1998 crime thriller directed by Sam Raimi.
Hank, Jacob and Lou find a plane in the forest, inside which the pilot’s corpse is eaten by crows, next to him a bag with four million dollars. Taking the money without precautions is risky and can send them to prison, so they decide to follow what seems like a simple plan: not to talk about the money with anyone, including their wives, while one of them keeps all the money until the police find the plane, and depending on what happens then, they will decide if they should divide the money or get rid of it. It seems like a simple plan, doesn’t it? Not for the protagonists of this story.
A Simple Plan is a brilliant thriller based on the novel by Scott B. Smith, who also writes the film’s screenplay. A story that quickly becomes complicated when the same characters make unintelligent and impulsive decisions.
At the beginning the story reminds us of Fargo by the Coen brothers, as the story has some similarities; it takes place during the winter in a rural Minnesota town, the MacGuffin is illegitimate money and a plan becomes complicated by the decisions of its characters. However, this is a different story, the background of its main characters, the brothers Hank and Jacob, and their relationship and differences is a big part of this story.
Billy Bob Thornton as a resigned and resentful Jacob Mitchell, is really very good, the best performance in a film in which we also see a Bridget Fonda as a pregnant wife with a criminal mind. Bill Paxton as the protagonist is correct, and Brent Briscoe does very well playing a vulgar subject.
The film has the virtue of exploring inside the characters, their feelings and emotions, turning their envy, jealousy, pride, greed, frustrations, desires and insecurities into elements that lead them to make decisions that complicate the plot and provide the film with more significance. The film is not only about how three guys get a lot of money and make a plan to keep it, showing external complications, but the biggest problem to keep the money is themselves.
The movie was a financial failure, since it had a seventeen million dollar budget that could not be recovered in theaters, where it only made just over sixteen million, however, the film had two Academy Award nominations, Best Supporting Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay, and was almost universally acclaimed by critics.
A simple plan has a running time of two very short hours, brilliantly directed by Sam Raimi. A really entertaining thriller that I recommend to anyone.
Let me know in the comments what you think of the film, and if you haven’t seen it yet, let me know if you’d be interested in seeing it or why you’d rather see something else.
A crime drama based on the kidnapping of Nicholas Markowitz.
A crime drama written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.
