User Reviews

This is not a pleasant film and you are going to have to think a little - if this doesn't sound like your type of movie, stay away! If, however, you like intelligent and peculiar film-making, then you'll probably appreciate A Simple Plan. In an effort somewhat reminiscient of Fargo meets Shallow Grave, this clever, dark, character drama explores some unpleasant ground to produce a quirky and distrubing overall result. I must admit I finished this movie feeling rather unpleasant, but struck by its intellect and striking dialogue and performances. This movie is definitely worth the price of a video. My vote 8/10

Say what you will about him, like him or hate him, you gotta admit that Raimi knows the craft. Here, he puts Hitchcock's methods to good use, decades after the master died, and creates amounts of suspense that honor his memory. The tension is thick and impossible to ignore. This is exciting and engaging, and it's completely realistic, down to earth and human, to boot. The pace is spot-on, this never outruns the viewer, in spite of being fast and tight, and so much of the relationships and past being told to us through hints, the behaviour and how situations evolve. More thrillers should be like this. This also qualifies as noir and drama. The acting is beyond reproach, there's not a single performance that is lacking, and I'd say Paxton does pretty good in a lead role. Kudos to Thornton for not turning his part into a caricature. The writing is excellent. I have not read the novel, but I would like to do so. I understand that this isn't entirely as brutal as the book, though it is disturbing, and, at times, violent. The cinematography and editing are incredible. There is some strong language in this. The story is magnificent, and develops so well throughout. Thank you, Sam, for making an effort, for not just going for the lowest common denominator, and for understanding that it was the build-up - not purely the plot twist at the end - that made Alfred, and his films, such treasure. The DVD holds a theatrical trailer. I recommend this to any fan of the director and/or anyone else who helped create it. 8/10

Two brothers & a friend from a small town in Minnesota (Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton and Brent Briscoe) happen upon a crashed plane in the woods, which contains over $4 million in cash. They assume it's drug money and hatch a simple plan to sit on the money until spring when the plane is discovered; if no one legitimately claims it they'll divvy it up. But things don't go according to plan due to idiocy, mistrust and greed. Bridget Fonda is on hand as the main protagonist's wife.

Directed by Sam Raimi before his ultra-success with the Spider-Man trilogy, "A Simple Plan" (1998) was written by Scott B. Smith based on his page-turning book of the same name (there are enough changes to make both worthwhile). The wintery Minnesota setting is fitting for the bleak psychological drama. Speaking of which, the best thing about this movie is its exploration of human nature and how "the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil," as the Bible puts it.

The movie effectively shows how basically good and normal people can be corrupted by the temptation of easy wealth; so corrupted that he or she is suddenly willing to murder, lie and connive. The story works so well because of the three well-defined characters. We've all met these types in real life: The wholesome, educated man who's not quite living up to his potential and yet is generally satisfied; the loser, screw-up who's never been with a girl even though he's in his 40s; and the annoying redneck hick.

The film runs 2 hours and was shot in Minnesota (Delano, St. Paul & Golden Valley) and Wisconsin (Ashland).

GRADE: A-

This is not the film to see if you're looking for a feel-good Hollywood anesthetic to cope with the end of the holiday season. If, however, you wish to experience a great film, then I highly recommend *A Simple Plan*. Its disturbing twist on the American dream may be too difficult for some--especially the very dark ending--but that is part of what makes the film such quality fare. Scott B. Smith's screenplay is tight and flawless. Sam Raimi's inspired direction may finally reveal to the rest of the film industry what fans of the Evil Dead trilogy have known for years: that, though his tongue is often firmly in his cheek, Raimi is a fine and grossly underrated filmmaker. Especially impressive is the way he and cinematographer Alar Kivilo approach the snow-covered landscapes. There is an immensity to the frozen wastelands of the film's crucial scenes that is almost worthy of David Lean. Also commendable is Raimi's skillful use of animals (among them crows and foxes) for symbolic purposes.

