A SIMPLE PLAN

Cole's Rating: ★★★ ½

Jesse's Rating: ★★★ ½

Director: Sam Raimi
Year: 1998
Cast: Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, Brent Briscoe, Bridget Fonda
Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller
MPAA Rating: R

        When my uncle wrote out his top twenty movies of all time, there were only a few titles that I hadn’t heard of, A Simple Plan being one of them. After assembling a list of “Must Watch DVDs”, I placed the order on Amazon, and received this movie a week later. A Simple Plan is a supremely exciting film, made better by its powerful performances. It’s not perfect, as most films aren’t, and it wouldn’t be on my top twenty, but it’s good enough to be on someone’s for sure. 

        Billy Bob Thornton, Bill Paxton, and Brent Briscoe (a loser, a hard worker with a family, and a redneck) stumble across four and a half million dollars in a plane that they found wrecked and buried in snow while out hunting. Briscoe and Thornton suggest that they keep it, and hide it from anyone who comes looking for it, but Paxton suggests otherwise. After some heated debating, they decide to keep it, but if anybody comes looking for it, they burn it. Intricate, right? Nah, the movie plays out as the title suggests: simple. Don’t get me wrong, it’s well plotted, but the story isn’t going to revolutionize storytelling (to put it lightly). What to marvel at here is how an average story is brought to a whole new caliber on the silver screen. It’s riddled with moving performances (especially by Thornton), great character interaction, and a swift, exciting pace. Something else to notice in this film is the surprisingly successful manner in which it captured its time and place.

        The problem, then, lies within the simplistic story itself. Some character transitions and plot turns are just unbelievable. That’s all there is to it, so some occurrences in the writing is the movie’s only fault. Though something that the writer and director Sam Raimi excels at is the ability to make the audience ponder upon what we would do if we were in that situation, as opposed to leaving us indifferent.

        I’m a sucker for anti-hero endings, and while this one isn’t what you’d expect, I was licking my chops after the closing scene. In my mind, I prefer that over washed up Hollywood conclusions, and that’s where I praise Scott B. Smith, the writer of this book. His story has faults, as I’ve pointed out before, but the guy knows how to craft a juicy story and wrap it up to a film/novel buff’s best interest. Is it the most credible telling I’ve ever been exposed to? Nah, but hey, it’s a wild, thoughtful ride!

-Written by Cole Pollyea

Jesse's Thoughts: With tension that is calculated with every searing minute, A Simple Plan is a thriller to be reckoned with. No one is safe in this movie. With a few nasty twists and turns, you get some brilliant tooth and nail film making from Sam Raimi. Billy Bob Thornton, Bill Paxton, and Bridget Fonda are in a word, flawless. This movie projects two things: one is that even the most law abiding citizens can commit the most heinous crimes and two: the more money you possess, the more problems you will encounter. A Simple Plan will always remain one of my favorite films. Be warned, the last twenty minutes pack a serious wallop.