Review of A Simple Plan (1998) by R.c. K — 06 Sep 2007

Offhand, I'd say this is the only "normal" Sam Raimi movie that ever interested me. I've notoriously had an affection for the man's work since first seeing Army of Darkness about twelve or thirteen years ago, and even more so after moving into its prequels in subsequent years (Evil Dead was the last film to truly creep me out and scare me, or at least the second to last).

A Simple Plan, though, is not a 'scary' movie--certainly not in the horrific sense especially. It's about a group of men in a small town who find $4,400,000 in a crashed plane in the woods--and it's about the effect that kind of money has on people and their actions.

Unsurprisingly, the film was very well put together by Raimi, and the performances from Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton were also unsurprising in their excellence. Billy Bob once again climbs fully into a character and develops a whole new set of movements and speech patterns that perfectly match his character and disguise him as much as he can be. Paxton has one of his few-and-far-between "normal" roles--looking back at Aliens, Near Dark, and One False Move he is always imbued with an excess of energy and a lot of extra emotion. Here he pulls off a person like any of us so perfectly that the exquisiteness is actually highlighted by his normality.

The relationships between Jacob and Hank (Billy Bob and Bill) as well as Hank's wife (Bridget Fonda) and their friend Lou (Brent Briscoe) develop quite realistically, some seeing the money as purely fortuitous coincidence to take advantage, some holding to their morals as best they can--and occasionally revealing themselves as the most unscrupulous and greedy. It's utterly fascinating to see how everyone deals with it, what their motivation is and what they will do to hold onto everything.

Things, naturally, spin out of control, but the spin is controlled and logical (or at least sensical in light of the characters) and holds up perfectly throughout.

The most surprising star, though, was Danny Elfman's score, with a recurring melody of slightly off-key, off-kilter notes that convey the moral slope the characters find themselves choosing whether or not to slide down. Brilliant, subtle and unrecognizable as Danny--which is a good thing here, his quirky Boingo-y work for most Tim Burton films would have been wholly inappropriate, even if quite good--the score fits perfectly with the film.

Throw in a small role for Gary "Buck...with a B" Cole, and you've got a damn solid film going.

One I did later realize I had, in fact, seen part of before. But no matter, it held my interest anyway. Definitely a worthwhile 4.88--even if the only extra was the trailer (which should be mandatory anyway)--but that was in nice condition and in widescreen, two things most DVDs can't seem to accomplish, even with similarly aged (occasionally even newer!) films.

EDIT: I also just read that Ben Stiller was originally attached to direct. Thank crap that fell through. Ugh. (2/12/06).