A Simple Plan

3

When I think of this film, I always imagine seeing it way before I actually did. I can actually picture myself sitting in a movie theater in the former Carousel Mall in Syracuse, NY enjoying another indie crime thriller… But, no, this movie didn’t come out until 1998, well after my time in that space and time. Which makes me realize I’m the victim of some sort of false memory, overlaying the movie Alive on top of this one. A film I definitely saw in that theater during the right timeframe, and whose only similarity to this film is a downed plane into and out of which which a person or persons climb. There is absolutely no cannibalism in this film. Nor is there a duffle bag of money in Alive. It’s weird how the brain works. Whatever tricks my mind is playing on me, watching this film in 2026 definitely refreshed both my enjoyment of and my frustrations with a pretty uneven viewing experience.

I have a theory of the case here. And it comes down to the A Simple Plan’s director, Sam Raimi. A dude known mostly for his Evil Dead series and his run as Marvel’s first solution to the Spider-Man conundrum. He’s used to big action set pieces and crazy CGI and special effects and all sorts of wacky camera movements and just general cartoonish zaniness. Including in his latest film from this year, Send Help. This is so not that kind of movie. It’s a straight-up, gritty crime noir. A heist movie without a heist. Essentially it’s an American version of another movie I originally loved and recently revisited, Danny Boyle’s Shallow Grave. A simple, human tale that banks on nuance, character development and attention to detail. None of which is typically where we see Raimi live. And, yes, I know the author of the novel also wrote the screenplay, but just because you can write a book doesn’t mean you can create a cohesive and continuity-heavy visual tale that hangs together in a realistic way. When realism and human nature is mostly what’s needed. I think what I’m getting at here is that maybe hiring the guy who, up until this point, generally does wacky horror comedy and superhero action stuff that doesn’t really have to make sense wasn’t the best person to hire to make humans feel like real humans.

Again, this is a simple story (as the title might tell you). Brothers Hank (Bill Paxton) and Jacob (Billy Bob Thornton) — because what else are you going to name brothers but Henry and Jake — live in middle-of-nowhere Minnesota, and one day when chasing their dog into the woods with Jacob’s stupid, drunk friend, Lou (Brent Briscoe), they discover a small, private plane with $4.4 million in a duffel bag inside. This spurs a conversation about where they think the cash came from and what to do with it. Hank has a relatively comfortable, but un-fancy, life as an accountant at a feed business and is married to a very pregnant Sarah (Bridget Fonda). Jacob, on the other hand, is an unemployed layabout, characterized as not quite intellectually disabled like his character in Sling Blade, but certainly not exactly tipping the IQ scale. He’s simple, I guess you’d say. Lou is the town drunk asshole who seemingly tries to pull Jacob into his nonsense whenever possible. And, like any of these types of movies, it’s all about the corrupting power of the money and how it will both bind these men together because of their secret haul and tear them apart because that’s just what money does. You know shit is going to go sideways, and it certainly does.

And things go on from there. Lou, the drunk asshole, acts like a drunk asshole. Hank acts like a responsible accountant until he doesn’t. And sweet, pregnant Sarah becomes a monster. And poor Jacob just kinda does what dummies do and lets himself get manipulated by everyone. The cops close in and Sarah, who is the town librarian, uses her look-up skillz to figure out whose money this is and how to avoid getting caught with it. Without the help of ChatGPT, or even the Internet, because this is 1998. And you know someone is going to come looking for that cash. The cops, the feds, the bad guys. Everyone lies and turns on one another and Jacob just wants to live on the farm he was raised on, but that happy ending ain’t in the cards. These are people who drink milk with their spaghetti dinner, for god’s sake. They’re all monsters! Anyhow, the issue I have is that this should be a taught thriller. And while there is certainly tension, some of it is undone by Bill Paxton’s inability to meter the tone and volume of his performance — not to be undone by Fonda’s equally shaky acting chops — and Raimi’s seeming inability to nudge little details into place and keep the continuity going.