But the cast, not to be outdone by their crew, is equally notable. Billy Bob Thornton gives his best performance to date, surpassing even his award-winning role in *Sling Blade*. Bill Paxton is phenomenal as a straight-laced-family-man- turned sociopath, and Bridget Fonda's convincing portrayal of Paxton's determined wife complements him well.

Audiences at the screening I saw were commenting on the film's similarities to *Fargo* as they exited the theater, and seemed to belittle *A Simple Plan* for its lack of "originality." Granted, *A Simple Plan* is not entirely original. There are indeed vague shadows of *Fargo*, as well as *Macbeth* and Robert Frost, among others. But there is no such thing as an entirely original work, as great art is made by standing on the shoulders of giants. Make no mistake, this is NOT a cheap replay of *Fargo*. The differences are too numerous to note here, but suffice it to say that *A Simple Plan* is a great work in its own right, and deserves to be appreciated as such.

A Simple Plan is certainly not a simple film, as some reviewers here had hoped it would be. The point is not how simple life is, but how horribly wrong and out of control things can get. This film takes you to the absolute depths of human greed, desperation, and frailty. It is amazing how many evil deeds one can rationalize by believing "and then it will all be over." A Simple Plan is a great character study which makes you think of what you would do in the same situation. At what point would you draw the line? How far would you go to keep millions of dollars all to yourself? The excellent photography adds to the sense of desperation that permeates the whole film. The vast, snowbound landscape is the perfect image for the feelings the main characters have for their station in life: cold, silent, lifeless, unending, and unrelenting.

Don't watch this movie unless you are prepared to see a group of people reach the end of their rope and make a series of life-changing decisions.

A simple plan,you may compare it with shawshank redemption and believe me Frank darabont won't mind it.Because this ain't a suspense thriller but with all the things open in the story you will love it.Sometime you will be so involved in the movie that you want to give some advice to the Bill Paxton ,and yes you must not forget about the Academy award nominee performance by the Billy Bob Thornton,the real innocence you can see in him.I don't know what else people were expecting from this movie????? i am curious to know this ! and also i would love to see this movie in IMDb top 250 , I am a movie buff and guys as Baz Luhrmann asked people to trust him on sunscreen i am asking you to trust me on " A simple plan " it worths a rent of 100 $ ,i believe is one of the best of movie that i had ever seen,Best Screenplay , Superb story , Good performances,As a whole i will rate it as 10/10 .

The film deals about Hank(Bill Paxton), his loser brother Jacob(Billy Bob Thornton) and Jacob's best friend, a boozy bud named Lou(Brent Briscoe) find the wreckage of an airplane in the heavy snowy Minnesota forests. The pilot encounters dead and appear a bag filled with various million dollars in stolen money, that they think is dope cash.The trio decide to keep silence about it and Hank hold the money hidden in his house.But someone else is looking for the money, a Fed agent(Gary Cole) and the sheriff(Chelcie Ross)are investigating. Besides, the Hank's mean and pregnant spouse(Bridget Fonda)brings out the greed and soon bad things start to happen to everybody those involved.

This neo-noir story contains drama, thriller, tragedy and is quite entertaining. From the beginning to the ending, suspense and mystery is continuous. The film is plenty of twists, especially on its final part and the script is adapted from the 1993 novel by Scott Smith. The picture is well set and shot in rural small town of Delano, Minnesota. Acting by main actors is frankly excellent with special mention to Billy Bob Thornton and Bridget Fonda as the ambitious librarian wife. Suspenseful and atmospheric music score by Danny Elffman, he's Raimi's usual musician and appropriate cinematography by Kivilo . Firstly was Ben Stiller hired to direct the movie with Nicholas Gage as starring but his wage overall budget and they left , then was set Sam Raimi who made a magnificent direction. He learned techniques on filming in the snowy woods from the Cohen brothers who formerly had directed ¨Fargo¨, a story with certain similarity. Rating : Very good. Better than average. It's a ¨must see¨ for Billy Bob Thornton fans and suspense genre enthusiastic.

