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A SIMPLE PLAN repost review
This review is being reposted because it seems a lot of people are having problems finding the older reviews of mine. I have only a couple of additional comments about the film first though... Danny Elfman's score really is a wonderful score. When I first saw this film, it did not have that music, it was temp tracked with something else. The film works even better now. I still need to see LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL, THE THIN RED LINE and SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, but I'm pretty sure this will remain in my top ten of the year...
Have you ever seen a movie that you wish you had something... anything to do with? You know, you've just seen a flick that's new, that you know damn well will be talked about on down the line. When the disappointment of Godzilla and the Avengers are nothing more than granules of dead brain cells that no longer contain that information. When your grandkids are in film school and they are supposed to see the great crime films... this could very well be one of them.
A SIMPLE PLAN is utterly confounding because for me... I'm speechless. I once thought FARGO was a GREAT film. No... this is a great film. This film isn't a good film, it's not a wonderful film, it is a great film.
I just sat through a film that made me go through the entire catalogue of emotional responses to visual stimuli. The whole cliche of "it made me laugh, it made my cry, it's gonna make me kiss many future hours of my life goodbye" is absolutely true. This is the best film the Coen Brothers could have, but haven't made.
Why the hell am I lauding so many praises upon this flick?
Because of the following...
It's absolutely perfect.
Why?
Unlike almost every crime film I have ever seen, this film has real people, people we have met, have been or are. As a result I was completely sucked in. At first you may think... "Hey this is like FARGO", but other than snow...lotsa snow... this flick is very very different.
One, it's take on crimes and punishments, sins vs the good life... The portrait of greed, paranoia and why a simple plan can go terribly wrong... it's all enough to make you forget who you are, that you are watching a film, that you or any of your life experiences are nothing, that your world does not matter, and ultimately that life could be so much worse than it is.
Billy Bob Thornton is absolutely the leader for BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR, he has never ever ever been this good. He plays a "Lennie Small", but one we have all met, that we all feel for, that we all love. Someone that's aware of his shortcomings, that knows he's ugly, stupid and unlovable. And there is nothing worse than that.
I won't repeat one incident that occurs in this film, but I will tell a story that made me bond 110% with Billy Bob's character, you'll understand after you've seen the film what I'm talking about... or perhaps you've had the experience, the feeling, witnessed it, or caused it.
I've been fat my whole concious life, and I've known it. There's always been that feeling in me that my choices in life were limited by the inches around my waist. And I think the feeling that we might all not have a perfect love has been there at some point in our life. But the worst thing is when someone knows this, someone you love/have a crush on/harbor feelings for... you know... Someone you see as a holy grail, comes up to you, plays you for a while, and then you realize that it's all a charade, that behind your back there's giggling, like your the punchline to an evil joke.
Specifically there was a series of incidences in Junior High School (yeah it's a long time ago, and yes I have been over it for a long time). I came in very confident. Somehow that whole 'Fat' thing was basically reconciled in me by the 4th grade, so when people did the lard-ass or whale or blubberbutt bits, well it didn't hurt because I was a lardass, a whale and a blubberbutt. But when I entered Junior High there was a new level of torment. In the 'Glee Squad' there was a group of 'Goddesses' babes that I thought about well before the concept of masturbation even existed. They were simply... untouchables, works of art to be admired in the sun's glow, a flourescent flicker and the low wattage hallways of Lanier. They'd walk around in their purple pleated Glee Squad skirts with their purple lead shielding panties, and they ruled the school. After about two weeks they chose me to be their prey. It started with them sitting at my table during lunch. I was painfully shy at this time, I had the confidence of a lowly mollusk. But with them close, I could get a better look at em, and in my dense cranial activity, I pondered that perhaps they liked me. Then they started doing things like feeling my thigh, slapping my ass and hugging me and kissing a cheek (on my face). Then they'd run off laughing with their friends and money would exchange. That's when it hit me, I was a circus freak, the fat man on display for a ten cent ticket. Then I went home and I thought long and hard about how to handle the situation, and I came to the conclusion that I would simply slap their asses, squeeze their tits, and show em what it's like. They left me alone after that. I stood up to their games and fired back. After that, there was a certain amount of freedom in me. Billy Bob never stood up.
Billy Bob is undescribable in this film. It is the most powerful performance I've seen this year. It's amazing. In all of it's 35 mm glory I just stared slack jawed. It wasn't just me, Quint, Tom Joad and Annette Kellerman all were there to back me up with their level of being stunned. There was only one thing not complete in this film and that's the score. I have one hope in the score, I hope that the music the teddy bear makes (or should make) would also be the overlying theme of the entire film. The score needs to be unobtrusive, because anything too loud... too emotional could possibly taint the brilliance of these performances.
