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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
67
$9.99
75
24 City
66
Adoration
74
Afghan Star
48
Alien Trespass
56
American Violet
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57
Away We Go
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
62
Big Man Japan
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55
Brothers Bloom, The
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx
Call of the Wild
63
Cheri
62
Cherry Blossoms
63
Dead Snow
65
Departures
18
Downloading Nancy
58
Easy Virtue
70
End of the Line, The
77
Every Little Step
64
Examined Life
80
Food, Inc.
38
Gigantic
56
Girl from Monaco, The
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
87
Gomorrah
89
Goodbye Solo
63
Great Buck Howard, The
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx
Home
82
Hunger
91
Hurt Locker, The
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
81
Il Divo
54
Is Anybody There?
71
Jerichow
58
Julia
74
Lemon Tree
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
40
Limits of Control, The
42
Little Ashes
64
Lymelife
50
Management
57
Merry Gentleman, The
66
Moon
35
New York
62
Not Forgotten
xx
Offshore
78
O'Horten
64
Outrage
40
Paris 36
54
Pontypool
71
Pressure Cooker
52
Quiet Chaos
83
Revanche
67
Rudo y Cursi
86
Seraphine
65
Sex Positive
70
Shall We Kiss?
77
Sin Nombre
59
Sleep Dealer
74
Song of Sparrows, The
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
82
Sugar
84
Summer Hours
61
Sunshine Cleaning
28
Surveillance
42
Tennessee
63
Tetro
64
Throw Down Your Heart
80
Tokyo Sonata
63
Tokyo!
70
Tony Manero
74
Treeless Mountain
88
Tulpan
74
Two Lovers
83
Tyson
83
U2 3D
60
Under Our Skin
69
Unmistaken Child
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
22
What Goes Up
45
Whatever Works
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
91
Hurt Locker, The
89
Goodbye Solo
88
Tulpan
87
Gomorrah
86
Seraphine
84
Summer Hours
83
U2 3D
83
Revanche
83
Tyson
82
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
82
Sugar
82
Hunger
82
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
81
Il Divo
81
Beaches of Agnes, The
80
Food, Inc.
80
Tokyo Sonata
79
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
78
Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
78
O'Horten
77
Every Little Step
77
Sin Nombre
75
24 City
74
Treeless Mountain
74
Afghan Star
74
Two Lovers
74
Song of Sparrows, The
74
Lemon Tree
71
Pressure Cooker
71
Jerichow
70
Shall We Kiss?
70
Tony Manero
70
End of the Line, The
69
Valentino: The Last Emperor
69
Unmistaken Child
67
$9.99
67
Rudo y Cursi
67
Girlfriend Experience, The
66
Adoration
66
Moon
65
Sex Positive
65
Departures
64
Outrage
64
Examined Life
64
Throw Down Your Heart
64
Lymelife
63
Tokyo!
63
Cheri
63
Dead Snow
63
Tetro
63
Great Buck Howard, The
62
Cherry Blossoms
62
Big Man Japan
62
Not Forgotten
61
Sunshine Cleaning
60
Under Our Skin
59
Sleep Dealer
58
Julia
58
Easy Virtue
57
Away We Go
57
Merry Gentleman, The
57
Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love
56
Girl from Monaco, The
56
American Violet
55
Brothers Bloom, The
54
Is Anybody There?
54
Pontypool
54
Stoning of Soraya M., The
52
Quiet Chaos
50
Management
48
Alien Trespass
45
Whatever Works
42
Little Ashes
42
Tennessee
40
Limits of Control, The
40
Paris 36
38
Gigantic
36
Life is Hot in Cracktown
35
New York
28
Big Shot-Caller, The
28
Surveillance
22
What Goes Up
18
Downloading Nancy
16
I Hate Valentine's Day
xx
Call of the Wild
xx
Home
xx
Offshore
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Simple Plan, A
Paramount Pictures
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for violence and language
Starring
Bill Paxton,
Bridget Fonda,
Billy Bob Thornton,
Brent Briscoe,
Jack Walsh,
Chelcie Ross,
Becky Ann Baker,
and
Gary Cole
Captivated by the lure of sudden wealth, the quiet rural lives of two brothers (Paxton, Thornton) erupt into conflicts of greed, paranoia and distrust when over four million dollars in cash is discovered at the remote site of a downed small airplane. (Paramount Pictures)
| GENRE(S): |
Suspense/Thriller
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Scott B. Smith (also novel)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Sam Raimi
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: June 22, 1999
Video: February 1, 2000
Theatrical: December 11, 1998
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
121 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
France / Germany / Japan / UK / USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
But [Raimi]'s instructed his fabulous Style to take a hike, and, working from Scott Smith's brilliantly reconfigured script from Smith's own (much darker) novel, delivers a piece that is severe and disciplined in its evocation of the cold terrors of fate.
100
Washington Post
Michael O'Sullivan
With elegant, clockwork construction, Smith has transplanted his novel of greed, betrayal and getting what you deserve to the screen, where it is told by director Sam Raimi with a spareness befitting the whiteness of its snowed-in setting.
100
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
Lean, elegant, and emotionally complex -- a marvel of backwoods classicism.
100
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
One of the year's best films for a lot of reasons, including its ability to involve the audience almost breathlessly in a story of mounting tragedy.
