A Simple Plan

Rating:
Summary: Simplicity overrated
Review: The problem with A SIMPLE PLAN is that its title is unfortunately accurate. It's a little too simple, this plan. The plot, not to mention the characterizations, are so frequently devoid of explanation that this morality play ends up drawing no conclusions we can apply to our own lives.

Chief among the problems is the plot's genesis. How a plane could crash within reasonable proximity of Washington DC and not be discovered by authorities is frankly unbelievable. Did all the radar systems on the ground suddenly go dead? Did the NATSB suddenly forget how to triangulate location based upon the last known data received from the plane? Did they look for a day or so and then give up, just because there was some snow on the ground? Some might call this nitpicking. But it's absolutely crucial to the plot. The story depends upon a money-loaded plane not being discovered by authorities, but we're never given adequate understanding of how that came to be. It's as if the writers simply posited the existence of such an event and we're supposed to accept it without question.

It also misses the boat on characterization. Fonda's character is wholly unsympathetic. She makes such a radical emotional change we have little reason to care for her. Indeed, this is kind of the problem of all the characters. There is no motivation for their criminal acts, other than that circumstances made it possible for them to commit them. The film would've been more compelling if there had been some nobler motivation for their acts. Self-preservation may be the kind of goal that leads to an examination of the darker side of the human psyche, but it is, again, too "simple" a tale. To be sure, this is the tale the filmmakers obviously wanted to tell. But it would've been far more interesting had the film been a cautionary tale about the dangers of noble ends being justified by evil means.

What the film lacks in plot and theme, it makes up for in acting. Paxton is at perhaps his most powerful in this film. Long relegated to supporting roles, or starring in fairly emotionally uncomplicated ones, we see here a depth that has been too long hidden. His is the character under the most pressure and guilt, and he manages to almost carry the film away from its other problems. Billy Bob Thornton, likewise, almost lifts the script from its own banality.

[DVD notes: Nothing much of interest here. Buy the VHS instead.]

Rating:
Summary: A Story That Can Be Heard By Every Living Person...
Review: 1998's 'A Simple Plan' is a brilliantly acted movie that focuses on the most basic of human failings...greed. When three hikers (Bill Paxton, his mentally challenged brother Billy Bob Thornton and Brent Briscoe) stumble upon an isolated fortune coved by snow, attitudes and first impressions of each character immediately begin to change. Even for the most honest person of the group, the person most doubtfull to keep the money, four million in hard cash drives the three to devise a plan that will ultimately tear themselves and the small town apart. The movie is true to the mindset of each character as certain obstacles come between them and their destiny, and Billy Bob Thornton's talent combines with his underlying motive to make him once again the most believable aspect of the movie. To tell the truth I think the movie should've added something at the end, in other words once you've seen the role of the person who closes the chapter on the money...you, or at least I wondered if it was enough after all he had done. It's a great and very accurate adaptation of the one thing everyday that drives most of us to do things that are not quite right, even if they are not of the pure evil that fuels the greed of these three small town men.

Rating:
Summary: GREAT MOVIE
Review: A Simple Plan is a movie about characters getting into bad situations and going to extreme measures to hide their guilt. It is suspenseful and entertaining. The plot involves this: 3 friends(two of them brothers) hunting in the woods find a plane full with money. A LOT OF MONEY. They decide to keep it. One thing leads to another, and they end up commiting horrible crimes and going to further lengths to hide their guilt. The 3 friends start to go against each other and threaten each other. 1 crime leads to another, and at the end there's a climax in the woods that will be with you for the next 3 days. This is a definite must see if your looking for a thriller. The acting is excellent, especially by Billy Bob Thorton and Bill Paxton. The dialogue is perfect. You will be blindsided by the things they are driven to commit all because of the money. After all, it was just a simple plan.

Rating:
Summary: Frustratingly unbearable!!
Review: A Simple Plan ? A Perfect Plot.....I say no more.

Rating:
Summary: SIMPLE BUT SUSPENSEFUL
Review: You just know it won't turn out all right in the end. Billy Bob Thornton plays a simpleton with a hardworking brother (an always good Bill Paxton). When they stumble upon a crashed airplane in the woods and come upon a large sum of money in the wreckage, they agree to split the money (among Paxton, Thornton and one of Thornton’s friends who is with them). As the relations among these three men grow more strained, the story grows less and less simple, leading eventually to murder. The plot moves a bit slowly, but the characters are fascinating in the way they develop and change as a result of the money. ...

Rating:
Summary: Not Raimi's best work
Review: The storyline seemed so unrealistic that it was hard not to cring at times. Decent acting helped to ease the pain of watching. Saved by the highly predicatable, but engaging ending. Sam Raimi's unique directing style seems to be severely restrainted in this movie, it hardly feels the normal Raimi-isque filming style that we all know and love.

Rating:
Summary: Extremely effective thriller
Review: A strong cast, a carefully worked plot, characters with substance, and understated but expert use of landscape: it all makes for one of the best thrillers of the 1990s on the eternal human theme of greed. There are some clever but credible twists and turns in the story, and one or two truly nail-biting moments. And of course, everybody can ask themselves afterward: What would you do if you found $4m in a crashed airplane? Strongly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Unrealistic? Greed has funny effects on people.......
Review: And there are plenty of people out there that make these guys look smart. If you don't believe it, go spend some time in certain places in Oklahoma or Texas and probably plenty of other states. Things seemed to happen so fast because they usually do. The decisions the characters made here were certainly not smart, but they were not rocket scientists and greed got the best of them. I think that was the main message and it came across well. There was some great acting and good cinematography but the ending was a bit annoying. Really a 4.5 star rating.

Rating:
Summary: A Simple Masterpiece
Review: It is difficult to pin-point what makes this story so engaging. The DVD, with its exceptional clarity, allows one to seemlessly enter the tragedy of human deception and nature as it unfolds in the worst of scenarios. What starts out as a mere simple plan, snowballs as human nature and greed, out of necessity, take the plot to deeper and darker places - a place of no return. It is a lesson in human depravity, and how the best of intentions (when unethical) will invariably lead to personal destruction - no simple plan indeed.

Rating:
Summary: Nice production, but unrealistic and absurd
Review: Though the acting and cinematography in this film were very good, the story was so absurd that I had trouble watching it without cringing and rolling my eyes. Sorry, but people in real life are not this stupid. To compound this problem, you see every bad decision coming a mile away. This movie is sort of like watching someone play russian roulette with a fully loaded gun. It's simply better not to watch.