BEST LAID PLANS (director: Mike Barker; screenwriter: Ted Griffin; cinematographer: Ben Seresin; editor: Sloane Klevin; music by Craig Armstrong; cast: Alessandro Nivola (Nick), Reese Witherspoon (Lissa), Josh Brolin (Bryce), Rocky Carroll (Bad Ass Dude), Michael G. Hagerty (Charlie), Terrence Dashon Howard (Jimmy), Jamie Marsh (Barry), 1999)
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Nick (Alessandro Nivola) and Bryce (Josh Brolin) are college friends who haven't seen each other since their recent college days. When Bryce arrives in Nick's hometown of Tropico, some place that could be anywhere, U.S.A., he shows him the beautiful ultra-modern posh house where he is house-sitting rent free, all he has to do is water the plants. They later on meet in a bar, and while there, an attractive girl (Reese Witherspoon) comes into the place and the drunken Bryce gets to know her as Kathy. The next shot is of Nick receiving a frantic call from Bryce at 2 a.m. that he should hurry over to his place.
Upon his arrival he learns from Bryce that the girl accuses him of date rape. When she tried to leave, he beat her up, has her gagged and bound in chains to a pool table downstairs in the recreation room, and finds while going through her purse that she is underage. He is afraid that he will be accused of statutory rape, even if it comes out that she was willing. He laments that his life is ruined, that he will never get tenure in the college teaching job he just obtained, and that his career is over. He asks his friend Nick, What should I do?
When Nick is alone with the girl, we learn that this was a setup, that Kathy is Lissa, they are a couple who planned this to steal a Lincoln note valued at some $200,000. They do it because Nick is in deep trouble after he agreed to help some workplace friends out in a setup robbery that backfired. She does it to help the one she fell in love with. The film flashes back four months earlier and the viewers are fully apprised of what led to this situation.
Nick came back to town to take care of his sick father. When his father died, he shows no remorse and becomes bitterly disappointed that his father's promised inheritance has been seized by the IRS for back-taxes owed. Lissa is someone sweet he meets while in a veterinary clinic, who falls for the good-looking guy and puts her trust in him. Bryce, on the other hand, is a spoiled rich kid, who has a history of ratting on friends, and is a constant whiner. The story revolves around these three uninteresting characters.
The mild attempt, in this B- film, to be a convincing noir film, never materializes, as the film looks more like a sophomoric attempt to imitate the genre than the real thing. There is no feeling for characters or intensity in this story, it looks contrived from the get-go. All the characters, except for Reese's, are slime balls, people we could care less about. So when this film moves into its different plot twists and all kinds of ludicrous situations develop, it wanes in interest, as the characters were never developed and the film has a cheesy look to it. It seems to have the style of a thriller but without the substance.
The phoniest and dumbest scene in the film, was when a violent drug dealer (Carroll) was seen torturing those who robbed his stash of coke and explaining it like it was a lesson in economics. Its attempt at humor alluded me.
REVIEWED ON 3/13/2000 GRADE: C-
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
http://www.sover.net/~ozus
ozus@sover.net
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