This human drama, this story of chaos and fate and futility is what great filmmaking is about. And your answer to the following question may forever be changed...
What would you do if you came across $4.4 million dollars out in the woods, and you could just take it home?
My answer before this movie was, take the money.... now... well it's kinda like when I saw Treasure of Sierra Madre... Money..gold...fortune & glory... it ain't all it's cracked up to be, the devil's in the details...
When this film comes out... don't think...don't consider it... go see the movie and marvel at what makes a GREAT film.
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Every now and then everyone seems to love a movie that just baffles me. People are looking at A Simple Plan like it is some deep piece of filmmaking and put it on level with Crime and Punishment. I managed to see it before any reviews and thought it was just like every other crime movie. First, they get the money. Then they kill anyone who gets in their way (because that's what any reasonable person would do). Their needed to be some kind of transition for the Bill Paxton character so we could see him turn evil and understand his motives. But Hollywood studios don't work that way. They want to look down on us and assume we won't catch the plot holes. Example, why didn't anyone question the snowmobiling accident? Did he really cover it up that well? Also, why did they wait until the end to have the bad guys come looking for the money? If they really wanted it, wouldn't they have shown up within the first act? Of course, we wouldn't be allowed another classic scene...the stand off. Boy that's original. Why is it that any plot a movie has gets completely thrown out the window when someone shows up with a gun?
Am I the only one who is getting tired of this excuse for scriptwriting?
What's with that overwraught ending? I suppose Raimi though he was being deep, like having the forest animals symbolising the human characters. Don't try to spell it out too much for us Sam, because as an audience we're supposed to be stupid. -
A simple plan is that great moffo first lets start with the snowmobile why on earth would you question bill paxton about it what on earth had he done is his past the would warrant being questioned about it the police thaught it was a horrible acciedent they were wrong ofcoarse but why would they think otherwise. the criminals showed up when they did because they probaly did know where the plane had crashed and finaly figured out a way to find it granted the sherrif wasntthe smartest guy in the world but cmon put yourself ion his shoes why on earth would you think anything was out of the normal. for the showdown i loved the way it was staged the look on paxtons face brillant sheer brillance.
this is one of the years best and i hope the academy realizes it but they probaly wont -
Definitely one of 1998's best. It's a damm shame it's only pulled in about $1 mil at the B.O. this month. While I doubt it cost very much to make, it has to be a long-way to go before it begins to cover it's tab. Why hasn't this film been given the advertising blitz it deserves? Why the incredibly limited release? It's not like the studio wasn't big enough to do the job-- it's Paramount for cryin' out loud, not Trimark (Which BTW, released Carrot Top's movie earlier this year and promoted it far more heavily than Paramount has w/ SP...what the fuck?!).
I understand the idea behind opening up Oscar-hopefuls in limited engagement, but unlike "Thin Red Line", it doesn't look like SP will break out into a thousand theatres any time soon.
Perhaps if SP garners some Oscar nods, Paramount will pull a "L.A. Confidential". That movie opened in the dead end of September w/ disappointing B.O.--until it became an awards favorite to beat that Cameron behemoth, only then did Warner Bros. (remember them?) decided to break wide w/ the thing and give it the ad campaign it deserved. Presto-- film made upwards of $60 mil. Here's to hoping that SP does better. I understand that Raimi's EVIL DEAD 2 made more dometically than SP has so far! -
A piece of shit like Batman & Robin is on 5 screens in every metroplex in the country when it's released, and this movie can't be found anywhere depite raving reviews. Makes sense to me. I've been on the lookout for this for awhile, and I haven't seen one commercial or advertisement for it yet!
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I usually agree with your reviews. But, come on. A simple plan is nothing more than stupid people doing stupid things for an hour and a half. Not for a second did I buy any of these characters... with the exception of Billy Bob. There was no basis for anything, here - just shallow social commentary I could have come up with in my 7th grade social studies class.
