by Curtis Edmonds -- movienation@xoommail.com
I know it seems ungrateful to discuss a well-crafted, well performed movie like A Simple Plan on the basis of its flaws, but there isn't another honest way to do it, and anyway, there's only two of them. The first one isn't even anyone's fault. Originally, director Sam Raimi had tried to shoot the movie in Ohio, but the script called for there to be massive quantities of snow everywhere, and it was too warm last winter for that in Ohio. Production was moved to Minnesota, where there was plenty of snow. However, it was easier to change the setting than it was to change the accents of stars Billy Bob Thornton and Bill Paxton. As a result, A Simple Plan ends up looking like Fargo but sounding like Deliverance.
And the other flaw...
I really don't want to talk about the other flaw. Partly because it's a spoiler, and I don't like putting spoilers in movie reviews or critics that put spoilers in movie reviews. Partly because you'd never know about it if you hadn't read the book first. And partly because, despite the flaw, A Simple Plan turns out to be a pretty good movie nonetheless.
But oh, what a flaw.
The book and the movie both start out the same way. Paxton and Thornton play brothers Hank and Jacob Mitchell. Hank is educated, intelligent, and married, while Jacob is uneducated, dim, and lives alone in a filthy hovel. (Thornton's character is dim, but sweet and goofy, a world apart from his character in Sling Blade.) They are joined by Jacob's redneck friend Lou (Brent Briscoe, also from Sling Blade) on a visit to their parents' grave that turns into an impromptu hunting trip that turns into the discovery of $4.4 million in used hundred-dollar bills found in a downed plane. The "simple plan" of the title is that Hank will hold the money until the plane is found and it's safe to split the proceeds and leave town.
A movie isn't a movie without conflict, and conflict soon develops. Things aren't helped when Hank's manipulative, pregnant wife Sarah (Bridget Fonda) enters the picture and proceeds to scheme ways to protect her husband from the incompetence of his cohorts in crime. And then, one night, fueled by booze and distrust, the situation explodes... and this is where the flaw happens.
The novel, written by Scott B. Smith, is wonderful, but it's very coldblooded and cruel, much more than the movie. The filmmakers made the decision to tone down some of the more evil and heartless aspects of the novel. I understand their reasoning, but I can't agree with it. As a result of a bad choice midway through the movie, the ending becomes painful and false. What should be gut-wrenching and powerful instead becomes foolish and almost laughable.
I take nothing away from the principal actors. When the casting was announced, I thought that Paxton, Thornton, and Fonda were the best team that could have been assembled, and I still think so. Paxton does a steady, workmanlike job in a steady, workmanlike part. Thornton pulls another Southern Gothic portrayal out of his repertoire and does his customary, outstanding job. Fonda has the most difficult role, changing back and forth from a nurturing wife and mother to a calculating conspirator in rapid-fire mode, and she's sharp and convincing.
The performances are enough to recommend this movie, especially accompanied by the bleak Minnesota scenery which provides an effective backdrop to the bleakness of the story. But fans of the book will walk away feeling disappointed and cheated. The novel is a classic morality play, illustrating the limits of greed and corruption, but the movie doesn't come anywhere near close to reaching those limits. The real crime in A Simple Plan is that it isn't evil enough.
-- Curtis Edmonds
MovieNation: Movie Reviews in Black and White http://members.xoom.com/movienation movienation@xoommail.com
"No children have ever meddled with the Republican Party and lived to tell about it." -- Sideshow Bob
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