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A Simple Plan (1998)

posted 12 years ago by Red_Identity
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Having heard some recent comparisons to Fargo, I had somewhat of an idea of what the film would be like. And I wasn't wrong. But that doesn't make the film any less effective. If anything, its more straight-forward tone and lack of humor (as much as a lack of humor can exist in some of these situations) works because it places emphasis on the circumstantial events that follow an act of sin. It brings forth that wide-known truth that with a small lie comes more and more lies, bigger and bigger lies. The film's script is exquisite and magnificently developed all around, and its probably one of the finest scripts of the 90s. The entire cast is aces, but it's Billy Bob Thornton that provides the film's heart and true emotional center. He's brilliant in this and he steals the spotlight from anyone else when he's on screen.

This is the first time I've seen Raimi outside a blockbuster genre film and I don't think his directorial flair is present here, but that's a good thing because I certainly wasn't sure how it would translate with a film like this. By the end I realized this was a sort of minor masterpiece and it's a shame that it's not nearly as popular as it should be.
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Anyone else love that in the last act it was obvious that either possibility when it came to the FBI guy was possible? Him NOT being FBI would serve as a standard, more normal and sort of "popular" way to close a thriller (the bad guy), but then him ACTUALLY being FBI would also serve in tone with the rest of the film, with them screwing everything up. I actually think both were equally possible and so I had no idea which of the two directions the film would go in. I do think its point was to make us think (because the whole film followed the "screw up" formula) that he WOULD be FBI and thus they would kill an innocent man. And so it still surprised me that they didn't make him that but it also makes sense.

Oh, and love how the actual one you end up not liking in the end is Sarah. What a piece of work lol, and I love how before she's saying she would never take that money and when she sees it in front of her she can't resist. Perfectly realistic

And I actually think it might be better than Fargo in all honesty.

KUDOS to Matt Fincher for reminding me that Raimi had other films

I knocked a kid out. 1 Month Suspension, you're all pussiess- Matt Fincher on why only he's tough

[–] squodge 12 years ago

From the novel:

Hank & Jacob aren't even with Carl and Neal Baxter (FBI impostor). Jacob is already dead by that point (killed in cold blood by Hank).

Hank has to take care of Mary Beth (Jacob's dog), and the poor dog misses his dead owner. So Hank asks Carl for a pistol so he can put the dog down (therefore he doesn't need to steal it, unlike in the film).