How you can put this film in the same category as a masterpiece like Fargo is way beyond me. -
No, it's not exactly SHALLOW GRAVE meets BLOOD SIMPLE on the road to FARGO. Those films proffered yucks with their yicks, while caring little about the fates of the greedy, lost souls depicted. And yes, if Sam Raimi at times wields a heavy hand - with such proclamations as Paxton's, "You work for the American Dream, you don't steal from it." - you forgive him for the purity of his intent. True, the characters aren't the brightest - actually, we're talking monumental ignoramuses - but all the more challenging for the audience, who are set-up to assume that we are the smarter of the species. (I'm reminded of Kurt Vonnegut's bon mot, "people are a 1000 times dumber and meaner than they like to think they are.") Oh man, B. Fonda's the shtuff. I've loved her in every underrated thing she's done since that Yankee Nikita crap. She was great as "Slim" in the forgotten ROUGH MAGIC, awesome in JACKIE BROWN.... On the neg: there are a few lulls and patches of flat acting in "Plan." My mind wandered when yet another scene of brotherly character exposition commenced, but in the end it pays off. Going in, I took exception to Billy-Bob; if the American White Trash ever organize as a PR-group, he'll have a lot to answer for. I mean, in the past 14 months since creating that loveable, mentally-challenged backwoods murderer in SLING BLADE, he's played a hick "Troublemaker" in THE APOSTLE; a deranged grease-monkey in U-TURN; a red-neck something-r-rather in A GUN, A CAR & A BLONDE; a southern-fried campaign worker in PRIMARY COLORS; a cracker pothead in HOMEGROWN; and a countrified NASA chief in ARRRRMAAGARRGGAAGEDEON! But,by the end of "Plan," I'll be a bubba's uncle if Billy-Bob's bumpkin brother "Jacob" didn't STEAL THE GOL-DANG MOVIE! Another oscah-nod for BBT as BSA is surely on its way. As for Raimi, it is an absolute triumph for him to have crafted a wickedly satisfying horror-film where the only monster is Sh*tloads of M-O-N-E-Y. Not that I don't dig skeleton armies and flying shaman priestesses and such - it's just cool he's broadening his range, going for the subtler, the symbolic, even if it's a little on the Cohen Brothers-redux side. Hey! They owe him. I recall Los Bros. Cohen quoting Raimi as direct inspiration for their debut, BLOOD SIMPLE
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In reference to the above posted contention about ASP's current box office condition: The film has only been released on a handful of screens. Wide circulation will commence in mid January, at that time a considerable box office intake is inevitable.
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I grew up in a small town much like the one depicted in A SIMPLE PLAN (and, geographically, damn near the same one described in the book.) Every winter, there are scads of fatal snowmobile accidents, some even similar to the one in ASP: therefore, it would actually be less plausible if the authorities considered foul play. Now, if Jacob had tried to orchestrate the accident, maybe I'd have bought some kind of suspicion, but Hank is certainly competent enough to make it work. In any event, the plot twists really take a back seat to the Jacob/Hank relationship. It's beautifully done by Raimi & company, and, in my opinion, elevates ASP to the elite of 1998.
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I've been waiting for this movie for quite a while, but it never showed up within 200 miles of Eugene, Oregon.
We have over 50 screens still showing Waterboy and Something About Mary.
Thats total Bullshit!
Guess I'll wait for video. -
This film is great. Is it better than Fargo? NO! Definately not in my opinion. Everything about Fargo is either totally amazing or perfect. The directing in Fargo is PERFECT, unlike in A Simple Plan. Don't get me wrong. Sam Raimi does an incredible job, it really is a breakthrough movie form him. He shot up to the A list of Directors in Hollywood right after this movie. The score is also better in Fargo, but then again the Coen's have had the opportunity to work with him for (I think) all of their films. William H Macy was Perfect for Fargo. Bill Paxton deserves an Academy Award nomination at least for what he did, but I think it could have been done by quite a few actors. Macy seems like he had the role written for him. Billy Bob Thorton is definately the best thing in this movie. He better win an Oscar.
I love A Simple Plan. It's one of the years best, but it is not better than Fargo. The characters, environment, and the writing didn't blend together as well as they did in Fargo.
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Harry;
I am in complete agreement with you on your thoughts to "A Simple Plan". I am fortunate to live in one of the few cities it's opened in so far (Toronto) and was there the first showing of the first day, along with a LARGE group of people who wisely chose to skip off work/school to watch a true masterpiece. I just wanted to add that on top of Billy Bob's fantastic (as usual) performance, the true stunner for me was Bill Paxton. To we the initiated, he's always been a great talent, but with this role he should join that strata of brilliant performances - the ones we look back on years from now and say "Yes". Overall, "A Simple Plan" serves as a reminder that great films CAN still be made and seen in today's mass marketed entertainment.
-Paddy Garcia
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...more people haven't seen this film, and the incredible performances of the three lead actors. I agree, Paxton is fantastic - but Billy Bob is simply in another universe! He really seemed in touch with the character. Not just the physical goofiness of the guy - but his inner being or soul. This character was nothing but a joke to most people (especially women), because of his freakish looks and lack of intellect, but as Billy Bob showed us - deep down he was in agony because he knew there was nothing he could do to improve his lot in life. Hell, if any of the characters in the movie had motivation to keep the money - he did!
