A Simple Plan (1998)

Synopsis: Idiots find money. Bodies start dropping.

Blurb From the VHS Jacket: “The American Dream. In a gym bag. That’s how three men (Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, Brent Briscoe) size up what they’ve found in the snowy Minnesota woods.”

What Did I Learn?: Nobody wants to receive a used teddy bear as a gift.

You Might Like This Movie If: You know that some people have trouble following a simple plan.

Really?: 1) For story set in Minnesota, this movie seems to have a lot of Southern accents. 2) Even if you knew that one in ten bills had their serial numbers recorded, would you really burn $4 million after killing half the town? Would you really go back to your crappy job in the feed store, knowing your wife was seriously pissed off, and your daughter would go through life wearing hand-me-downs?

Rating: A Simple Plan is a film of a very rare breed: a character-driven suspense thriller. Billy Bob Thornton is great as Paxton’s very dumb bro, but there’s something truly chilling (and believable) about Paxton and Bridget Fonda as the church-going, all-American parents who suddenly become cold-blooded criminal masterminds along the lines of MacBeth and Lady MacBeth; we know they’re not “bad” people, but money can make people do strange things, and it does. 9/10 stars.   

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120324/