Rent A Simple Plan (1998)

Crash, Cash, Consequences - A Simple Plan review by griggs

A Simple Plan is the kind of film that gnaws at you more than it thrills. Two brothers and a friend stumble across a small plane, long since crashed and frozen over, with a bag of cash inside. What follows is a slow, bleak spiral into paranoia, betrayal, and bad decisions. No moustache-twirling villains here—just people driven by fear, ego, and short-sighted logic. That's what makes it so grim: everyone acts on emotion, rarely reason, and no one's thinking past the next five minutes.

It's a cautionary tale about how quickly "good intentions" curdle into self-justification. There's barely a a flicker of humour to lighten the load, and the tension comes less from what might happen than from watching people unravel. Billy Bob Thornton is superb as Jacob—the one dismissed as simple, yet the only one with real depth. It's a heavy watch, but layered enough to warrant a return trip.