As for Ms. Fonda - I have to admit my bias, considering I have been in love with the girl since SCANDAL, but this is perhaps her best role yet. Quite the coniving evil bitch she turned out to be? You can't get more disturbing than conspiring to murder someone while breast feeding your baby for the first time!
In my book, Billy Bob gets an oscar HANDS DOWN, and it would be criminal if the screenplay doesn't at least get a nomination. -
What's so amazing about this year's best film is how it sneaks up on you. What seems like a little quirky movie about hicks who find money steadily evolves into a full-blown, heartbreaking American tragedy. The movie gains its devestating power through its brilliantly written, acted and directed characterizations. Simply put, A Simple Plan works because we grow to care about the people in it. I'm a Raimi nut, but even I'm amazed at the complexity he's acheived here. The wacky guy who beat up Bruce Campbell in that little cabin has suddenly proven himself to be one of the country's foremost directors.
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What's so amazing about this year's best film is how it sneaks up on you. What seems like a little quirky movie about hicks who find money steadily evolves into a full-blown, heartbreaking American tragedy. The movie gains its devestating power through its brilliantly written, acted and directed characterizations. Simply put, A Simple Plan works because we grow to care about the people in it. I'm a Raimi nut, but even I'm amazed at the complexity he's acheived here. The wacky guy who beat up Bruce Campbell in that little cabin has suddenly proven himself to be one of the country's foremost directors.
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This movie really stuck with me. I had read the novel about 2 months ago, and the movie is a pretty faithful adaptation of it (except they should have put the liquor store scene in the movie - it shows Hank's final descent into true evil). This is a thought provoking film, with characters that are not some silly caricature - they live and breathe, just like us. Earlier posts compared this movie to Fargo. There really is no comparison. Although Fargo is a great movie (but not the Coens best - check out Miller's Crossing for that) thi one is a better film. Watching Fargo is like watching an aquarium. It has lots of pretty fish, interesting fish, the occasional ugly fish. But who the hell can relate to a fish? Those characters, other than William Macy's and Frances McDormand's, were nothing to relate to, only to look at. Bill Paxton put you behind Hank's eyes as he descended into hell. You walked with him, loved with him, and, in the end, killed with him. You were also inside Billy Bob Thornton, and even inside Bridget Fonda's character. What, really, would you do if $4.4 million dollars fell into your lap? Probably the same thing. I voted Out of Sight as the coolest film of the year, and that still stands. But I also said Shakespeare in Love was the best film of the year, and I have to change my mind about that. SIL was wonderful, but this movie is like a life lived. Awesome work, Mr. Raimi. Make the kind of films that you want, and let Evil Dead stay dead. More films like that and you could be with the Masters - Hitchcock, Spielberg, John Ford, Kurosawa, the list goes on. Yes, this movie was that good.
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Just saw the movie last night and I was blown away by it. No CGI effect, no Will Smiths or other big name, smart alecky actors, just tremendous acting and a gripping storyline. Thornton's performance was Oscar caliber, Paxton and Fonda were right behind. The direction was haunting and beautiful, even the soundtrack was sublime. Absolutely the best movie since Saving Private Ryan.
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What makes a GREAT film is the attention paid to the details. Billy Bob Thornton does an awesome job in his portrayal of an idiot, but then at times his character comes up with great ideas like in the scene where Hank tries to record his drunken friends' "admission" and Mr. Small all of a sudden gets smart and gets us all into believing that he is going to now betray his brother Hank. I also wondered about how Billy Bob's character who, is supposed to be so downtrodden, can afford THREE different brand-spanken-new downed jackets. He switches these jackets around from scene to scene depending on what color shirt he's wearin'. And the jackets are BRAND NEW! I would expect that some teeth would be missing from the zipper and that there would be some holes in the one and only jacket he owns. One last comment I have is: Wouldn't it have been an even greater tragedy if it turned out that the false FBI agent ACTUALLY WAS and FBI agent? And that Hank, making bad judgements anyway, would of shot yet another innocent man? 'jus wonderin'. FARGO is still, by far, a much better film.
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Now that I've (FINALLY) seen this movie, I have to salute Billy Bob in this movie. Everyone did very nice work in this movie, but Billy Bob kept surprising me over and over. To those who say that his character is inconsistent in his "smartness" I think that's the whole point -- he's smarter than other characters give him credit for. That scene with the three guys in the living room with the tape recorder was such a GREAT example for it -- I fell for the whole thing completely. And the climactic scene -- I won't give it away, but let's just say that in a lesser actor's hands, that scene could have been silly or implausible. Billy Bob (and Bill Paxton, of course) sold me on it completely, though.
