Rating: 
Summary: A Realistic and Original Modern Film Noir.
Review: "Best Laid Plans" is an Ultra-Stylish, Ultra-Modern Film Noir Thriller that serves up Startling Performances from the Trio of Stars (Reece Witherspoon, Alessandro Nivola and Josh Brolin), Stylish Directing (Mike Barker), Slick Production Values, Top-Notch Story and Screenplay, Realistic Twists and Turns and a Corker of an Ending. (which isn't just Unexpected, it's also Realistic, which is a Nice Change)
Rating: 
Summary: Oh God...
Review: ...where do I begin. Probably with the fact that the only reason I watched it is because my girlfriend threatened me to. This is movie is sooo desperate to be a post modern crime thriller that it looks and feels so relentlessly superficial. Most scenes are decked out in unpleasant pastel colors and interiors are always lit with warm lights. Not very realistic. Something else that is quite unreal is the scene in which Nivola and Witherspoon discuss their forthcoming crime...on a roof in front of a neon sign on a sofa. Yeah...like people keep sofas on roofs in front of neon signs. This was obviously an attempt by the director to add a little sparkle to an otherwise BORING scene. Which is also the reason he throws in some cliched camera angles. It's a "film noir" you see...so diagonal shots on an ordinary scene are standard. Composer Craig Armstrong was obviously hired at the last minute when the director heard the score for Romeo and Juliet to provide an irrating and superficial (that word again) soundtrack. It sounds like it belongs in a totally different movie. One last gripe...the "twist" was obvious to me. I guess it at the very start and the whole thing was SOOO predictable. It had the predictablity curve of paint drying and the interest curve of cleaning a 300-year-old stove with a 3-haired tooth brush and some spit. I also felt no chemistry between the 2 leads whatsoever. In case your wondering my girlfriend lists this as number 2 in her top 3 movies. Number 1 is Devils Advocate and 3 is Moonwalker...ugh!
Rating: 
Summary: Almost a Good Movie
Review: An almost masterful movie, with intriguing characters clever plot twists, and a good script. Witherspoon gives a fairly good performance as the very beautiful girlfriend of Nivola who gives a splendid performance as the brains behind the scheme. I will avoid blowing the movie because it is still a worthwhile venture, and if it weren't for the ending it would have been great.
Rating: 
Summary: An entertaining thriller that's worth a view
Review: An engaging neo-noir with many twist and turns,colorful characters and a delicious,intricate plot that held me.And the cinematography made a cool mood for the film,especially when so many things were happening.The main character Nick(Nivola),and his girlfriend(Witherspoon) get into trouble with some drug dealers, and get thrown into a maelstorm of wild accusations and deciet.Although I liked the movie and it's wild ride of a plot, there is one small problem, none of the characters quite go along with it all,but beside's that point I recommend it to any one looking for a very stylish thriller.
Rating:
Summary: No harm, no foul
Review: At first glance this would appear to be a VERY serious movie. The opening 1/2 hour or so reminded me of the movie BODY SHOTS, which is a rather disturbing film. What is most intriguing about this story is that it is a complete farce and the movie seems to change colors like some sort of a chameleon. What you end up with is something totally different than what you think you're getting in the beginning.
Reese Witherspoon stars once again as a sort-of young girl lost type persona. She seems to be somewhat typecast for this type of role as in many ways her character is not so different from the ones she portrayed in TWILIGHT and FREEWAY. While the present film is not quite as off-the-wall as FREEWAY, it is still pretty far out in left-field.
If you're a fan of Reese Witherspoon or films that are on the fringes of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, this one might be for you. While there are many obvious clues during the film as to what's going on, I did not take them seriously enough to figure this plotline out before the final revelation. Can you?
Rating:
Summary: Great acting from Reese and Alessandro
Review: Boy did this movie twist and turn, you never really knew where it was going. In some cases it can be a good thing, in other cases it could just mean the viewer is totally confused. Thankfully I'm favouring the former. Having never heard of this movie before I rented it for the sole purpose of watching Reese Witherspoon. I was pleasantly surprised by a rather enjoyable movie. I was also impressed by the lead actor, Alessandro Nivola, of whom I'd only seen in Face/Off. He did very well in his role. Josh Brolin was highly annoying, but that was needed for his role, so in effect he succeeded. But I was once again impressed by Ms Witherspoon who has yet to disappoint me in any of her movies. Everyone knows that she's a fantastic comedic actress, but she is also an excellent dramatic actress. Her scenes are usually intense and call on her to display some very painful and real emotions and she does them fantastically. Her scene where she's cuffed to the pool table is a good example of this. I just love this actress, she's just such a rare talent, an utter joy to watch onscreen. This movie uses the flashback to tell it's story. It's a pretty complicated plot so it's pretty pointless trying to explain it without completely giving it away. So I won't do that but I'll just say that it has it's moments. It was never really suspenseful it just played like a storytelling. The highlight of the movie was really the strong acting. That helped the movie move along better. I thought that Alessandro and Reese had good chemistry and played off each other rather well. So to sum up simply, great acting, good movie.
