I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Titled with black irony, "A Simple Plan" plays out fairly directly. A few guys happen upon a downed plane and its millions and decide not to turn it in. And for a lot of its running time, I was left shaking my head at their decisions. It was never going to work. But the slow burn ignited with a series of incredibly effective twists and turns. The screws kept turning, mistrust lurking behind every corner and it really became a wicked guessing game.The real surprise is that the shock ending comes not with a gunshot, but with a few words. A profoundly bleak finish.7/10

When three blue collar acquaintances in Minnesota come across millions of dollars in lost cash they make a plan to keep their find from the authorities but find complications and mistrust weaving its way into their plan.Sam Raimi saw "A Simple Plan" as an opportunity to direct a character-driven story that differed from his earlier works, which were highly stylized or dependent on intricate camera movements. This plan seems to have worked. All the markings of a Raimi film are gone, and it helped him move beyond being the "Evil Dead" guy.Filming took place in Ashland, Wisconsin, where most of the film's exterior shots, and the road and woods near where the characters find the plane, were shot. As a Wisconsin native, this makes me happy and gives the film a slightly more personal touch. Granted, Ashland is far off the beaten path, but still part of the great state.Billy Bob Thornton is endearing, sort of a mentally disabled Barney Fife. His being recognized by critics is no surprise, as this is easily his best role (perhaps even more than "Sling Blade"). Fewer people have commented on Bridget Fonda, but they should. She is the grounding of the film, and this is a great departure for those who know her from such things as "Jackie Brown".

(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.

One of Sam Raimi's better films, "A Simple Plan" finds a group of Midwesterners stumbling upon a Pandora's box of ransom money out in the woods. Like John Huston's "Treasure of The Sierra Madre", or Erich von Stroheim's "Greed", the greed of our covetous heroes quickly mounts. They concoct increasingly elaborate plans to keep the found money, but these plans degenerate into several farcical murders.At its best, "A Simple Plan" watches as ordinary, happy families fall prey to temptation. At its worst, the film eschews plausible tragedy for incredulous noir violence. The film stars a fine Bill Paxton and an overacting Billy Bob Thornton. With its wintry locales and vein of black humour, the film has been compared to the Coen Brothers' "Fargo". The Coens wrote and edited a number of Raimi's own early features.7.9/10 – See "The Drop" and "The Lookout".