A Simple Plan

Bill Paxton, Bridget Fonda, Billy Bob Thornton

Grade: A

This has been a good year for movies. Not only have high quality films been rewarded with good reviews, and box office gold, but some old Hollywood myths were finally put to rest. First off, hype isn’t everything, as proven by Beloved’s snub from the Golden Globe nominations, and (of course) the monster of all disappointments- Godzilla. Moreover, movie goers have been rewarding films with sharp visual edges (Dark City) over films with elaborate visual edges. This year’s really good films sneak up on us like the slyest of all black comedies, grab us by the throat, look us in the eye, and scream in our face- I’M GOOD!

And now, keeping up with the trend, is Sam Raimi’s intricate, well drawn, intense thriller A Simple Plan, which sneaks into selected cineplexes this week with almost no advance hype or bankable stars. I went into the theater expecting to see a good, possibly exceptional, drama about a bunch of losers who stumble upon four million dollars in an abandoned plane. I walked out of the theater smiling to myself, because I was granted with the knowledge that I had just seen a great film that had me eating out of the palm of its hand. I thought exactly what the film wanted me to think, at exactly the times in which the film wanted me to think it. I was being tossed about in a web of lies, deceit, and good old fashioned story telling, without the slightest idea of where I was being taken. If the film wanted to be funny, I would laugh. If the moment was quietly powerful, I found myself on the verge of tears. If it wanted to be shocking... oh boy, was I ever shocked.

It’s not like the films actual plot is anything exceptional. A Simple Plan starts out simply enough, with three characters finding four and a half million dollars in an abandoned, crashed plane. First, there’s the Bill Paxton character- the only one of the three buddies who actually has a job and a grain of common sense. Then there’s Jacob (an Oscar worthy Billy Bob Thornton), the ill conceived brother and basic dope, who looks at all the events of the film with Forrest Gump style simplicity (he reminded me from Lenny in Of Mice And Men). Finally, there’s Earl, the town drunk who is the most willing to take the money and never look back. Also involved is Sarah (Bridget Fonda), Paxton’s wife, who gets behind most of the mischievous scheming in the movie. All the characters are well drawn and three dimensional, the entire cast is terrific, and every performance is worthy of at least an Oscar nomination.

After the money is taken, A Simple Plan catapults itself down a spiral of odd, almost poetic, justice, as the characters individually pay for their crime(s). What makes the film so tragic is that the audience is given several reasons to care for the characters- we really want them to get away with the money. But director Sam Raimi doesn’t let us off the hook that easy, as the consequences of the theft slowly escalates into plans, lies, deceit, and murder. The script by Scott B Smith (based on his novel, which I haven’t read) often threatens itself by going too over the top. In fact, large outbursts of preachy monologues would have ruined the film’s devious, subtle trickery. But, instead of falling into this worn out pothole of Hollywood drama writers, Scott Smith takes the much more noble, less traveled route, letting hand and eye gestures do most of the acting.

Last but not least in my little love letter of a review, I have to give kudos to Sam Raimi’s use of the snow, blanketing every scene and shot, as if it’s symbolic of the guilt of the main characters. It’s the sharpest, most subdued visual edge of any film this year, and I’m immediately reminded of the Coen brother’s use of snow in their highly acclaimed (similar) thriller, Fargo. Here is a rare film that manages to be a treat for the mind, soul, and eyes of the viewer. Dark yet hopeful, sly yet fair- A Simple Plan is, quite simply, one of the year’s finest, most richly textured thrillers.