A Simple Plan
It’s movie-book club time, I read the book1 so here I am watching the film. Bill Paxton plays the lead, Billy Bob Thornton plays his brother, Brent Briscoe plays the mate and Bridget Fonda plays the wife. Sam Raimi directs.
Quite an interesting one this, the screenplay was written by Scott Smith who also wrote the book - but he dramatically alters what happens to make sure fewer people die and Hank, the lead, is less of a total psycho. I noticed in the book that there was a theme of brotherly love and re-bonding, well here it’s more pronounced and probably more screen-friendly.
I like Raimi’s direction, fairly reserved and detached and then the occasional explosion of violence. Danny Elfman’s score is a terrible fit. Bill Paxton and Billy Bob are good but their characters deviate a little from what is in the book and it makes them more 2D in the film. Billy Bob in particular is being a little ‘slow’, and it feels like a cheap way to get audience sympathy.
The similarity to Fargo is really strong here. Billy Bob is in both films, for one. The book was written before Fargo came out, but this film came out afterwards. I wonder if that influenced some of the decisions that were made, because I get the feeling that this film wanted to be grimmer and funnier than it was in the end.