Robin Williams is an Alaskan travel agent, Paul Barnell, who is trying to bank on his brother's life insurance policy but he's not dead just away. When he stumbles upon a dead body, he uses the corpse to bank upon his brother's insurance policy only his brother Raymond (played by Woody Harrelson shows up) and his wife played by Holly Hunter gets kidnapped by the men who are looking for the corpse. Giovanni Ribisi plays the insurance agent who is unwilling to break his suspicions about Barnell's claim and refuses to pay it. As the film begins, he catches an insurance fraud on tape. His live in girlfriend plays a phone psychic in small town Alaska. Granted, Alaska is known for it's cold harsh winters. I visited Skagway, Alaska a year after they filmed this movie. Skagway is a popular cruise day spot for most of the major cruise ships in the Inside Passage. Too bad, the snow didn't do it justice. Skagway is also one of the gold miner's town. Still, the film is more a reminder of Fargo.

This is a black comedy. As a black; it's like the worst one ever. And as a comedy it is nasty, boring and unfunny.What kind of movie where you wish for its end all the time? A movie full of poor plot and obnoxious time. There are no real events after the return of the brother. Even that itself wasn't utilized well for anything. (Giovanni Ribisi)'s character lacked the motive. Why that guy was so obsessed to get the truth like this ? Is that because he sucks in his love life ?! So the movie's moral is be sloppy at work to be great at home?! What is this ?! I didn't understand the sickness of the lead's wife ? Or how Hawaii would cure her? The dialog between (Holly Hunter) and her kidnapper, in the kitchen, concerning lying about being sick seemed philosophical in totally the wrong place, I don't know what's the need for it in the first place ? And really; why the songs with the photomontage while the useless shots for the movie's characters getting into their cars ?? That said nil and added more bore.If I ever read on this movie's cover that it's a "Comedy", then I must screeeeeem. That could be the lousiest scheme ever !! Nothing was comic about it. Not the torn corpse in the video. Not the human flesh in the refrigerator. Not breaking a dead guy's leg. Not the bloody scratches and bruises on the leads' faces. Not the hostage situation. Not a performance. Not a scene. And not even a line !I didn't figure out any meaning out of this movie's dark world. That because there isn't any. It's only about how far a lover can go for his love, however made by one dull way! As you see, it isn't a black comedy, rather a black hole. Nevertheless, it's not all empty. It has its free nastiness !(Giovanni Ribisi) can sum up this movie well. First off, he can't be an equal to Robin Williams as a co-lead. So forget about antagonism, hot conflict, whatever. Then he's incredibly silly, and I'm not talking about his character at all. And he looked deformed for no reason, now I'm talking about his character. I don't know why he was beaten to this extent to look the awful way he did? That was not slightly comic or meaningful or anything !I'm sad for (Williams)'s choices. Look at his career in that phase since the end of the 1990s : Bicentennial Man (1999), One Hour Photo (2002), Death to Smoochy (2002), The Final Cut (2004), The Big White (2005), The Night Listener (2006), RV (2006), Man of the Year (2006). They were all financial flops or about to be. Thank god that he made Insomnia (2002), Robots (2005), Night at the Museum (2006), Happy Feet (2006) in between. It's clear that for every good movie he makes 2 doomed ones. While starring some of these movies is justified, having good elements to share in them, I don't know why he, or anybody, would do something like this big nothing, sorry, this big white ?! Good things? Ahhh, it's my curse to be objective in a movie like this. Well, they would be 1) a line that says "love is sacrifice". Yes, I know it's tacky and doesn't originally belong to this movie, but I must find something good ! 2) Holly Hunter running around cutely. 3) Marilyn Monroe dancing steamily, urrrr, No, that was my imagination trying to lessen the movie's burden during the viewing !Finally, at one of the movie's nastiest moments (Woody Harrelson) hits (Giovanni Ribisi) in the groin, for nothing at all, or maybe because the last bugged him. So, according to this dealing itself, I want to hit this movie's groin. It bugged me very !

For me this was one of the best movies of 2005. Robin Williams is an actor i like, but is often guilty of going totally over the top. He doesn't do that here and i really engaged with his character. The plot is fun, although obviously there are holes all over the place, and all the characters are a delight to watch. Holly Hunter provides a lot of laughs, but i don't think they overdo the jokes involving her, which they could easily have done.A happy ending for all in a movie that comes across as a mix of 'Fargo' and 'A Simple Plan'. That is a great compliment, since those are two excellent movies.

This movie can definitely been seen as a poor man's "Fargo". It uses similar settings, story and characters. It wouldn't however call "A Simple Plan" a rip off, although this movie perhaps shows a bit too many similarities at times, with its characters for instance. Biggest difference is that this movie is not as subtle as the earlier mentioned "Fargo", which is the reason why it's also not as good but the movie knows to be a pretty enjoyable one on its own right.The movie features a good main plot about an average man who tries to scam an insurance company and collect on the life insurance of his 'death brother'. Of course he gets himself deeper and deeper into trouble, when the men who killed the man that the Robin Williams character used as the body of his 'death brother' show up and the insurance company investigator smell that something fishy is going on. On top of that he also has a wife who is on the brink of insanity. It's of course the kind of story that provides the movie with plenty of opportunities and potential to grow out into becoming a good fun movie. The movie also doesn't really fail in this but the story is perhaps also a bit too predictable to make this movie look like a clever and well thought out one.This movie is in line with Robin Williams' more serious roles, of the past few years. Yes, this movie is still a comedy but it's not the type of comedy you would normally expect from a movie starring Robin Williams as the movie's main lead. He plays his role humble and restrained, even in the more comical parts, which helps to make his character more believable and easier to identify with. This of course also uplifts the movie as a whole. But perhaps the most surprising role is being played by Giovanni Ribisi. I even dare to say that he out-acts everyone within this movie. It was definitely the best role I've seen from him till date. The rest of the supporting cast is also impressive with actors such as Holly Hunter, Tim Blake Nelson (who both also appeared in Coen brother's movies. Coicidence?) and Woody Harrelson.I just wished the style was a bit more coherent at times. At certain points the movie gets really silly with its comedy, which is not in the same line as the more subtle approach of the comedy and characters within most part of the movie. Other than that it's a well made movie, with a good overall style and way of story-telling.Not a must-see but simply a good enjoyable movie, that will be worth your time.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/