Having this on real, old fashioned, vintage VHS, I plugged it in tonight for a blast from the past. Through all the cheese, and swan music, I still found a good story with lots of beautiful chillingly cold scenery. And even the music sounded surprisingly good played through my old Dolby receiver. One thing I didn't like about this film is how they portrayed them getting stuck in the first place. Here's a military soldier suddenly plowing into a thick snow covered road, as if he had no warning, while playing some kind of word game with his wife next to him in the car. And then trying to go further up the snow covered road instead of backing out. There must have been more to the real story.I felt the final recovery efforts, and the people involved, were glanced over at the end. I would have liked to see much more of these people and their efforts. For example, the ham radio operator who made the initial call for help after Jim found him.Overall, not a horrible movie. And fun to see Neil Patrick Harris just after his Doogie Howser days.

warning some parts of this review have spoiler material if you actually want to watch this movie before reading reviews don't read this until you have seen the movie.let me start off by saying that Jim must have not been very smart when it came to driving.Because all he ever did was keep getting both of them into a hole. The movie was way to predictable and the music sucked because every time they were in trouble it just seemed like they would play a really nice song. The reason why i say this movie was predictable is probably because the real Jim and Jennifer Stolpa should have predicted what would happen if you just drove into 2 feet deep snow,you'll get stuck. the actors were not extremely bad because they really got the stupidity down but they didn't even look like they really did when they show the real Jim and Jennifer Stolpa. But anyway it was a okay story to make a movie but i think it would be better if they made their own story that would be like the Jim and Jennifer Stolpa story but they shouldn't have used Jim and Jennifer Stolpas real story.

I love survival stories!!! I forgot about this above average TV movie for a long time and then it was on Lifetime the other day and I still really enjoy this one!!! A young California couple, Jim and Jennifer Stolpa, played by Neil Patrick Harris and Kelli Williams attempt to pay their respects to a grandmother who passed away in Idaho. They try to go up I 80 (the same route the famous Donner Party traveled!!!) but the highway is closed because of heavy snow. Their reluctance to wait (they want so badly to get to the funeral and lend moral support to Jim's mother)is a potentially fatal decision. They drive up to Redding and take highway 299 east to Cedarville and into desolate Northern Nevada. They find out too late that the snow is worse up there and they end up getting trapped in the snow miles from any civilization. Scary!!! To make matters worse they have a 5 month old infant and they both feel terrible for getting him into a deadly situation. They try to wait it out in their pickup, but when not one other car drives down the road they're on, they make another desperate decision: to walk 20 miles east to a highway they saw on their map. If they can just reach that highway, they can get help.They take a wrong turn on a forked road and end up worse off than ever, and the cold is killing them and the baby. Kelli Williams was awesome when she was crying over Jim having to leave her and the baby behind in the cave!!! It just broke my heart!!! Neil Patrick Harris was great too. His character Jim had to walk some 20 miles back to the truck and then another 50 to Cedarville!!! When it's do or die, human beings are capable of incredible things!!! Like I said, I love survival movies and books, especially when the characters face harsh weather and LONG WALKS!!! FOLLOW THE RIVER and LEAVE NO TRACE are among some of my favorite stories, so SNOWBOUND is right up my alley!!! For a TV movie, it's very well done and I could watch it for many years to come!!!

SPOILER contained (although I would do you a favor if I... spoiled the film for you and thus prevented you from watching it!)It's hard to start describing the amount of stupidity and... corniness amassed in this TV-film. I thought the script-writer was aiming for the brain-dead section of TV-market until I saw the (real) Stolpas appearing in a picture at the end of the film. Was this a sign that they had given their consent for this film after watching it or were they just happy to... "be on the TV"? Anyway, to make things worse, the director makes every scene look so predictable that it really gets on your nerves. Sad to see Michael Gross (I) (of classic TV sitcom "Family Ties") play in this flick!