A Simple Plan

1998 drama

Rating: 14/20

Plot: Three of the dumbest men in history stumble upon the wreckage of a plane and a bag containing over four million dollars. They all could use the money and make a simple plan because, although they're three of the dumbest men in history, they realize that if they come up with a complicated plan, the movie's title wouldn't make any sense. That simple plan, essentially just keeping their mouths shut and being patient, doesn't work out, and things turn tragic. Oh, snap!

My favorite thing about this movie: There are four puppeteers listed in the end credits. I didn't even realize the movie had puppets, but this confirms my belief that Billy Bob Thornton isn't actually a human being. This film's a mixed bag. It's almost like somebody got their hands on a lost, never-filmed Three Stooges script, decided it needed a lot of blood, and filmed the thing. The trio are stupid, unbelievably stupid, so stupid that nothing they seem to do, no decision that they make, seems natural or realistic. At one point, Bill "I Might As Well Be Nic Cage" Paxton's character's wife (Bridget Fonda, doing her best to channel Holly Hunter) says, "Nobody'd ever believe that you'd be capable of doing what you've done." And she's right. I just had trouble buying what they were selling with these characters. Part of the problem was that I didn't think the acting was great. Bill Paxton seemed bored with his character, and Billy Bob Thornton seemed to be playing a caricature rather than a real person, almost like he was doing sketch comedy instead of a movie. Having said all that, I did find it all entertaining enough. I like Raimi's direction and, despite multifarious flaws, the story's told competently enough. As the characters tiptoe on the edge of disaster, Raimi tiptoes back and forth from tragedy and dark comedy. There's little flair, but there is an underlying sense of humor that I really like and a particularly Raimi-esque physics-defying moment that takes place in a kitchen that made me laugh. There are times when this flirts with greatness, but far too many times when it settles for a more color-by-numbers suspense story. It needed a moment, something to pull me into the drama so that I could accept the unbelievable turns of events. A Simple Plan succeeds as a movie that makes you wonder how you'd react as a normal person who found himself in a similar situation. What it doesn't do is sparkle.

Cory's recommendation.