A Simple Plan
Composite Score: 81.53
Starring: Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, Bridget Fonda, Brent Briscoe, Chelcie Ross, and Gary Cole
Director: Sam Raimi
Writer: Scott B. Smith
Genres: Crime, Drama, Thriller
MPAA Rating: R for violence and language
Box Office: $16.32 million worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
A Simple Plan is a story about the corruptive power of money with the simple message, “Crime doesn’t pay.” It features a predictable but resonant story about three small-town guys who find a large sum of cash in a crashed plane and decide to keep it. The negative impact of this sudden windfall on their lives plays out in inevitable and gory detail over the film’s two-hour runtime, culminating in the deaths of most of the people involved. A Simple Plan provides an original take on the American Dream and a damning look at money’s ability to corrupt even the seemingly incorruptible.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
This film is bleak. Most of the main characters die in increasingly tragic ways, and even the survivors are left less innocent and dissatisfied than they were when the film began. It is by no means a casual or easy watch for anyone. While the film’s message is important and even resonant, watching as much tragedy as this film contains can wear on the mind and emotions very easily. If you are not in a great headspace, this film should probably not be anywhere near your must-watch list, just to give a heads-up.
For the most part, this film’s acting leaves a little to be desired. Billy Bob Thornton does fine as the dumb brother Jacob, and his is perhaps the most emotionally moving performance but a good portion of his acting in the first act feels phoned-in. Bill Paxton feels fairly one note in his portrayal of Hank, especially in the voiceover narrations at the beginning and end of the film, and his lack of defining characteristics beyond being well-liked by the people of his town makes him a difficult protagonist to connect with despite the everyman nature of his character. Bridget Fonda does little to justify the many violent turns that her character takes in the film, and perhaps that is just her interpretation of how a pregnant woman would react in the scenario, but again it’s just alright.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
Raimi’s takes on the themes of consequences for crimes and what it means to live the American Dream are interesting and compelling. From the first discovery of the money in a crashed airplane, the director makes it clear that bad things will come if the men decide to keep the money, using ravens/crows as birds of omen surrounding the clearing, signifying the deaths to come. The deaths of two of the men after deciding to take the money, along with the death of the criminal who comes to reclaim it and the lack of use for the money at the very end of the film provide a fitting form of karmic, if violent, justice for the newly minted criminals. Jacob is perhaps the most tragic of these, viewing the world from a more innocent good and evil perspective, he notes before the end that he “feels evil” about the things that they have done, making his tragic end all the worse. At the same time, the film’s continued exploration of poverty and the American Dream within the search for wealth also compels deeper thought. All three men who find the money are by no means wealthy. Jacob goes from job to job due to whatever mental condition he has, living alone in a dingy apartment with a dog and a dream of reopening his family’s farm and perhaps settling down and getting married and having some kids. Lou is the unemployed town drunk who owes many people money and whose wife works for a living and often gets into heated arguments with him. Hank is perhaps the most successful with a wife, a baby on the way, a steady job, and a house that he owns, but none of these are at their finest, as his wife reminds him later on in the film. Each of these men is pursuing the American Dream, and Paxton’s Hank even mentions it when Lou first suggests keeping the money, saying that the dream is something you work for, not steal. Hank’s voiceover from the beginning of the film is recalled in the end when he realizes that he did in fact have everything that he needed and could want before he found the money, playing on a deeper theme – that money is inherently corrupting. Without the money, Hank, Jacob, and Lou would never have done any of the other deplorable things they do throughout the film.
Compelling themes and solid story-work create the framework for a Great Film in A Simple Plan. Despite hit-and-miss acting and a tough-to-stomach story, the film works and offers a nuanced look at the American Dream, the dangers of wealth, and the karmic nature of criminal activity. If you are looking for a dark crime thriller where criminals don’t win out in the end, A Simple Plan might just be the Great Film that you are looking for.