A Simple Plan is a film that had immense critical acclaim yet was in limited release. I was eagerly looking forward to this films release seeing as I am a huge Bill Paxton fan, but why wasn't this film in wide release? I was living in Toronto at the time and to find this film I had to go downtown to one very small art house theater. It wasn't at any of the bigger Silver City's. And that is a disappointment. Because this film is amazing. In a way ( I can't believe I'm saying this ) this film reminds me a bit of Star Wars. Only in the sense that I think there is enough intrigue and well developed characters that you could have made a trilogy and prequels out of this. Jacob could have a whole movie made about him. The characters are that rich.

The film starts off with two brothers named Hank and Jacob ( Paxton and Thorton ) and a friend named Lou( Brent Briscoe ) chasing their dog into the forest. As they get deep into the woods, they stumble onto a downed plane. It is here they find the money, the buried treasure to the tune of about 4 million dollars. At first they are talking about how rich they are and what they are going to do with the money. But it is then that Hank says that maybe they should wait a while to see if anyone comes looking for the money before they start to spend it. After all, the plane is snow covered so maybe it has been here for a while so by the end of the winter if no one comes for it, they will keep it. The other two are adamantly against that logic. " This is the American dream, " one of them says. " You work for the American dream, you don't steal it." Hank replies. Then of course all hell is about to break loose.

Suddenly people that lead their lives without much money are consumed with greed and desperation. Hank's wife Sarah, in a great performance by Bridget Fonda, says that she is tired of having to eat dessert at home when they go out for dinner. She wants to provide a nest egg for their soon to be child. Lou owes money to everybody and wants his share of the money now. Jacob wants to fix up his dads farm. The insatiable need for money is driving everyone apart. It is from here that the plot thickens and it is like the layers of an onion. Every time you peel one layer back, there is another layer to deal with, until there is nothing left. And then what happens?

This film works because it has a terrific story but it also works because of the people involved with it. I will first mention Raimi, the man responsible for directing this tangled web. He masterfully strokes every shot perfectly. He gets the feel for a small, cold winter town and he actually makes you shiver inspite of yourself. If anyone is a true horror fan they would have known that Raimi had a ( hidden ) genius. His Evil Dead films ( especially the first one ) really showed that he could direct a tight film and he did a masterful job of scaring you. And that is not easy. There are not many truly scary films out there and Evil Dead is one of them. Here he finally gets his due.

The second person I want to mention is the cinematographer. This is Alar Kivilo's first real foray into film. He has worked mostly in TV and for this to be as well photographed as it is, is a true credit to his ability. Filming in the snow adds many challenges to this aspect of film and he conquers it beautifully. There is one scene where there are a few men heading into the woods to find the plane and all we see is their footprints. This scene reminded me of a similar one in Lawrence Of Arabia. It is executed perfectly and it conveys the feeling of what the scene is supposed to represent.

As for the actors involved, as I said, I am a huge Paxton fan, just as anyone is if you like his portrayal of Chet and Hudson. And he is very good in this film. He has to play the level headed one of everyone involved and he comes across as the torn voice of reason here. But as much as I thought he was excellent in this flick, I have to say that Billy Bob Thorton blew me away. You can feel his pain. You can sense his split loyalty--friendship and brotherhood. Everything that we are supposed to see in him, we do. He really should have won a best supporting actor this year but he had the deck stacked against him seeing that he already has a statue and James Coburn, the veteran that he is, has none. Go figure. Too many politics in the academy, but anyway....

This film examines so many human issues and it asks us to make our own decisions along the way. And the sad reality is maybe we wouldn't make some of the same decisions, but maybe we would have made worse ones as well. It is a tough movie to examine, and that is what ultimately makes it brilliant.

**** Just on a side note here, I just find it amazing how the six degrees of separation works here. Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thorton have known each other for years and they worked together on a similar character study in One False Move. They also briefly had screen time together in Tombstone. ( If you can't figure out who Thornton is in that film, try thinking of Johnny Tyler. He was about 100 pounds heavier than what he is now. ) Raimi and Paxton met on the set of Indian Summer. Raimi had a small role as Stick. So it is kind of nice to see loyalty does perhaps still exist in Hollywood. And I am really glad they met and then hooked up for this project. This is a true definition of a great film.