Rating:
Summary: Great acting from Reese and Alessandro
Review: Boy did this movie twist and turn, you never really knew where it was going. In some cases it can be a good thing, in other cases it could just mean the viewer is totally confused. Thankfully I'm favouring the former. Having never heard of this movie before I rented it for the sole purpose of watching Reese Witherspoon. I was pleasantly surprised by a rather enjoyable movie. I was also impressed by the lead actor, Alessandro Nivola, of whom I'd only seen in Face/Off. He did very well in his role. Josh Brolin was highly annoying, but that was needed for his role, so in effect he succeeded. But I was once again impressed by Ms Witherspoon who has yet to disappoint me in any of her movies. Everyone knows that she's a fantastic comedic actress, but she is also an excellent dramatic actress. Her scenes are usually intense and call on her to display some very painful and real emotions and she does them fantastically. Her scene where she's cuffed to the pool table is a good example of this. I just love this actress, she's just such a rare talent, an utter joy to watch onscreen. This movie uses the flashback to tell it's story. It's a pretty complicated plot so it's pretty pointless trying to explain it without completely giving it away. So I won't do that but I'll just say that it has it's moments. It was never really suspenseful it just played like a storytelling. The highlight of the movie was really the strong acting. That helped the movie move along better. I thought that Alessandro and Reese had good chemistry and played off each other rather well. So to sum up simply, great acting, good movie.
Rating:
Summary: PSEUDO-NOIR THAT FAILS TO DELIVER
Review: Despite an intriguing set-up and attractive cast, this tepid wannabe film noir blows its potential with uneven pacing, idiotic plot twists, and a weak third act. The abrupt, out-of-left-field ending, replete with a half-hearted attempt at a dramatic payoff, only adds insult to injury. The supposedly black comedy that other reviewers mention seemed to have eluded me entirely. The rip-off wave between friends is set up nicely, but the characters are flat and uninteresting, and the self-consciously stylish cinematography didn't help in getting into them, just leaving a hollowly stylish exterior. A drab and ultimately forgettable film, not a bad way to kill an afternoon perhaps but surely not a keeper.
Rating:
Summary: devilshly entertaining
Review: good movie with Alessandro Nivola(Jurassic Park 3, and Face/Off) is broke and he needs the money, so he gets into stealing money from people with the help of his girl, Reese Witherpoon(Twilight, Freeway) when Nivola's friend, played excellent by Josh Brolin(NightWatch, The Mod Squad1999), the 2 try to steal from him but then things start to happen that they didnt expect...nicely done greedy, money is everything movie with exceptional performances by the 2 lead actors, Witherspoon is good too.
Rating:
Summary: The Wealth of Nations.
Review: Great film, it's sad it wasn't marketed right at the box office. At the time, Reese Witherspoon was associated with light sexy comedies much more than with film noir, and who had ever heard of Alessandro Nivola? If it had been Cruise and Kidman it would have been a hit. Better still, if it had been two complete unkowns with a first time indie director and the film had been 'discovered' at Sundance or some other prestigious festival, it would have been a MEGA- HIT ! (sigh) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Ted Griffin's script is far more powerfull than , say, 'The Usual Suspects'. (which I thoroughly enjoyed, btw.) But unfortunately that's also box office handicap. We can be frightened by the Bigger than Life Bad Guy 'Keesyer Sosa' in "Suspects" with detatchment. After all, what are the chances this crazed monster is going to blow up your house? It's like watching Dracula. It's fun to be scared precisely because we don't believe in vampires. But in 'The Best Laid Plans ' Not a single shot is fired, no boats or houses explode, and we are firmly in America, not Transylvania. Where, to permit myself an understatement, sometimes there's a problem with money . . . So how far do you go to save your skin? Or to protect someone you love? What about the temptation to sell out a friend to The Allmighty Dollar ( Wonderfully used by the writer in the metaphor of a rare bill worth a fortune.) I mean if you were personally, really, really desperate, the honorable thing for you to do would be. . .? It's odd how citics are fond of cliche statements about film noir being a genre that 'exposes the dark underside of our culture', blah, blah, blah--but when a film actually does it with uncompromising ruthlessness, it's apparently time to back down and go on the the scary ride at your local amusement park instead. Pity. A stylish, brilliant and suspenseful film. A+ Noir.
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