A Simple Plan Simply Excellent Reviewed by Bruce Cantwell A farmer argues with feed store clerk Hank Mitchell (Bill Paxton) about his monthly bill. The farmer comes in every Monday and buys "x" number of feed bags. There are four weeks in a month and he's being billed for five weeks of feed. Hank points out that there were five Mondays in the previous month which he invites the farmer to confirm by consulting the calendar by the door. As Hank takes a phone call, the farmer looks at the calendar and leaves the feed store grumpily slamming the door behind him. This moment feels absolutely right. That's what's so good about Sam Raimi's rural crime drama. It's about ordinary people who make ordinary mistakes. It's about the clash between college boys who earn their livings with their heads and farmers who earn their livings with their backs. It's also about temptation as a common denominator. Hank Mitchell, his brother Jacob (Billy Bob Thornton) and Jacob's friend Lou (Brent Briscoe) stumble upon a private plane that has crashed in the woods. Hank pulls a duffel bag from the plane which they discover contains $4.4 million. Yahoo! Jacob and Lou are all for keeping it while Hank knows it's a bad idea. Jacob and Lou resent Hank for being a spoil sport. Hank's intellectual superiority to his redneck companions prompts him to suggest a plan by which he sits on the money until he's sure the coast is clear and then they divide up the funds and leave town. No one counts on the changes that a potential $1.5 million windfall makes on a man's soul. Hank is worried, as he should be, about his redneck partners screwing up, but he is every bit as guilty of improvising blunders with the help of his surprisingly devious wife Sarah (Bridget Fonda). Fargo by Sam Raimi's buddies the Coen brothers, got the jump on intrigue in the chilly midwest but this film lays equal claim to the real estate. Scott B Smith's screenplay is as sparse as Sam Raimi's direction. We're never asked to take a false step as events spin out of control.

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