Sam Raimi may be most at home with Horror, but his body of work in the last three decades has encompassed a variety of genres, the most intellectual of which is drama. One could argue that a Simple Plan is Raimi's smartest picture but it is not a film where we see any of his distinct auteurism. Equal credit for the film's reasonable competence goes to novelist Scott Smith, adapting his own novel for the screen.

The plot bears some close resemblance to Fargo. One could argue that A Simple Plan is a few steps ahead of the Coen Brothers. It feels far less contrived, and has a bigger heart. Fargo is cold, cynical, but definitely creative. Anyway, that is another movie

Three buddies find a plane wreck in the woods, and inside is a sack containing four million dollars. They agree to keep it hidden until they are convinced that the police are not looking for it. Sounds simple enough, but things get ugly pretty quickly.

I've never thought much for either Bill Paxton or Brigit Fonda, but A Simple Plan shows them at their best, although Billy Bob Thornton's is the most accomplished performance of the movie.

The movie is one worth seeing, it is admirable and thought provoking. There is nothing necessarily unique about it, but then again uniqueness is a rare gift for a movie to have.

Scott B. Smith's A Simple Plan puts Sam Raimi back in my book (I forgot about him for a while after he did EVil Dead and part 2) by giving a good solid thriller that can sometimes be interpreted by some as a very dark comedy. The plot (I think already stated) has 2 brothers and a friend in a winter setting, who find a plane, a plane that can change they're lives (chiching), but the cost, is something they don't even know they are going to bear. Sometimes the characters make dumb choices, but that atually makes it entertaining. The best surprise however is Billy Bob Thornton's performance because he is always good in anything he does. Good film for Raimi to have, and for the cast also. A-

(59%) A largely paint by numbers morality tale in a similar shape to the much better Fargo, featuring a good central performance from Bill Paxton and more than decent support backing him up. The premise is one of such dramatic substance and fuel for "What would you do?" type debate that even a lousy writer such as Skip Woods, or Eli Roth could squeeze at least some intrigue out. Where this does come off the rails a bit revolve around the character's decisions being clearly wrong-footed from the start. And even though the characters featured are supposed to be dimwitted, it still makes for a film that doesn't really push the premise to any real limit because the characters couldn't make more of a hash of things even if they tried. This is still an interesting, well made film, and it's worth a look, but it just doesn't quite make it as a true future classic.

Okay, granted there were some cool things in this movie that I have to give it credit for. Such as the house drinking scene that ends with some fatalities, and Thornton's character in particular. But these are overshadowed by all the bad parts of the movie.

1. Who the heck wouldn't keep $4 million that they found because of ethical reasons? Not many people, and I certainly didn't believe that Hank was one of them.

2. Why does this movie use dumb characters to make dumb decisions to complicate the plot? I realized I disliked this movie when Jacob hits the guy on the snowmobile and then Hank kills him when he realizes that the guy is still alive. Can you say "Out of character?" Why is Raimi presenting us with such a contrived scene that I've seen countless times before as if it's something ingenious that I've never seen before?

3. How can two people (Hank and his wife) go from 1 day not wanting to keep the money, to the next day not really caring too much that Hank killed a guy.

4. What stupid idea is it to go back to the crime scene?

5. Hello? Coroners can easily tell the difference between suffocation versus death by impact.

6. The snow hadn't fallen by the time the cops got to the snowmobile accident. Why didn't they figure anything out?

7. What kind of plot twist is it that the FBI agent didn't show the cop his badge? That's just BAD, BAD, BAD.

8. Wouldn't Hank have put his bullets in the gun while he was alone in the woods?

9. Can we get rid of the in-your-face animal symbolism?

10. I just don't believe that the characters we were presented with in the beginning would have done what they did throughout the movie. Yes, the point is that money corrupts people, but nowhere did I see any character development showing that. All of a sudden the characters were all doing things out of character and I was just supposed to accept it.

I thought this movie was pretty boring. Not only was the story contrived, but it didn't show me anything new at all. If you're going to pick up a contrived plot, and least do something new with it.

