Film Review: A Simple Plan

A SIMPLE PLAN (1998) a film directed by Sam Raimi and stars Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton and Bridget Fonda based on the novel with the same name by Scott B. Smith. The film has a freshness rating of 90% at the Rotten Tomatoes site. Somehow I missed this movie when it first appeared. I went looking for this movie when it was recommended in a list with other noir-ish films by Maili. And I read somewhere (forget where) that if you enjoyed FARGO, which I did, then this is a movie you should watch, too. Warning: there are some very slight spoilers up ahead.

The basic premise is this: two brothers and a friend come across a downed plane in a nature’s preserve and inside the cockpit of the plane, there’s a crow nibbling away on a dead body and a bag with 4 million dollars in it. Hank (Bill Paxton) wants to call the police and turn it in. Their friend, Lou, played by Brent Briscoe convinces Hank to keep the money while Hank’s brother Jacob (Billy Bob Thornton) doesn’t say any one thing for or against it for keeping the money. He just goes along with the plan and what a simple plan it was too: just sit on the money till spring and then each go their own way.

Review: I’m sure you are all thinking what could go wrong? Everything as you might expect. We watch these men as they deal with the consequences of their actions. We watch as common sense fly out of the window and people start to suspect each other. Bridget Fonda plays Hank’s wife who’s expecting their first baby. When Hank brings home the money, she initially says that it’s wrong to keep it. But overnight she changes her mind and starts helping him so that the money can’t be traced back to them.

Jacob and his friend Lou are the two weakest ones in keeping to the plan. Lou is an unemployed drunk as well as Jacob, who is a needy, lonely man who is looking to restore the family home so that he can be a farmer. There are quite a few quiet moments in here but beneath the surface is where evil lurks, ready to strike at any given opportunity. The themes are nothing new. Greed. How money is evil and destructive. The American Dream and what it costs to be happy. This is a great movie and if you haven’t seen it you should.

Favorite scenes? When Hank asks Jacob to help him trick Lou into a confession so that he can record it. Jacob had me fooled when he acted like he was going to betray his brother for their reason for being at Lou’s home. I thought that was a very suspenseful scene where Hank bared the brunt of what I think is Jacob’s unfiltered and unflattering thoughts about their strained relationship. Hank is always coming off surprised or stunned by some of the revelations that come out of Jacob’s mouth. About their father and his death and about Jacob’s love life. How he felt about Hank being the one to go off to college while his dad had to mortgage the house twice to pay his tuition. All Jacob wants to do is be a farmer and settle down with his own family someday.

At the end of it all, you’d have to ask: was keeping the money worth it? They all paid a high price to keep it, I know that much. And then there were the complications that were generated because of the plan that kept cropping up one after another and it didn’t feel forced at all but was a natural progression of the story. And here we sit and watch/witness good people doing bad things for the sake of money. The irony of it all is that the money didn’t make anyone happy at all. I am no film critic but each actor in here was outstanding in their performances.

The look of the film, the cinematography, was beautiful, with the snow falling and blanketing the ground. The story is set during the winter in rural Minnesota. This is a quiet film that is taut and suspenseful crime drama. A SIMPLE PLAN is of the greats in crime thrillers that shouldn’t be missed and should be re-watched if you haven’t in awhile. B+.

Notes: The U.S. box office receipts for the film barely made it’s money back. So it didn’t have wide appeal and explains why I didn’t hear about it. The movie was nominated for two Oscars: one for Billy Bob Thornton for “Best Supporting Actor” and one nod for Scott B. Smith for “best screenplay” based on his book which you can buy digitized if you have an interest.

Additionally, I enjoy watching crime films and will occasionally review them here on the weekends.