A SIMPLE PLAN RATING: 8 / 10 --> Great movie
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Champion of the camera pyrotechnics, director Sam Raimi reins himself in for this film, and takes on the impression of the Coen brothers on a date with Alfred Hitchcock, in this good old fashioned small town thriller that has everyone asking themselves the same question..."Would I keep the money?"
PLOT: Two brothers and a friend find $4.4 million on a crashed airplane in a nearby snow-ridden forest. The boys agree to hang on to the money until the spring, and see if anyone comes looking for it. If nobody claims for it by them, they agree to share the spoils among themselves, and never tell anyone else about it. Somewhere along the line, their "simple plan" goes awry and the plot thickens.
CRITIQUE: Magnificent film blends all the best elements of a suspense with a solid cast of players, a beautiful landscape a la FARGO (7/10), and a labyrinth of twists and turns that will have you gnawing at your fingernails in anticipation of the next morally-questionable booby-trap. Sam Raimi has crafted one of the best thrillers of the past few years, and does so without the aid of his wonderfully creative camera tricks. This film works on all cylinders because Raimi, and screenwriter Smith, groove the characters out of real people with real problems and real concerns on their minds. The people in this film are just like you and me, and that is what makes this thriller so much deeper and grittier than most. It's based in the reality of the moment, and the consequences that each and every one of us could face in the advent of a simple, everyday cover-up. One thing leads to another in this film, and then another, and then another, until the dark reality of the situation finally succumbs the group, at which point, well...you'll see!
All of the actors in this movie are amazing, but Billy Bob Thornton pulls off another fantastic showing, as the hick brother who lacks in the brainpower but makes up for it via his abundancy of conscience. This movie is for all those people who love to sit in a theatre, watch a movie magically unfold before their very eyes, and chew on the stream of questions rattling off in their brains..."What's gonna happen next?"..."What would I do in a situation like this?"..."How the hell are they gonna get out of this one?"
This movie is fun and entertaining to watch because it doesn't give us all the answers up front. It slowly unveils the layers of the story as the minutes of the film tick by, and the tension from the suspense sinks in. The cinematography of this movie is lush and creamy, the actors are rock-solid and the plot is a wonder in the science of twisting and turning. Forget all of those crappy big-budgeted, big-starred Hollywood pictures that are coming out this winter season, and go see a movie that truly embraces all of the good old-fashioned notions that make up a great suspenseful film. This film is a tasty delight for all those who love the mystery and the fascination of a cool thriller, and who enjoy watching real characters live out extraordinary circumstances.
So would I keep a sack of $4.4 million if I found it in the middle of a forest tomorrow? After seeing the degradation of human values that crossed the lives of every single person in this movie, I would say "no".
Unless of course...I had a simple plan to get away with it all..... :)
Little Known Facts about this film and its stars: Ben Stiller, John Dahl and John Boorman were three other directors that were at some point associated to the making of this film. A scene with Billy Bob Thornton and Bill Paxton was lost by Northwest Airlines in January 1998 while in transit from Minnesota to Los Angeles. The missing scene had been shot in Minnesota. The film was insured. Sam Raimi requested some advice from his old friends who once helped him on his EVIL DEAD movies, the Coen brothers, in regards to the shooting of this movie in the snow. When Raimi isn't directing or writing, he's busy as the executive producer of the blockbuster syndicated TV series "Xena: Warrior Princess" and "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys." He also co-wrote two films with the Coen brothers. The first was CRIMEWAVE (5/10), and the second was THE HUDSUCKER PROXY (6/10). Bill Paxton's father plays the part of Mr. Schmitt in this movie. "A Simple Plan", the novel also written by Scott Smith, spent seven weeks on the New York Times best-seller list in 1994. Smith originally conceived the project as a screenplay before choosing to write it as a novel. Smith wrote A SIMPLE PLAN while living in New Orleans. The kernel of the idea for the novel was something he first came up with as a graduate student in a screenwriting course at Columbia University's writing program. This film was filmed in the early months of 1998 in Delano, Minnesota.
Review Date: December 20, 1998
Director: Sam Raimi
Writer: Scott B. Smith (based his own novel)
Producers: James Jacks and Adam Schroeder
Actors: Bill Paxton as Hank Mitchell
Billy Bob Thornton as Jacob Mitchell
Bridget Fonda as Sarah
Genre: Thriller
Year of Release: 1998
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(c) 1998 Berge Garabedian
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