A Simple Plan
Starring Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton and Bridget Fonda Directed By Sam Raimi Running Time: 2 hours 1 minute
(Paramount Pictures)
What would you do if you find $4 million in unmarked dollars in a crashed plane, and no-one was around to see you take it? This dilemma faces Minnesota residents Hank (Paxton) and his brother Jacob (Thornton) along with best friend Lou (Brent Biscoe) in this mostly enjoyable, tense thriller from Evil Dead director Raimi. The film follows the increasing craziness that occurs as the three friends, plus Hanks wife Sarah (Fonda) try to hang on to the money without being caught. Naturally, it all starts falling apart, often with violent results.
A Simple Plan seems a step back in direction for the talented Raimi. The inventiveness seen in the Evil Dead trilogy and The Quick and the Dead is nowhere to be seen here. Raimi has directed the serious material a little bit too seriously: the direction occasionally plods. A shame really, this film could of used some of Raimi witty directing to help speed up the films rather overlong running time. The film looks far from amateurish, it just looks like any normal, average, thriller, which is disappointing seeing as this is the same man who brought us a disco dancing headless corpse in the funny Evil Dead II.
A Simple Plan also raised that reoccurring question for me: how the hell did Bill Paxton get a career in acting? His monotonous, deeply irritating tone does no favours, and he isn't exactly a domineering force on screen. I assume the filmmakers were looking for a typical nice guy, instead they got dull. There's no denying that Paxton tries, he just (as usual) fails. He's just not versatile enough to make the transition from everyday good guy to evil guy, he forever remains dull throughout the whole movie.
Anyway, that's the flaws dealt with. Thankfully, A Simple Plans good points outweigh the bad ones. Firstly, the films major saving grace is an excellent performance by the excellent Billy Bob Thornton. If Billy Bob can get a good performance out of Armageddon, he can get one here, and a good performance he does. His nervous, none-too-bright Jacob is down to earth and human, and is very watchable. The audience will certainly be able to side with him, and will lose interest in Paxton well before they do with Thornton. He's just a great actor. Fonda, looking frumpy and plain, is great as the scheming wife. She's the real brains behind the plan, playing loving mother and mischievous bitch very well. She has a real presence in the movie. The supporting cast aren't bad: Brent Briscoe is fun as the loudmouth friend, and the other minor roles help the film go along.
Secondly, A Simple Plan also has a good story and script. Sadly, it has been unfairly compared to Fargo, and despite the fact that's it snowy and involves money, the films are largely different. The script is a character study of interesting characters, which helps, and the tense scenes are well done. There's some great edge of the seat moments, especially after the (many) brutal murders that occur throughout the film. Unfortunately, the film occasionally gets a bit too bogged down in dull dialogue, which doesn't help the running time go by any faster. These moments are few and far between, luckily.
But there's one final flaw which makes A Simple Plan quite as enjoyable as it should be: it leaves a slight bad taste in the mouth. Some of the murders are just plain mean, if relevant to the plot, and the ending is a bit, well 'off'. But, in all honesty, I've seen nastier films, so overall, A Simple Plan gets a thumbs up from me, and is a well crafted thriller that is worth watching.
RATING=***1/2 OUT OF *****
A David Wilcock Review ©1999
DAVID WILCOCK david.wilcock@btinternet.com Visit the Wilcock Movie Page for U.K film reviews! http://www.wilcock54.freeserve.co.uk
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