A Simple Plan
Synopsis
Captivated by the lure of sudden wealth, the quiet rural lives of two brothers erupt into conflicts of greed, paranoia and distrust when over $4 million in cash is discovered at the remote site of a downed small airplane. Their simple plan to retain the money while avoiding detection opens a Pandora's box when the fear of getting caught triggers panicked behavior and leads to virulent consequences
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"Nobody would ever believe that you'd be capable of doing what you've done."
One of Sam Raimi's forgotten gems before he was given the Spider-Man job. A Simple Plan is Fargo without the quirky characters and pitch-black humour but instead you get something, while similar in plot, a lot darker and a little bit more disturbing in it's characterizations.
Perfectly cast, Bill Paxton excels as Hank Mitchell, the small-town gentlemanly nobody and a father-to-be who's temptation for a better existence clouds his usual morally-sound judgement when he finds 4 million dollars in a crashed plane. Soon, under pressure from his mentally-challenged brother (Billy Bob Thornton, brilliant), his drunk red-neck buddy and his manipulating wife (Bridget Fonda), Hank makes a serious…
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Like NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, but very little suspense or humor and in its place is just stone-cold tragedy. I started to worry about halfway through that I was actually Billy Bob Thornton; he's that good in this.
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Imagine the logical halfway point between Fargo and Shallow Grave, as executed by Sam Raimi. It's exactly as good as the film that just popped into your head.
Terrific acting (especially from Bridget Fonda), some of the best (and most subtle) directing of Raimi's career and razorwire suspense throughout adds up to a wonderfly small and incredibly intelligent thriller.
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A Simple Plan belongs to what might be my favorite subgenre - the "regular people get caught up in a crime that keeps getting worse and worse and also it's snowing" movie. But the artistry brought to the table elevates it beyond any categorization anyone could come up with for it.
The story in less capable, humane hands could have easily fallen onto the wrong side of the nihilism/tragedy divide, but the heartbreaking reality of the characters and their situation keeps that from even being a concern. The movie does what the best noir stories often do, and makes you feel sympathy for people doing terrible things. Not as some kind of trick, but because they're all human, making escalatingly…
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It is a good thing and a bad thing that Sam Raimi works across so many different genres. It is a good because when he bows out he'll have a distinctive and unique filmography that features great films that are within the best of their respective genres. It is bad because thrillers as good as A Simple Plan are rare and I would so very much like Raimi to make more.
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From the start, I thought it would be an above average "normal guys commit a crime, goes about as well as you'd expect" film. It's so much better than that.
One of the things this movie does incredibly well is present the guilt that goes along with these crimes. Too many times I've watched this style of movie and a terrible crime gets an "Oh, shit!" but is then immediately forgotten (except maybe the character is a little more nervous). Here, there are consequences. People get hurt physically and emotionally. There's a fantastic slow burn scene where it seems as if the story has gotten sidetracked a bit, but is really setting up a crushing moment.
This is fantastic on all accounts. Great cast and great direction.
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idiotic and boring
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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From the start, I thought it would be an above average "normal guys commit a crime, goes about as well as you'd expect" film. It's so much better than that.
One of the things this movie does incredibly well is present the guilt that goes along with these crimes. Too many times I've watched this style of movie and a terrible crime gets an "Oh, shit!" but is then immediately forgotten (except maybe the character is a little more nervous). Here, there are consequences. People get hurt physically and emotionally. There's a fantastic slow burn scene where it seems as if the story has gotten sidetracked a bit, but is really setting up a crushing moment.
This is fantastic on all accounts. Great cast and great direction.
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A fantastic series of twists and turns. An excellent thriller
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There are plenty of movies about decent people corrupted by the discovery of money, but A Simple Plan stands out by making that character someone other than the protagonist (it's not Hank), and for treating it more like a personal, emotional tragedy rather than an ethical one.
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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Well that was dark...But really good . Billy Bob Thornton knocks it out of the park as the dimwitted, but good intentioned, Jacob, and I love me some Bill Paxton. Watching him compromise his morals over and over again was both cringe worthy and enchanting. And wow, Bridget Fonda was awful.
It was hard to believe that this was a Sam Raimi movie-way different than anything of his that I've seen.
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After checking out Oz, I decided to go back and check out this movie of Sam Raimi's. I liked the cast and the premise and been wanting to see it for a long time. I'm happy to report it didn't disappoint. It really reminds me of Fargo, in a good way. Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton both deliver very convincing portrayals of people caught in a difficult moral dilemma that unfolds in a most-suspenseful way.
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Like NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, but very little suspense or humor and in its place is just stone-cold tragedy. I started to worry about halfway through that I was actually Billy Bob Thornton; he's that good in this.