Maybe along with "Fargo" there could be a new sub-genre called "Red Snow Noir", referring to blood being spilled in snow-clad areas of the Northern Midwest or in the snowy mountains. The Cohen brothers covered the terrain in a straight noir film in "Fargo". In "A Simple Plan", the snow is also stained with blood but there's a bit more character development than in Fargo. "A Simple Plan" has many interesting parallels with both "Fargo" and "Of Mice and Men". The two leads are brothers, one with high intelligence, the other not quite playing with a full deck, like "Of Mice and Men". The leads are in over their heads and end up playing a dangerous game, similar to "Fargo"."A Simple Plan" as the name implies ends up not being simple. Three Midwest guys in a small town in the upper Midwest, two of whom are brothers, Hank and Jacob (Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton) and two of whom are down on their luck, Hank and Lou (Thornton and Brent Briscoe), are driving from the brothers' annual paying respects to their father at his grave during the last days of Christmas/New Years vacation. Lou was just along for the ride. They nearly hit a fox literally robbing the hen-house, and they decide to hunt for the fox. During their pursuit they happen upon a crashed private airplane. The pilot is dead but their cargo makes their heads spin. Within the plane is $4.5 million in cash in $100 bills.Jacob and Lou begin fantasizing what they'll do with the money, and how it will help them get of out of debt. Hank, the more mature of the three, believes they should turn the money in. It seems it's two against one to take the money rather than give it to authorities. Then Hank proposes a compromise, a "plan" if you will. He will agree to divide the loot on condition they don't divvy up the money until Spring. By then they figure that things will die down, and if no one claims the money they can take it and sleep at night. That's the "simple plan".Of course as the name of the story implies, things won't be that "simple". Almost from the get-go they are hit with a metaphorical snow storm. They agree not to tell their wives but when Hank brings the loot home, he spills the beans to his pregnant wife, Sarah (Bridgette Fonda). They decide maybe they should return some of the money to the plane to curb suspicion. Hank decides to solicit the help of Jacob, but unfortunately Jacob is a wild-card. Hank tells his brother he should move the body back to its original position in the plane, but in truth he's placing some of the money back. While Jacob is guarding their car pretending they've had a flat, Hank goes back to the plane wreckage. An old man comes by the car looking for a fox. He claims that Jacob should have seen the fox but Jacob begins arguing and thinks their cover has been blown. He then bludgeons the old man. And from there everything starts to get more complicated."A Simple Plan" is a good ironic title for a very compelling film but certainly not for all tastes. It's Gothic noir in the snow, and if there's any chance Red Snow Noir could be a sub-genre, this would certainly be a viable candidate. The standout performance has to be Billy Bob Thornton as the not-so-bright brother. He doesn't know when to keep mum about the plane and the money and keeps exposing little secrets about their doings to different people. Everything he does is in character. Thornton doesn't play Jacob "too stupid" but stupid enough that the characters keep getting in deeper in the proverbial red snow. His indiscretions will have tragic consequences. This is also probably the best character-driven film directed by Sam Raimi of "Evil" Dead fame. All around an underrated film noir which is worth a second look.

Not a comedy.The media are filled with a successful multi-million dollar hostage ransom. A light airplane carrying four and a half million dollars of ransom crashes in a remote snow-covered forest in the northern Midwest. The pilot is killed. Three local friends -- the clever and educated Bill Paxton, the nice but slightly deranged Billy Bob Thornton, and the good-natured but capricious Brent Briscoe -- watch the plane disappear into the snow-laden trees. Investigating, they take note of the fact that the pilot is dead, the airplane half buried, and the suitcase with the illegal ransom would provide each of the three with, let's see, roughly one and a third million dollars apiece. That's enough for Paxton to get the hell out of Prairie Hell, enough for his brother Billy Bob, to buy back the old family homestead and start farming again, and the hard-drinking Briscoe to -- well, who knows? Suitcase in hand, the three discuss what to do with the money. Of course they should turn it over to Carl, the local sheriff. And suppose the ransomers come looking for it. But then, that's a lot of money and maybe they should keep it. Of course these paper paupers can't spend any of it in Northwoodsville for obvious reasons. Maybe Paxton, the most mentally intact of the three, should take the fortune, bury it in his back yard for a while, then exhume it when things quiet down. The idea seems sound. And it's all so simple, except that the word, as used in the title, is ironic because it's not so simple at all.I won't describe in any detail how things begin to go wrong. (Some -- a fake FBI agent -- are implausible.) Paxton brings the money home to his wife, Fonda, who doesn't believe a word of his story until Paxton dumps four million in hundred-dollar bills all over the kitchen table. Aghast, she says return it at once. But upon thinking things over, as any normal person would, she begins to sensibly question and fill in some gaps in the simple plan. Not exactly Lady MacBeth but more like an Executive Secretary with a name like Marybelle MacBeth.You have to love the way some of the dialog is written. The law officer, Carl, has heard reports of a failing airplane and is politely asking people about it. Everyone in Pinestown knows Carl and he knows everyone else, a friendly guy who's a little hard to read. He visits Paxton's house and Paxton asks, "Hi, Carl, aren't you out chasing criminals?" "Maybe," says Carl affably. There are scenes, little gems, sprinkled along the narrative. In one incident, Paxton is carrying a recorder and trying to get Briscoe to confess to killing an innocent bystander by pouring a lot of liquor into Briscoe's glass while only sipping at his own. Thornton, aware, somewhere in the crepuscular recesses of his brain, of what's up but unwilling to unmask his brother, begins taunting Paxton for only pretending to drink. It's the kind of crabwise way we might interfere with another's plans while not being entirely committed to the interference. In any case, it works and leads to homicide.I won't go on about the plot. The dialog, as I've said, is well above average. We can feel pity for the dumb Thornton as he revels tearily in the fantasy of finding a wife, reestablishing the defunct family farm, with Paxton running the farm next door and coming over to visit so the two families can hug each other and the brothers can rock on the front porch, drinking and watching the moon. There are more sad than hopeful moments.There are deaths too, and realistically rendered though with no relish whatever. Nobody's head is blown off. It's a movie made for a mature audience.

Sam Raimi's A Simple Plan works – just. There's no denying it's a gripping thriller, but it lacked one element which could have made it not just a good film – which it is – but a great film: the characters from the off are too sketchily drawn. We don't get to know them before it all kicks off and so their development – and the story's development – is taken more on trust than it should be. That's it really. Should you see it? Certainly, and you will not be disappointed. It's just that I feel it doesn't quite hang together as well as it might have done had the film been just a little longer with opening scenes establishing the four main characters more.

Let's see... we'll make a counting game. (1) Count the number of dumb and dumber people; and (2) count the dead people. I knew things were going to go deadly wrong from the beginning and figured Hank (Bill Paxton) would probably survive.Bridget Fonda cannot act. Period. That was the other thing that I hated about this film. And Billy Bob Thornton! It's as if he's saying, "Look at me! I'm ACTing!" Can't stand him either.In summary, a very predictable story. Boring. I hate it when a thriller is predictable. Watch "In The Bedroom" or "Dead Again." Now those movies are true thrillers.