"A Simple Plan" immediately reminds you of "Fargo". A dull, snowy winter. Men beginning to cheat on a small scale, which then begins to escalate until it becomes out of control. And no one will *like* the ending, but it is the only ending that could make this fine film complete.

It is filmed in Minnesota in the wintertime. Two brothers come upon a small plane that has crashed. Since there have been no news reports, they rightly assume no one knows about it. There's a dead pilot inside, plus money, lots of money. Everyone knows what the 'right' thing to do is. But what will they do? What would most people do? How do attitudes change as participants begin to think of the possibilities?

The acting, especially Billy Bob Thornton, is excellent. You will watch the film without blinking. You will ask yourself, "what would I do in a similar situation?" Unless you only like light entertainment, you really need to see this film.

Edit April 2020: I own the DVD but only watch it every few years, as I did currently. My opinion of the movie has not changed since my first viewing, good movie but sometimes hard to watch.

I don't normally get squeamish about film, but this one was hard for me to watch. I knew pretty much what was going to happen. It just hurt to watch it. The plot begins with a couple of local yokels and a brother and friend, coming upon a crashed plan in the snow and finding millions of dollars. I live in rural Minnesota and that place looked like a hundred I've seen. Of course, they had that moment of "should we turn this in?" or "Should we keep it for ourselves." One look at two of these guys and there is no question which direction it's going to go. The key element is that the "sensible" one sets up a scheme by which they can put off spending the money and all be rich...at a future time. We all know what's coming. The movie is about the relationship among these three and what happens to them as a result of their simple plan. There's that old saying, "Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead," or something like that. How this movie plays out is satisfying but so hurtful to watch. In essence, we kind of like these guys. They each have their own issues, for some just plain stupidity. I gritted my teeth and watched, but I can't get it out of my thoughts.

This film is about three honest men who find a bag full of money in a rural area. Drama ensues as they try to keep it secret.

I liked it. 8/10

Pretty awesome film by Sam Raimi that is fairly different from the type of movie he usually does. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this, having never heard of it until recently. The performances of Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton were excellent and the film gives these characters moral dilemmas and decisions that are both rational and irrational. There's a Fargo-esque quality to it that shines and the pacing is just right if you ask me. By the end, there are huge consequences. For a straight-up Crime Thriller, this is a film more people need to see.

8.5/10

A good beginning gets your attention quickly in this film, but then a bit too talky for a long spell in the middle before momentum is regained. The finale is very interesting.

The story is a good illustration of what greed can do to people, and that crime does not pay. As I was watching it, I thought it was okay film but apparently was better than that because it stayed with me for a while. It's not a film you dismiss right away.

I've never been a big fan of Bill Paxton as an actor, maybe because of his stupid voice. However, I thought he did a fine job in "A Simple Plan." Billy Bob Thornton plays another interesting role, nothing new in that regard and Bridget Fonda is about as unglamorous as you'll ever see her.

This is one of those movies that is better in retrospect and I would gladly watch it again now that it's been awhile since I've seen it.

Recently, I found a copy of this movie in an old box of home video releases and watched it for the first time. All I knew about the film was my recollection of a thumbnail sketch of the story and that it had received good reviews when it first came out, almost ten years ago. Watching the TV reviews again on a website archive (Gene Siskel reviewed it two months before his death, with Roger Ebert), I was reminded of the praise for the film's acting, pacing, and "foreboding" mood. Reading the reviews on this site, I enjoyed the insights that some of them, both positive and negative, had to offer. Unfortunately, too many of the reviews, often very skimpy, went way over the top one way or the other without making any serious attempt to explain why (the movie is neither a "masterpiece" nor a "disgrace") and got bogged down in lazy, sloppy, inapt comparisons (this is not "Fargo" or "Macbeth"), trivial hang-ups (whether a character behaved exactly as the reviewer would have liked or a body flew at exactly the right angle after being shot by a rifle), and tedious platitudes ("greed is bad," "money is the root of all evil").