100
LA Weekly
Manohla Dargis
In one of the sweetest ironies of the entire film year, Sam Raimi has made an A-movie with the soul of a B-movie classic.
90
New Times (L.A.)
Bill Gallo
Money Can't Buy You Happiness. It hasn't been this vividly re-examined in decades, and we're the richer for it.
90
Film.com
Robert Horton
An unleashed Raimi may be a more exciting moviemaker, but there's something to be said for the virtues of a good story well told, which describes A Simple Plan down to its last shivery snowflake.
90
Salon.com
Charles Taylor
Holds us in a state of horrified empathy.
90
The New York Times
Elvis Mitchell
When you get the shivers watching this wintry tale unfold, it won't be from the cold.
90
Village Voice
J. Hoberman
As straightforward in narrative as it is gut-wrenching in effect, A Simple Plan is a sort of slow-motion skid down an icy blacktop— it's a movie you watch with a mounting sense of dread...[It's] an extremely credible thriller and an affecting brother-story.
88
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
It's a Master "Plan."
88
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
The characters are at the heart of A Simple Plan, and the gruesome complexity of their interaction elevates this film to the level of a midwinter treat.
88
Chicago Tribune
Mark Caro
Generates genuine tension because it's propelled by actual human feeling, which, these days, turns out to be a surprisingly thrilling prospect. [11 Dec 1998]
88
USA Today
Mike Clark
The plan in A Simple Plan grows exponentially complex once the first dollar is purloined, an act that makes this unpretentious parable one of the season's better 'what's-going-to-happen-next?' movies.
80
Los Angeles Times
Jack Matthews
The role of Jacob is greatly expanded from the book, and the unsatisfying way that Smith and Raimi resolve the brothers' relationship in the movie is the only major change--major compromise--made in transporting the novel to the screen.
80
Film.com
Sean Means
What makes A Simple Plan an exciting, thoughtful thriller isn't the plot twists, but the twists and turns of Hank's tortured conscience as one lie leads to bigger and deadlier deceits.
80
Variety
Glen Lovell
The key differences are in emphasis and tone: “Fargo” is deadpan noir; A Simple Plan, with Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton as Mutt and Jeff siblings, is a more robust Midwestern Gothic that owes as much to Poe as Chandler.
80
Film Threat
Ron Wells
Thornton's Jacob initially comes across as the love child of Elmer Fudd and Butthead, but ends up as the best role he's ever had.
80
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Joshua Klein
Both simplifies and brings into focus the already simple and effective thriller.
78
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
It's not perfect -- Thornton's slack-jawed yokel Jacob is played a bit wide of the mark and Fonda continues to irk in some indefinable way -- but it's a revelation for longtime Raimi fans. And it's a hell of a ride too, for both Raimi fans and newcomers alike.
75
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Sensitive performances and intelligent storytelling keep the sometimes-violent tale involving from start to finish, marking a giant step for director Raimi, previously known for action stories and over-the-top fantasies.
75
San Francisco Chronicle
Edward Guthmann
[Raimi]'s drawn lovely, complex performances from Paxton and Thornton and proven that he can work effectively -- and movingly -- in a minor emotional key.
75
San Francisco Examiner
Walter Addiego
Works a familiar mine and produces more than a few nuggets. It's a good tonic, if one's still needed, for '80s-style cynicism: Greed is not good.
70
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
Their downward spiral is like a slow-motion highway pileup: You might think you don't want to watch, but you can't tear your eyes away.
60
Newsweek
David Ansen
There's something decidedly mechanical about this intermittently gripping movie's bleak view of human nature.
60
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
The script dawdles, and in spite of a good cast--Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton (who's especially resourceful), Bridget Fonda, and Brent Briscoe--the movie tends to amble around its points rather than drive straight toward the heart of the matter.
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Rick Groen
But the stuff looks like what it is -- trite imagery grafted over the narrative barrens, like a bad weave on a balding pate.
30
Time
Richard Schickel
There's neither intricacy nor surprise in the narrative, and these dopes are tedious, witless company. Mostly you find yourself thinking, "How long until dinner?"
 The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 11 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
P CLASS="usercomment">Pat C. gave it a 9:
Look up "cautionary tale" in the dictionary and this film should be named. The story documents what happens when honesty is not instinctive. Like a hit & run accident, once you run you can't simply return and avoid the consequences. The characters are trapped in their initially innocent indiscretion as its implications magnify into a vast and all-encompassing doom. Filmed in the gunmetal color of a lonely winter, the artistry of the film confirms that there is a moral winter as well, and both threaten to never end. In terms of implementing the storys' vision, the entire cast is on board. While the story does not need one, its breadth would be greater if a more righteous character was integral to the plot, but at face value and in its art, the presentation asserts that no such person moves in the circles these people frequent. We are abandoned with the lonely feeling that it is not only money but social corruption that falls from the sky onto the unwary. This movie suffers only in that no character ever really gets it. They are living a tragedy of Shakespearian proportions, but there is no soliloquy, no tangential admission such as "Always tell the truth - there's less to remember," just a vague and unenlightened Aw Shucks regret. One suspects, should the opportunity for aggrandizement repeat itself, that the lesson has not been learned - the decay is just too deep. It might be a more palatible film if it warned you to not stick your hand in the fire, but it simply grabs it and sticks it in there, then tip-toes away, leaving you to figure out what you should do in the future.
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