A Simple Plan

A Simple Plan (1998)

Runtime: 121 minutes

Directed by: Sam Raimi

Starring: Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, Bridget Fonda, Brent Briscoe, Chelcie Ross

From: A number of companies from a number of countries

On second thought, I’d rather not find 4.4 million dollars in a crashed plane out in the woods… I remember when this movie first came out yet I did not see it at the time and even after I experienced more noir and neo-noir pictures in the subsequent 25 years, it took until it played a few times on HDNet Movies for me to record a showing on the DVR and now I realized a dunce cap should be put on my head for not checking out a great film years beforehand.

In a rural Minnesota town, Bill Paxton being a college graduate gives him an advantage over others. That duly noted, he still is far from a rich man. Him being married to a pregnant Bridget Fonda of course will put a strain on him. Thus, when he, his “learning disabled” (to use Wikipedia’s term for the character) older brother Billy Bob Thornton and Thornton’s town drunk friend Brent Briscoe stumble upon a plane with over 4 million in greenbacks in a duffle bag, it seems to be Manna from heaven for them. In actuality, even with Paxton having the wise idea to store the money for awhile to avoid suspicion, they all seem cursed due to their greed taking over their civic duty to report the wreck.

The main reason A Simple Plan receives such high marks: it is a dark tale filled with three dimensional characters… even the person with a mental handicap has perceptive insights once in awhile. A snowy Minnesota winter was the perfect setting for this sad tale where greed & avarice results in more than one shocking event to occur and makes even those that seem like decent blue-collar people to reveal their most bitter side. 

Billy Bob’s performance was the one that I won’t ever forget but everyone in the main cast was solid. Even an actor I was less than familiar with (Brent Briscoe as Lou the town drunk) was impressive. Those that love the harshest of neo-noir movies and want to see a movie that caused me to loudly react a few times-a rare feat-then this is a must. Furthermore, this may be Raimi’s best picture.