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A Disappointed Look at A SIMPLE PLAN
SPOILER ALERT !!
I wholeheartedly disagree with the following review, but hey, ain't that what I've been a saying about this whole 'review' thing anyway? Agent Kushing here has every right in the world to this, and I can disagree in complete peace. His big complaint was that he felt the film was being built up too much. And I can see that. The film is actually quite a 'small' film. For me it's not a big entertaining film, instead it's merely a great small film. Like THE BIG NIGHT on downers. I feel it is a better film than FARGO, but some will disagree prefering the winking and smiling that went on in FARGO. But enough of me, here's the review. Warning there are spoilers...
I saw a screening a couple of nights ago of A Simple Plan at the
Paramount studios in Hollywood. This movie has been slowly building so much
hype, that I think I went in there expecting to see a film on the level of
Good Will Hunting or Fargo. Although it was good and I enjoyed it, it was
by no means great.
Everyone knows the plot by now, but just in case. Three guys find a
plane that has crashed in the woods and inside the plane is a bag full of
money (4.5 million). They now have to decide what to do with the money.
Spoiler here
They obviously decide to keep it. But this is where in my opinion the movie
goes foul. I compare this to Jerry Maguire. I went into Jerry Maguire
wanting to see a movie about a sports agent, not a love story. My
girlfriend went in wanting to see a love story, and neither of us were
completely satisfied. Anyway, I think A Simple Plan suffers from the JM
syndrome.
The movie goes into the moral dilema of, "is it right? should we give it to
the cops?" issue, but not enough. This is a serious issue and many moral
dilemas are hinted at, but never fully established through the characters
voices. They never say what we would think if we were in their situation.
Although many of these questions are answered through the events the concern
the plot, such as, "can money buy happiness?" and "is money the root of all
evil." The characters never delve into these serious issues. I think that
if they would have, the movie would have been infinitely better and it would
have acted a sense of forshadowing.
The other issue is the suspense. They slowly build little hints that someone
is going to come looking for the money and sure enough some one does. But
they don't develope enough, "the plan". What to do if someone comes
looking. This could have been a really cool part of the movie. Only to
throw away the plan when the guy who comes looking actually comes looking.
All they say is, we'll burn it. I'm sorry but that is lame. They should
have created an intricate detailed plan only to abandon it, not by choice,
but by instinct. (I don't want to ruin the movie too much, but if you see
it, you'll know what I'm talking about.)
Lastly, the acting. Yes Billy Bob Thorton is awesome. He looks just like
Mike Myers from Wayne's World for the first ten minutes. He is very good
and his character goes through very dynamic, but believable changes, but HE
WILL NOT WIN THE ACADEMY AWARD FOR BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR!!!!!!! Don't
believe the hype. This movie isn't strong enough to carry him to that level
where he would recieve recognition on that level.
As for Bill Paxson. I didn't know that he could act so well. He was great.
A lot of it, was just playing off of Billy Bob, but he did it well. Good
job. As for the rest of the cast. They were good, but Bill Paxson's wife,
didn't do it for me. She would be the all-American wife one second and then
create these intricate plans the next. I don't know, but I didn't buy her.
This movie will certainly not get nominated for best picture either. As I
said earlier, it is good. Kind of like Rounder's. Good solid story with
great betrayels. But neither will get any nominations. I actually liked
Rounder's more, because it didn't have any Oscar hype going into it before
it came out.
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I'm interested in the score a bit more than the movie? How did Elfman do?
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Is it too much to ask that your film "reviews" be written by someone who demonstrates at least marginal literacy?
The spelling and typing errors are bad enough, but even when he gets all the letters right, they only form junior-high level sentences at best.
What an embarrassment for your site.
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What is the point of an intricate plan? It is simple that's SIMPLE (I can spell it if necessary) If someone looks for the money, they burn it. Simple ay?
I guess if you want it more intricate they could change the plot....however that would make it a COMPLEX plan.
I do agree about his wife though -
I saw "A Simple Plan" last week in DC and I thought it was a terrific picture. Thornton and Paxton both got to show their acting chops after playing second bananas to CGE the last couple of years. I'm pretty sure the music was a temp track so I have no idea what Elfmann's effort will sound like in the final product. The picture timed out at 1:59 with no closing credits but I believe some more editing will probably be done to tighten it up a bit.
When Billy Bob's character is first introduced we are led to believe the guy's about as dumb as they come. But as the story evolves it becomes clear that there's a big difference between being uneducated and being stupid.
The reviewer is correct in that "A Simple Plan" is more of a great art house picture rather than a main stream studio movie...but why should that be a strike against it? Studio hacks would have added a happy ending and a meaningless sex scene (not that there's anything wrong with meaningless sex) and the movie would have gone straight to video. -
I saw the same screening and enjoyed it as well. My brother liked everything except for the ending. I don't think it'll win any Oscars or do that well at the box office. But I do think the critics will like it. I guess that's enough.
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