A Simple Plan (1998) Movie Review | Would you take the money?
Dane Bundy
Feb 28
2 min read
Would you keep the 4 million dollars?
Did you know Jesus taught more about money than heaven or hell?
Actually, that is not true, but he and the other biblical writers have much to say about it!
A film that illuminates money’s power over the human heart is Sam Raimi’s A Simple Plan (1998) based on the novel by the same title. This little known movie stars Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, and Bridget Fonda. It is a hidden gem, for sure, especially if you enjoyed movies like Fargo or No Country Old Men.
Similar to these Coen brothers’ films, the landscape here is its own character, one that is frigid and bleak, a Midwest winter that sets the stage and tone. The story is about three men who find a plane with over four million dollars in it. The pilot is dead, and no one is claiming the money. What’s the harm in keeping it, right?
A Simple Plan unravels like a nod to Shakespeare’s Macbeth. In a large black cauldron, the filmmaker mixes money, discontentment, and the human condition, brewing it for two hours. When done, out comes the reminder, “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.”
Although the movie is a crime thriller, it moves at a slower pace than others in the genre. Towards the middle, it slows down and lets us glimpse into the characters’ fears, regrets, and insecurities. Paxton and Thornton shine as brothers who could not be more different in personality, but who want similar things: to love, be loved, craft a life of purpose that satisfies.
The great dramas of film, literature, and stage present us with a lead character who changes from the beginning of the story to the end. That is the case with our lead played by Bill Paxton. We see the incremental, seemingly inconsequential choices and compromises building upon themselves. We see the counsel he takes. Soon enough, we see him transform from the husband, father, respectable citizen into someone unrecognizable.
The film is rated R for violence, language, and a very brief scene of nudity, which they could have done without. But compared to No Country for Old Men, Fargo, and other crime thrillers, this movie is tame in comparison with much less gratuitous violence and sexuality. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a critics score of 91% and an audience score of 81%. I give it 4/5 stars.
In conclusion, A Simple Plan is a finely crafted cautionary parable, reinforcing sound wisdom from Scripture and Shakespeare’s Macbeth: money is not the problem; no, not nearly as much as the human heart.
Watch, listen, and discuss, for the Christian imagination and glory of God!
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