much to each other and it hits you hard when tragedy strikes. I recommend this DVD and see if you can find it for a steal!

Awsome movie with a great storyline. It gives a good insight of a persons passion for something they love but how that passion can be lost when there is the corruption of money and drugs.

I don't exactly know why, but I love this movie. Yes, the storyline has been done before - but this movie pulls it off by combining some great scenery, skiing, and music. This movie makes you want to quit what you are doing and go to Colorado for an adventure of your own.

I have seen this movie before.but unlike in the past,I didnt have to sit thru endless commercials..The DVD format is much better!And it brings you up close as if you are there experience the RUSHof the snow and powder

First off, I love this movie. Sure, it's a bit ridiculous, but I like the characters, and the skiing footage is great. I'd probably give the movie itself 4 stars, but the DVD production deserves 2 stars, at best.

Issue 1: The video transfer is not very good. I did a side-by-side comparison with my VHS version, and the DVD image isn't much of an improvement. The colors are a little brighter, but the image isn't any sharper, and there is even dust evident on the DVD transfer. But what's worse is the letterboxing. I prefer to see all my movies in the original aspect ratio, so I was excited to finally see a widescreen version of Aspen Extreme. However, I was incredibly disappointed to discover that the 1.85-to-1 aspect ratio was achieved by cropping the top and bottom of the VHS image, rather than restoring the sides of the frame.

Issue 2: There is no Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. As you would expect from a not-so-popular catalog title, it didn't receive any special sound treatment. All you get is the Dolby 2.0 surround.

Issue 3: And finally, as you would expect, this title received no extra treatment in the special features department. Granted, with the ...price tag, you probably weren't expecting much, but if you didn't already know, this is the movie only. There's not even a theatrical trailer.

In short, if you already have the VHS version of this movie, don't bother to buy the DVD version. It's not offering you anything you don't already have.

Okay this might not be seen as being in the same category as Forrest Gump or Shawshank Redemption, but this has to be the most loveable movie ever. I can watch this movie over and over because of all the classic lines Dexter says throughout the movie.

TJ and Dex love nothing more than skiing, so they've escaped their working class origins and have come to the winter wonderland for the rich - Aspen. Having nothing more to do than ski and instruct others (rich guys who, for the most part, can barely stand in their skiis) and pass the spring months wondering at the natural beauty that most of the mountain's winter denizens never stick around for. Their love of skiing has Dex and TJ repeatedly throw themselves down dangerous slopes. Dex, the more reckless of the two, gets in trouble with dope peddlers when, unwisely becoming part of the area's pipeline, he panics and dumps his stash. TJ, the more stable of the two, romances both a wealthy Aspenite and a local reporter (Teri Polo who was much better in "Meet the In-laws"). At first, the flick is content to make itself a parody - these two gusy are oblivious to how out of place they are among the wealthy in-season. Then the spring comes and they stick around - and the flick gets serious. TJ, it's no surprise, has dreams of being a writer. (In every lame movie, the protagonist is always a writer, a thin alter-ego for the guy who perpetrated the script) The flick takes itself incredibly seriously, even as it shamelessly riffs on the far superior "Top Gun" (we get the wiser and older instructor who becomes TJ's conscience; the slick ace who points out TJ's flaws; tragedy forces TJ to reexamine himself; then there's the climactic race in which TJ will conquer his demons. We get everything but the great music, the purple skies and the beautiful F-14's that made TG an absurd treat. AE gives us two pieces of wood, a lot of snow, and a bunch of rich brats who probably saw a few more steep slopes during the dot.com bust) The worst thing about "Aspen" - besides how unoriginal and arch it is, is how boring it is. There's never any sense that the flick is working towards anything - the guys get to Aspen, establish themselves as hot dogs and then....spring comes. Then winter returns, and it's back to work. There's no plot, nothing is happening. The script gets itself worked up about skiing as if these guys were protecting the free world or something, and not just making fools of the rich tourists who spend top dollar every winter learning how to fall down snow covered mountains. It's incredible that they convinced some Hollywood types to so completely buy into this flick's dim homilies, although the studio execs have probably done some skiing themselves, thinking that everybody would flock to a film about two guys whose life boils down to going downhill, every day. Almost everybody who reads this review is probably some kind of ski enthusiast. For those few who consider getting this flick despite having a minimal interest, if any, in skiing, I recommend you climb a different mountain.

"Aspen Extreme" tries to make the viewer care about its characters. Not surprisingly, the two main guys in the movie are too egocentric to make you feel anything about them.

T.J. (Paul Gross) and Dexter (Peter Berg) are a couple of young men who move from Detroit to Aspen to become ski instructors. Dexter is a really great guy who makes obnoxious comments to people and even becomes a coke runner at one point. T.J. tries to come off as the "nice guy" but is playing two women at the same time.

Anyway, the two of them ski down a part of the mountain that is restricted. Why? Because it is dangerous of course. While skiing in this area, T.J. falls down a huge, rocky chasm into some ice cold water. Luckily, Dexter uses a rope to get down to him and evidently the only injury T.J. sustains is a gash on his head. How they actually got out of the chasm is anybody's guess because it is never shown. Movie magic I suppose.

Now the really smart thing to do after this life-threatening experience would be to try again, right? I guess. They do some more skiing and this time Dexter is killed by an avalanche. Maybe they should've been a bit more careful.

Finola Hughes also stars in this film as a rich local who likes to sleep around. The only positive thing I can say about "Aspen Extreme" is that it does show some decent skiing. In fact, it falls back on the skiing shots a bit too much because of the shortfalls on the storytelling side of things. Only recommended for diehard skiing buffs.