If you read the Internet — and who doesn’t — you’d think this is among Paxton’s best acting jobs. I say bullshit. His was best playing a lunkheaded, comedic dufus like in Weird Science and Aliens. That’s Bill Paxton at his best. This is… Paxton trying to act. And when he tries to act it’s obvious he’s trying to act. And maybe I just have an allergy to his style. Or maybe people just like Paxton — and I do too — and because of that, they may go easy on him. He’s generally not a great actor. Him getting frustrated with Billy Bob’s character feels like there’s an acting coach right off screen trying to coach him through what it means to be upset. Or maybe he’s just Midwestern and this is what that looks like. I don’t know. I don’t think anyone ever confused Fonda for a good actress. She’s serviceable here, but the movie could have benefitted from a stronger performance. She is really the person who does the biggest heel turn, and it’s tough to buy her as conniving or manipulative. Verging on evil. Also, the writing of her character is not great. Even if they did have a stronger actress in the role, her transformation happens abruptly and without much, if any, build up. It’s jarring and unrealistic. But I supposed acts as yet another pressure point on Hank and an inciting element in the spiral toward chaos.

Again, details. There is a dude who shows up at one point claiming to be an F.B.I. agent (Gary Cole). Both Hank and Sarah doubt he’s really an agent. The cops weirdly don’t check to make sure he’s legit. And rather than Hank just asking to see Gary’s badge — and there’s sooo much conjecture over whether he has a badge or not — Sarah just “calls the F.B.I.” to ask about him. Like picks up the phone and maybe dials 411 to ask for the number for the F.B.I. No idea what branch office, no real clue anything about the dude. But I guess her librarian skills are so strong that she can just kinda yada-yada shit like that. Seems like a script issue that nobody just does the simple thing and says, “Hey, Gary, you got a badge I can see and a supervisor I can call to confirm some things?” Then there’s a whole thing where everyone ends up with guns and you have your typical shootout and whatnot. But I swear the guns that each person has — or at least one in particular — changes with no explanation. Most likely an oddball continuity error. And the finale. I won’t spoil it, but suffice it to say that author and screenwriter, Scott. B. Smith, must be a big Of Mice and Men fan. A book I’ve admittedly never read, but know the ending just because. But this version of that, in retrospect, makes no sense. I mean, it makes sense, but it also makes no sense other than in the context of a movie. It’s hard to explain without completely spoiling it, but I’m telling you that you’ll at first be like, Wow, that’s dramatic! And then, after the credits roll, you’ll be like, wait a second… why did that have to happen? Did they just do this to give Paxton his Oscar moment? Nah, couldn’t be. Maybe? I don’t think I can give them that much credit. And it didn’t work for him.

There are a bunch of other inconsistencies and dialog glitches — at one point Hank asks his brother and Lou “You’re going to start drinking now?” despite the fact they’ve literally been drinking in front of him the whole scene leading up to the question. Uh… People are told to bring their guns in scenes where nobody should be bringing guns, but those guns need to be there to move the plot forward. There’s this farm formerly owned by the boys’ parents, which would clearly be repossessed and owned by the bank, but isn’t owned by the bank… When you burn stuff in a fireplace, it definitely doesn’t dispose of all the evidence of that thing’s existence. Anyway, there are just a bunch of nonsensical things that add up to a bunch of nonsense that you could ignore in a louder, typical Sam Raimi film. It would be covered up by screaming skulls and severed hands and overwhelming noise. But in this, a way more subtle, quiet affair, the wonkiness is way more glaring. And I have to believe that because this was written by the book’s author, the issues mostly lie elsewhere. In the direction and editing. Or maybe I’m just nit-picking like I usually do. I did enjoy Billy Bob, despite having to stare at his nasty grill and odd-shaped skull the whole time. His level of intelligence also seemed to bob and weave a bit, but he really inhabited the role and played it to the hilt. He was nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actor, so I suppose someone agrees with me there. The screenplay was also nominated, so there’s no accounting for taste. Whatever the case, it’s still a decent movie. Just one that could have been so much better with perhaps a slightly different approach and perhaps a couple different actors. We’ll never know — until someone decides this one is ripe for a re-make come 2028.