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I just saw this picture about ten minutes ago and will be going back later tonight. HOLY SHIT!!! What a fucking great movie. I got chills in at least three different parts of the pic. It was incredible. I and no one else should say too much about this movie except TRUST US!!! See this movie. It will blow you away. Yes, it's that good.
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Finally this film got a wider release so I don't have to drive far to see it. Ok, so I wanted to give this film a bad review but it doesn't quite deserve it. It is actually quite a simple plot and very slow at times. As a matter of fact, I am suprised at the amount of good responses to this film when The Thin Red Line got shafted so bad! I was not bored for one second in TRL but I got the yawns in A Simple Plan several times. What saved this film is that when it was good it was very good. one moment I was bored, then the film would get very intense in about 3 scenes which had me on the edge of my seat. It is a bit mellow for Raimi and I don't mean to compare it to his films of horror and violence, but rather it lacked the great pacing and the "Raimi-cam" cinematography of his other films. I was amazed w/ the unoriginality of this film, it was certainly nothing new, but it had the certain amount of well done tense moments that saved it. Plus the acting was great and the soundtrack added a sense of eeriness. The symbolism of foxes, chickens, and birds was a bit overused and in your face, but metaphors I guess need to be hammered in for the more casual filmgoers. Ok, so I went to the matinee and did not feel like I wasted my money, it is definately worth a viewing, but unfortunately not one of the better films of the year as I hoped it would be.
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What an intense experience. Billy Bob flat-out rules in this flick. Paxton is the perfect Everyman caught in a situation he wants to control but can't. JJ Leigh is chilling as the evil puppetmaster wife. This movies held the audience I was in spellbound--there was none of the usual asshole chattering going on. See this movie.
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Damn. I said JJ Leigh, I meant Briget Fonda. I couldn't tell 'em apart in Single White Female either.
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Hey guys I agree that A simple Plan was awesome, but there was a part in the movie that I think Sam Raimi injected from his evil dead movies. When Bill Paxon blows away that lady with the shotgun she flies about 10 feet in the air, looks alot like the evil dead movies the goulies r blown halfway across the room.
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Yes, the FBI agent story thread seems a bit wrong. Not terribly wrong, mind you, but a bit off. It would have been much more effective if it all turned out to be paranoia (still leading into the final gunfight, mind you). Incredible film though. Normally you tend to judge films by how much you are effected directly, but in this case, my body felt nothing bar my legs, which became weaker and weaker as the film progressed. (observation: at the end of the credits, seeing again the title's handwritten font really re-inforced the film. A film where you pay not just for the two hours in the cinema, but also for all the introspection in the days after.)
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Feb 07, 1999 9:38:45 PM CST
A Simple Plan: Plot holes big enough to throw a snowplow through
by montfort
Never have I seen so many people hoodwinked into thinking a decent movie was a great one. Also, there were plot holes a-plenty.
Consider:
1. If an autopsy had been done on the dead farmer, it would've proven that he died of asphyxiation, not a snowmobile accident.
2. The brothers' story about the death of Lou and his wife wouldn't have stood up, due to the blood splattered on her face when Lou was shot by Jacob.
3. How did Sarah even begin to suspect that the FBI officer was indeed an imposter? And, how did he know to come to that area to look for the downed plane, anyway?
4. Why would the fake officer let Jacob carry his shotgun into the woods with him?
Come on, I'm smarter than that. -
First of all, I'd like to say that A Simple Plan was probably the most understated, subtle but one of the greatest pictures of 98' (same with Out of Sight). Beautiful performances on a different level from anything I've seen in a long time. Yeah, the story was simple, but it was real. These aren't steroid-taking, wise-cracking, remorseless two dimensional hollywood stereotypes. They're real frickin' people. If some people complain that the movie was, god-forbid, BORING, then go see Armageddon or Soldier or another fake, Holywood piece of crap, you great big cinematic wuss. The film shows perfectly the motivations and feelings behind every character, and not one bit seems contrived or artificial.
As for plot holes there are basically none. To reply to Montfort, 1. Why in God's name would there be an autopsy? He died of a snowmobile crash, simple as that 2. A shotgun entry creates a lot of blood. Some from her wounds could easily have gotten on her face. 3. Do you even listen? She saw a picture of the men who owned the money in a newspaper and got paranoid. She then called the FBI and confirmed that his name wasn't registered there. The FBI agent knew to look there because the two brothers had said they heard a plane there that night. 4. Everybody there carries a gun. Also there are wolves and stuff like that. They bite.
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Can't get that last scene out of my head. No movie has ever made me feel this bad.
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