This production is among the most heart felt movies that has been produced in the history of movie making. It is about the evils of ambition, friends falling apart, plus a romantic side. The scenery, plot, and music are wonderful. This movie has more heart than Gattaca (if you haven't seen Gattaca you should watch it). If you are a true movie collector you should definately have this in you library.

Sometimes chasing a dream and finding it is hard to handle. TJ finds this out at a devistating expense. Beautiful scenery and excellent skiing, I cry everytime I see this movie lol it's just that good. A must have in your collection.

Dude...this is a rockin' movie. Dude...I am so amped about this movie dude.............I...want a ski girl. Dude...remember that part..where like...Dex...I mean TJ skis the waterfall...that was awesome, dude. Dude...remember when Brice is swimming naked in the pool...wow...that happened to me once. Dude...Robin is hot...man.

This is my favorite movie. I makes me want to go on an adventure of my own! Wonderful mountain scenes.

Man, this movie totally buckles my ski boots! Whether they're flippin McWedgies on the slopes, or slamin' back a fine brew at one of Aspen's AMAZING bars, it's totally rampy! To top it off, the acting literally brought tears to my eyes! I participate every year in the Aspen Powder Eight compitition, and this is pretty biographical. I remember one time, on Highlands, the judge dudes gave me and my bud KC a 40 for our performances. I also live in a Caboose down by the river. I totaly relate!!!!! This movie IS Aspen!

If you took a thesaurus and looked up the word amazing every word given can be used to describe this movie. It's literally that good. All genres rolled into one. The ski scenes....amazing. I wathched allmost 10 times and it's still amazing.

This movie is one of my FAVOURITE movies, its got SKIING and very beautiful women in it (Terri Polo). This movie has it all for me, Romance, Comedy, Action, Skiing!! GOOD MOVIE

Ok, so it might not be that award winning movie that touches millions (or makes millions) - but I'm a skier and I love this film! I would have loved to have done what these guys did - I'm sure many of us skiers would agree. I love the music almost most of all. Some important questions though:

1. Will this ever come out on DVD? 2. Does anyone know where a person can get the full score of this film? I have almost all the soundtrack music.

I watch this film every fall before ski season to get me pumped up for the upcoming season... then I watch it in the middle of summer and dream of snow and winter. I only wish I could pick up and move to Aspen (or the like).

Aspen Extreme is one of the greatest movies of the 90's. It began with two ordinary guys living ordinary lives. Finally tired of the daily grind of thier lives, T.J. Burke (Paul Gross) and longtime friend Dexter Rutecki (Peter Berg) pick up and head for Aspen. They dabble in society, but ultimately realize that some aren't born to live they way the upper class does. This story can relate to almost any problem we may have; with work, dreams, and relationships. You don't have to like skiing or even like snow to see why this film deserves five stars.

The only good thing about it WAS Paul Gross as a ski instructor. No plot, and I freely admit Mr. Gross was the main reason I've seen is more times than I readily admit to. Peter Berg is annoying, and he don't look half as nice as Paul Gross...

Aspen Extreme is a movie about dreams and skiing. It is what every skier dreams of but is highly unlikely of ever becoming but is still fun to dream about. The setting and theme are superb and the plot is what I dream everyday. Definitely a movie to watch on a snowy Saturday night!

I, like a few others, rented this movie first to see the amazing Paul Gross but I have come to love it and can't stop hiring it. I must have watched it at least 11 times. A great movie with gorgeous scenery (and actors).

OK, I admit I rented it to see only Paul Gross from "Due South" but I was pleasantly surprised. Peter Burg (Berg?) from "Chicago Hope" plays 2nd fiddle and does it well. They work well together in this "buddy" film, despite some holes in the plot. I'm not a skier so found the length of some of the "extreme skiing" sequences tedious. But the scenery is gorgeously filmed. Overall, it has more actual plot than most Sat/Sun afternoon films on the tube.

Aspen Extreme is a great movie. Any skiiers out there should love this

I admit, I watched the movie because of Paul Gross. Although the skiing was incredibe, and the scenery terrific, the plot was very poor and the potential for these actors wasted. If you like skiing, and adore scenery, this is great. If you like looking at and hearing Paul Gross being incredibly beautiful and incredibly earnest, as well as witty and charming, this is even better. However, as a travel brochure, it can't be beat, especially with The Poster and The Poster Child there!!!

Many of us have wanted to walk away from lifes everyday routine and that is what these two from Detroit decide to do. The friendship that is strong enough for the trip is tested in the high(extreme) society of the well to do in Aspen, Colo. It is a good story with relationships going up and down. The scenery is what people who love the mountains crave. I bought it and view it in ski season, the heat of summer, or when a relationship is troubled.

I love this movie. Intriguing and about a great friendship. Everything about this movie is great. I love aspen and I love this movie.

The plot was survivable, the characters somewhat believable, and the skiing was incredible! There may not be any better skiing scenes on film, than the "chase" scene, and the final "powder 8" scene. Any skier would have to agree! If I were rating this just on skiing, it would definitely be 5 stars, but since it tried to have a plot, I can only give it 3! Scott Schmidt was amazing, just like in all his Warren Miller flicks!

This movie was awesome! The stunt men are terrific, and I really enjoyed watching the skiing segments. I admit that I rented it primarily because of Paul Gross, but I have grown to adore this movie!

This is a great story with loads of great skiing scenes in it. I just want to watch it over and over

Overwrought drama about a friendship besieged by circumstances; a plot device eventually resolved in a cheap and unsatisfying manner. Paul Gross works like the dickens to bring character and emotional depth to the film, but the script simply prevents it. Although it had great potential to tackle serious issues of loyalty and trust, any attempts at character development are severely hampered by the random and nonsensical plot twists. A terrible waste of potential, as well as (with a few notable exceptions) a complete waste of time.