Simple Plan, A (1998)

reviewed by
David Sunga

A SIMPLE PLAN (1998)

Rating: 3.0 stars (out of 4.0)
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Key to rating system:
2.0 stars - Debatable
2.5 stars - Some people may like it
3.0 stars - I liked it
3.5 stars - I am biased in favor of the movie
4.0 stars - I felt the movie's impact personally or it stood out
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A Movie Review by David Sunga

Directed by: Sam Raimi

Written by: Scott B. Smith, from a novel by Smith

Ingredients: Rural town, folks who find 4.4 million dollars and hide it

Starring: Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, Brent Briscoe, Bridget Fonda

Synopsis: Near a rural Minnesota town, a morally upstanding married man, his brother, and a friend stumble upon a crashed airplane filled with 4.4 million dollars. Instead of reporting it to the authorities, the men decide to keep the money and keep the discovery a secret. After the first lie is told, the situation snowballs into a web of lies, deceit, murder, and betrayal.

Opinion: I love the screenplay to this film; it's the material that classic Alfred Hitchcock films are made of. Imagine, for example, a salt-of-the-earth Jimmy Stewart kind of protagonist, and some cheerful opening husband/wife scenes similar to Frank Capra's IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946). Now have the guy make a moral blunder and watch the bad karma escalate into more lies, deceit, claustrophobia, and even a murderous cover up until the situation finally unravels into a tumultuous ending. This is the kind of classic A SIMPLE PLAN might have been.

A SIMPLE PLAN however, doesn't take this approach. In director Sam Raimi's interpretation, the movie becomes a slow paced, cautionary farm tale that uses too many interspersed scenes of winter snow and rural animals such as foxes and crows to supply suspense symbolically rather than physically. And Instead of showing a lot of before/after contrast as the protagonist's simple life becomes horribly derailed, A SIMPLE PLAN slowly works its way into it - - for example, not showing idyllic life with the wife until well after the 4.4 million is discovered. This slows down the pace of the movie, and blurs the dramatic impact.

A SIMPLE PLAN is interesting, intelligent, and scenic, and features superlative dramatic performances by the entire cast, especially Billy Bob Thornton. If only A SIMPLE PLAN were done in the Hitchcock style it would be a real classic, instead of merely a great acting performance.

Reviewed by David Sunga
December 15, 1998

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Simple Plan, A (1998)

reviewed byDavid Sunga

reviewed by
David Sunga