A Simple Plan | | Cast : | Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton | | Director : | Sam Raimi | | Studio : | Paramount Studio | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | December 11, 1998 | | DVD Released Date : | March 12, 2002 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 01, 2005 | | Summary | MONEY IS, INDEED, THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL... | Content
 | This film is an adaptation of what is, without a doubt, an amazing debut novel of the same name that was written by Scott Smith. It is a fairly good adaptation of the book and is a modern day morality tale, which sees people's lives change significantly, when they come upon a veritable treasure trove of money. The change is not necessarily for the better, as the viewer will discover.
The plot revolves around two, small town brothers, Hank (Bill Paxton) and Jacob Mitchell (Billy Bob Thornton), who, along with Jacob's friend, Lou (Brent Briscoe), inadvertently come upon a downed plane that is buried in the snow, deep in the woods of a rural area. In that plane is a dead pilot, along with over four million dollars in cold, hard cash. All three of them could sure use the money. The question is, what are they going to do about it?
They come up with what they think is a simple plan. They will take the money and just wait and see, not spending it, until the coast seems clear. From the moment they make this decision, life is never the same for any of them. Hank, taking charge of the money for safekeeping, begins to undergo a change that is seemingly uncharacteristic of one who is outwardly so respectable, rational, and benign of countenance.
As the issue of the money begins to divide the three accomplices, greed and betrayal bubble to the surface, to culminate in a series of chilling, cold-blooded murders. Meanwhile, Hank, manipulated by his Ma Barker of a wife, Sarah (Bridget Fonda), begins a personal downward spiral, succumbing to an evil so profound, that it will leave the viewer open mouthed.
What happens to them all makes for an amazingly powerful and riveting drama. Fine performances are given by the entire cast. Pill Paxton is perfect in the role of Hank, the college educated, clean cut, family man with a secret moral ambiguity that makes him susceptible to his wife's Machiavellian behind-the-scenes direction. Hank has no clear moral compass. He really would like to keep the money, but wants reassurances from his wife that it would be okay to do so. His wife, a corn fed, all American miss, has no qualms about what to do, and Hank is too morally weak to resist in the face of his wife's wily machinations.
Billy Bob Thornton steals the show in the role of Jacob, the good ole boy, knuckle dragging, older brother who lost his inheritance, the family farm, so Hank could go to college. Unlike Hank, he has no job, no home, no wife, no children, and other than Hank, no family. He lives in a squalid apartment with his dog. He, however, has more of a moral compass than Hank has, and is reluctantly locked into a series of actions that make him sort of lose his lease on life. The viewer can see the personal angst that Jacob is undergoing and cannot help but be moved by Billy Bob Thornton's poignant performance.
Brent Briscoe does a fine job in the role of Lou, Jacob's best friend and the unemployed town drunk. He is a guy of limited intelligence who sees the money as a way out of his predicament, and wants his share sooner rather than later. His impatience and poor impulse control set off a series of events that lead to betrayal and his silencing. Bridget Fonda, looking like a blue ribbon winner in a county fair pie baking contest, gives a fine performance as the coolly collected Sarah, the wife who plots and plans Hank's moves. Of all of them, she is the one who wants the money the most and will stop at nothing to get it.
While the film deviates somewhat from the book, and the film's ending lacks the ultimate retribution for Hank and Sarah's sins and their role in the debacle created by their desire for the money, it is a still a wonderful and powerful morality tale. The screenplay is well-crafted, the cast is excellent, and the direction is deft. This is an engrossing film that is worthy of being in one's personal collection. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 23, 2005 | | Summary | An acting treasure | Content
| I'm not a big fan of Bill Paxton, but this is by far his best movie. The range of emotions acted is staggering. The scene in the living room between Paxton, Thornton and Briscue is outstanding. As a sci-fi guy this is one of those movies that shows me that without special effects,aliens or superpowers a film can be tense,scary,tricky and unknowing. The setting is perfect. I dont recall this movie getting much notoriety in the theatres, but I could be wrong. I'm definetly due to see this again, its been awhile. Bridget Fonda is not at her best but she did make the point that with woman and money anythings possible, so talk it out. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 16, 2005 | | Summary | Very entertaining movie, I just didn't like Bridget Fonda | Content
| This was a very well made movie all around, there was no point in the film that I felt bored. One of the reasons I didn't give this movie 5 stars is because of Bridget Fonda's character. I found aspects of her character to be a little unrealistic. For example, in the beginning (spoiler) when Bill Paxton asks her what she would do if she found 4 million dollars, without the slightest hesitation she says she would definitely hand it in, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. But then not too long after that, she becomes possessed with these crazed ideas on how to keep the money and deceive other people. And finally at the end, after presumably learning that 1/10 of the bills are marked, she's STILL whining and crying with her insane notions of taking the money and running. I'm sorry, but after you find out that your bills are marked, that's it, plan's over, you do whatever you have to do to get that money off your hands. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 10, 2005 | | Summary | How the simplest of plans can become complicated... | Content
| 3 guys in the woods...find airplane in snow...find duffelbags of CASH in airplane...decide to split it up. What more do you need for a plot that will hash greed, corruption, fear, loyalty, and hope? A Simple Plan is your answer!
Based on Scott Smith's bone-chilling blockbuster 1993 novel, A Simple Plan is a bit of a departure for horror-film director Sam Raimi. Instead of flying eyeballs and dancing corpses, A Simple Plan is a taught crime thriller in the vein of Joel Coen's Academy Award-winning Fargo. Set during the white winters of Minnesota, this story tells the eerie tale of Hank and Jacob Mitchell (played by Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton) who, along with a buddy, find a downed single-engine plane buried in the snowy woods.
Inside it is a decaying pilot and a bag carrying four million dollars in one-hundred-dollar bills. The men decide to hide the money until spring when the snow is melted and the plane is found. If no one notices the missing money at that time, they will split it and live a wealthy new life. A simple plan, right? Wrong. Much like Humphrey Bogart's The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, things can only get worse, as distrust and greed creep into the minds of the principles.
They find it difficult to decide which one gets to hold the money - and even more impossible to keep from dipping into the stash until spring. And so on. It also becomes increasingly tough to keep a secret of this magnitude. And if all this doesn't get movie-goers' right-brains working, it seems there are suspicious characters in town who just may be able to link them to the plane, forcing the more dangerous and bloody question of what to do with those people and how to cover their tracks. |
| Rating | | | Date | January 17, 2005 | | Summary | Fargo's companion piece | Content
| It is always puzzling at some level to see a morality tale in a mechanical cosmos. What was the director thinking? Have the actors read ancient Greek tragedy? Well, I'm accused of overanalyzing films, so I'll give a brief review: What happens when a civilized man happens across an unexplained bag containing some four million dollars in the company of two knuckledraggers in the middle of nowhere? Rationalization and self-deception, followed soon by a growing stack of corpses. Except for some horrific scenes, the film is understated, high key and beautifully photographed. Reminiscent of "Fargo," this gem is stunning and unforgetable. |
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