Lissa (Reese Witherspoon) accuses Bryce (Josh Brolin) of rape, and then the film unfolds in interesting ways as we see how Nick (Alessandro Nivola) plays a part in her past and their future.The film relies on the universal desires for love, sex and money. Bryce just wants to get laid, Lissa pretty much just wants love but Nick wants both love and money. His plans to get that money get in the way of other dead-end criminals also wanting money. As the film's title suggests, no plans go quite as according to plan. The various twists in getting the plans foiled weren't particularly ingenious but they were well done. I never quite knew what was coming next, but I always wanted to find out. A crime drama thriller with some crimes but minimal violence, and although it seems a bit slow there is enough intrigue to keep the suspense level, or at least interest, up."Best Laid Plans" stars three great actors at the beginning of their careers, and each proved why they have become the respected-stars they are. I recommend it to fans of crime drama thrillers and to fans of Reese Witherspoon, Josh Brolin, or Alessandro Nivola.

First of all (Alessandro Nivola) can't act, his provocative dead features ruined all of it. (Reese Witherspoon) is another provocative face but at least she gave her role some creditability and effort. So.. What was that anyway ? : An invitation to finance the collage students ? A good warning for everyone to "Never Trust Anybody" ! Or it's a helluva way to spent a night ! As a movie with a lead that owns nearly every cadre of it; it's one big failure, and it deserves it, because casting (Nivola) was exactly like casting a corpse to handle the job. He didn't make any respectable attempt to persuade, I bet this dude had watched too many Marlon Brando's movies and studied them BADLY I can tell you that ! Look at him seeing a flat tire in his car.. What a flat expression !! He can be sad, disappointed, angry, flirty, surprised, meditative, scared all by the same forever frozen countenance ! I gave him definitely the ultimate 0 out of 10. God.. Even losers like (Jay Mohr) can show more vitality than him ! PLUS how (Mike Barker)'s direction looked pedantic and tasteless. For instance, some of the scenes were overdone; they filmed the first telling of the story (from the confused professor to his friend) with a camera running with the 2 actors in circles??!!, the lighting insisted on being a forever sick yellow. The music, very much like the lead, didn't do anything to the whole story. Add to that : Some strange dramatic doings; the professor wants to kill the girl to end the night peacefully !, the drug dealer talking like an economic high expert and the lead doesn't concern !?? I said to myself Hey.. It's such a renewal in stereotype character to discover that it's just an idiocy!. Observe the performance to feel how bad the direction was, (Josh Brolin) was the best of it but even when he looks at the dead girl comes-to-life at the end he was for moment stricken by contagion of his fellow actor's dull expressions ! It's not a very good Noir about such situation of unbalanced community full of exploiters, thieves, bloodsuckers, backstabbers, where everybody scheming everybody, and the word "friendship" doesn't exist. Though it was close to that. Anyhow I had a terrible night watching this and I'm sorry to say it : this is one of those rare movies where I ask myself what did you enjoy in it? To replay: I enjoyed nothing !

A mild-mannered blue-collar worker stuck in the minimum-wage blues plots to steal a valuable document from the estate where an old college friend is currently housesitting; he gets his girlfriend involved, but will vengeful thugs spoil their plans? Not so much a psychological thriller as a shaggy dog story, a black comedy filled with indecisive, unbelievable losers. Ted Griffin wrote the screenplay, and his dialogue is mind-bogglingly ludicrous (at one point, frustrated Josh Brolin cries, "I just wanted to get laid, instead I got f****d!"). This low-level of wit permeates everything in the scenario, turning nearly all the plot-points into dumb red herrings (the peanuts, the cigarette fire, the neon signs, even the song playing on the car radio!). Reese Witherspoon co-stars, and she's green enough to go along but professional enough not to look very enthused about it. The male leads are filled by Alessandro Nivola, a Jeremy Piven lookalike with a tight little smirk, and Brolin, who continually talks too loud and seems unsure what to project with his body language (he alternately stands stock still or moves about waving his arms). There's always a stupid-clause in pictures like these (with the proviso being, if there wasn't one--there would be no movie). Here it arrives with Nivola giving Brolin a ride even though he doesn't want him along. Brolin's excuse for coming: he's hungry. I was, too, after watching this fatally undernourished modern noir. *1/2 from ****

I failed pretty miserably, though.On a whim, I found this movie, having never heard of it, took it out, and popped it into the DVD player. It started. Intriguing premise; two friends at a bar, one meets a girl, statutory rape... It's all there.PLOT TWIST => FLASHBACK.Alright... fine. Usually this kind of "start at the end" turns me off; after all, I know the ending already. And, having read the back of the box before placing the disc into the player, I've got a pretty good idea of how the first hour or so is gonna play out.Boom. I was right. Surprise, surprise.Then we come back to the flashback scene, this time in real time, and continue on to the end of the movie. Insert a few gratuitous sex scenes wherever you please; the love side story doesn't really contribute a whole lot to the film, and can more or less be ignored. It's nice that you love each other, but every other movie has a main couple too. Yup. Every single one.But wait! "What would a bad movie be without the random incoherent plot twist at the end?" you may be asking yourselves. And this one comes in on spades. Suddenly people supposedly dead ... aren't! And other people who seem to be drug dealers who stole your car and your girl... are really pretty nice guys! And suddenly every conflict that the main characters have vanish - in the face of poverty, of course, because love always wins out over money - and they ride off into the sunset as the credits begin to roll.No, I'm not kidding. The only saving grace of this film is the main theme, which is actually pretty awesome. Save yourself an hour and a half and just watch the DVD menu for a bit. You'll get the same experience I did.