I saw nothing to complain about in the writing or lead performances, maybe because they were built on a strong foundation of the book (I have not read it but it has received a lot of praise). Bill Paxton does a solid job. He looks and acts persuasively his "all-American boy-next-door" role. Bridget Fonda, as his soft-on-the-surface but hard-as-nails wife, plays a terrific scene of brutal honesty about her life and conveys a merciless, misguided, blinkered sense of intelligence. The character of Paxton's brother, played by Billy Bob Thornton, shows some depth, surprises, and touches that make it much more than a stereotypical portrayal of a "retard." There is smart, honest dialogue. Some examples are Fonda telling Paxton that he would not be suspected of wrongdoing "because he is so normal," various characters calling each other on their mistakes and illusions, and Thornton confiding under stress to Paxton uncomfortable facts about his growing up and their father's demise. Contrary to the negative reviews, the movie manages to make the characters' downward spiral into ever-more disastrous events seem convincing, through its well-done set-up and depiction of them. The characters make so many mistakes because of their limitations and because the situation they face is so new and unusual to them. Of course the movie exaggerates, but it is handled well and makes a point. Its mundane ending is an interesting commentary.

On the other hand, the negative reviews are right that the film's animal imagery, especially an early, noisy, ugly scene in the crashed airplane, comes across as heavy-handed and overdone. The tone is set well enough by the deeply unhappy, going-through-the-motions characters, grim events, and daily-grind, snowy-wilderness surroundings, without having to go to excess with the ear-piercing, carrion-foraging black birds. I suppose the intended message may be that the human beings in the story, although horrified by the flesh-eating birds, become little better than them in the end. Still, the symbolism in the movie feels clumsy and distracting, rather than seamlessly enhancing the story (maybe it was handled better in the book). At times, Paxton and Thornton do not seem very believable as brothers, though to some extent their incompatibility is the point. Some supporting characters and performances, particularly the dim-witted sheriff, are weak. Gary Cole is completely wasted in the film. And the pacing gets a little forced toward the end of the movie.

It makes me uncomfortable to read simpering, simplistic, one-sided reviews, long on mindless hype and boosterism, that give a seriously flawed movie an easy pass, make no attempt to come to grips with its problems or, worse, try to dump on anyone who points them out, as with the lazy, unintelligent flicking of the "not helpful" button on others. Such reviews offer little or nothing of value and only contribute to the impression that moviegoers are suckers. But it also bothers me to read hatchet-job reviews that become so self-indulgent in coming up with supposedly clever put-downs and in heaping on the vitriol that they show no appreciation for what the film does, or attempts to do, well in individual scenes and in its larger design. Sometimes they read as if they were based on preconceived, surface-level, gut-driven reactions formed without even watching the movie very well or at all, which can make them completely worthless and a waste of everyone's time. Unduly negative reviews can give as false an impression about what is on the screen as overly positive ones. Overall, A Simple Plan is a well-acted, well-written, well-paced movie with some real intelligence.

A SIMPLE PLAN is one of the most overrated films of all time. The fact that some actually view this film as a serious piece of film-making is truly amazing. Everything about this film is artificial: the characters, the acting, the plot, etc. Usually, genre films can get away with such an artificial feel because they mostly deal with things that don't necessarily exist in real life (zombies, monsters, deformed superheroes, etc) but when you transpose the same techniques used in genre films and apply them to actual human beings living in reality, well, the thing becomes forced and artificial. And this is what the folks responsible for this film, whom have experience in making mostly genre films, have done here. I didn't believe this story for one second throughout the entire film. The characters were amazingly stupid. The "McGuffin" story was uninspired and filled with plot-holes so big that you can fly a jumbo jet through them. And the acting, except for BBT, was unconvincing, certainly Paxton and Fonda playing a couple. Talk about zero chemistry.

But what's really annoying about A SIMPLE PLAN is that it's supposed to be a tragedy of sorts and yet the filmmakers obviously didn't want to make the film too gloomy and depressing as to turn off most of the audience. The end product is saddled with a conflicting and contradicting style/tone. It plays like a harmless & bland TV movie, and yet it strives to be John Sayles or Terence Mallick kind of film with its monolithic seriousness.

There's only one word to describe A SIMPLE PLAN: labored.