A Simple Plan (4½ Stars)

It's difficult to allocate this film to any specific film genre. Wikipedia calls it a neo-noir crime thriller. I don't think that's an accurate description, but I'm unable to make a better suggestion. It's a treatise on human nature and the way people are affected by greed.

On New Year's Eve the brothers Jakob and Hank Mitchell (pictured above), together with Jacob's friend Lou Chambers, are driving in the thick snow of Minnesota. Their car hits a tree when they swerve to avoid a fox. The fox is carrying a chicken, obviously stolen from a nearby farm, so they follow it into the woods to shoot it. They find a crashed plane, almost covered by the snow. The pilot is dead, and there's a bag containing $4.4 million dollars in cash.

The three men discuss the morality of keeping the money for themselves. It isn't stealing if the owner's dead, is it? Taking money from a dead man is a victimless crime. Besides that, only drug smugglers carry such large amounts of money by plane, so by taking the money they're making sure it's not put to bad use, meaning they're doing the community a service.

Hank is the most cautious of the three. He says that he'll keep the money at home until spring to see if anyone comes looking for it. If not, he'll divide the money into three, and they should all leave town. Suddenly becoming rich among their friends and neighbours would raise suspicion.

They swear to one another not to tell anyone, not even their wives, but they can't keep a secret. Hank and Lou tell their wives. Jacob isn't married. It's fascinating to see how money changes people. For instance, Hank's wife Sarah starts out by saying the money should be given to the police, but after seeing it with her own eyes she's determined to keep it to make a new start in their married life.

Lou is impatient. He's unemployed and deep in debt, so he wants his share of the money immediately. Jacob can wait for the money, but he doesn't want to leave town, because he's lived there all his life. Problems are caused by the stress of the money. Friends and families begin to argue. They act stupidly. Early in the New Year Hank is forced to kill to keep the money secret. The pressure is driving all three men mad.

The acting is excellent by all of the main characters, but the one who stands out is Billy Bob Thornton as Jacob. He was nominated for an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor. Unlike Hank, a college graduate, Jacob is simple minded and socially awkward. Hank might have the greater intelligence, but Jacob has a strong conscience. Initially he was tempted to keep the money, just like the others, but when people begin to die he says the price is too high and he wants to give himself in to the police. Hank persuades him not to, because all three would be arrested, so he refrains in order to protect his brother.

Despite its critical acclaim, "A Simple Plan" was a box office failure. Not enough action? Too much psychology? Or maybe it's just that the film hits too close to home. It exposes the viewer's greed, a side of himself that he likes to deny.

Success Rate:  - 1.0

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