FILM: A Simple Plan

DIRECTOR: Sam Raimi

YEAR: 1998

WATCHED ON: BBC iPlayer

DATE WATCHED: 23-March-2024

FIRST VIEWING: Yes

SPOILERS AHEAD: No

Somehow I’d got this far in life without ever seeing this film. I’d seen the video box before. I recognised the thumbnail on iPlayer certainly, but I’d never seen it on tv. I was looking for something to watch and saw that it was directed by Sam Raimi (Spider-Man, Evil Dead, and many others!), and it starred Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, and Bridget Fonda. Fantastic! Watching it brought me back to a feeling of renting videos with my mum when I was little. It could maybe be described as a cozy feeling?

The plot was excellent, and the setting was right up my alley. A few guys in a rural area (Minnesota, I think) are poking around the woods, which is covered in a thick layer of snow, when they find a crashed plane. After having a look inside they find two things: a corpse and a bag full of cash. A lot of cash. After a discussion they agree to hold on to it for a length of time, and if no one comes looking for it (of course someone comes looking for it) they’ll divide it and keep it. But before that length of time comes up, the darker elements of human nature has kicked in. Theres paranoia, blackmail, threats, violence. Plenty of tension.

Very much in the vein of Fargo, the film is a about greed and the corrupting power of money in a snow covered landscape. Theres dark comedy, but there’s also violence. It is not a cheerful film. I’ll probably watch it again, to be honest. Bill Paxton, sadly, rarely got the lead role, and he shines in this as an absolutely believable tired accountant (ha-ha!).

Highly recommended. Its currently on iPlayer as of the 12th April 2024.