Directed by Sam Raimi and starring Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton and Bridget Fonda, “A Simple Plan” (1998) is a tense thriller that explores the corrosive effects of greed and the fragility of human morality. Beyond its crime drama surface, the film offers a critique of the American Dream, particularly the myth that financial success is the only true measure of a better life. The film also challenges stereotypes about the blue-collar working class and what people will – or won’t – do for money.
The plot follows two brothers, Hank (Paxton) and Jacob (Thornton), along with their friend Lou (Brent Briscoe), who stumble upon a crashed plane in the snowy midwest wilderness. Inside, they find over four million dollars in cash. It seems like a gift from above – an escape from a life of struggle.
What begins as a seemingly simple plan to keep the money and wait to see what happens when the snow covered plane is found in the spring soon spirals into paranoia, betrayal, and violence. Hank, the supposedly responsible and pragmatic brother, elects himself leader of the trio. Jacob, perceived as dim-witted and weak, has his own dreams about what the money could mean. As the film unfolds, the brothers learn that holding onto the millions demands ever-greater sacrifices.
A Simple Plan fits into a lineage of American films that critique the idea that financial success equates to personal fulfillment. It suggests that the pursuit of wealth often leads to moral compromise, disillusionment, and destruction rather than happiness. Hank, who begins the film with the belief that he is an upstanding man, descends into cold calculation and cruelty in his effort to maintain control of the situation. The film's final moments deliver an unmistakable message: the promise of money as a means to a better life is not only a lie but a potentially fatal one.
A Simple Plan can also be interpreted as dismantling the myths that surround working-class people. The assumption that financial desperation makes a person automatically capable of violence is a myth that the film deftly critiques. While the characters in A Simple Plan are flawed, they are not driven purely by selfish impulses. Their choices, especially Jacob’s, come from a place of fear, love, and an often painful understanding of the world around them.
Billy Bob Thornton delivers a truly masterful performance as Jacob, a man too often underestimated by those around him. With his hunched posture, goofy laugh, and hesitant speech, Jacob is first presented as childlike and naïve. But as the film progresses, it becomes clear that he is neither foolish nor oblivious. In fact, he is often more perceptive than his brother, seeing through Hank’s self-righteous justifications with disquieting clarity. Jacob’s dream of using the money to buy back the family farm is not just a dream for his future; it is a longing for a past that he believes was better, a past before life became so complicated and ruthless. In a particularly poignant moment, he describes a fantasy of sitting on the porch with his family, an image of contentment that painfully contrasts with the destruction that money has brought into their lives.
Jacob’s character raises the question: what must a man destroy within himself to attain what society deems as success? If Jacob is the heart of the film, then his fate is the film’s greatest warning. If achieving a “better” life means sacrificing the kindness, dreams, and connections that make us who we are, then the cost is too high.
A Simple Plan ultimately serves as more than just a cautionary tale about greed—it is a plea against losing sight of the blessings that already exist. At its core, the film suggests that there is no need to chase some imagined, easy, wealthy future at the expense of what already exists. The final haunting message of A Simple Plan is this: you can sit on the porch with your brother now. The dream is already here if only you choose to see it.
The Chestnut Hill Film Group will present “A Simple Plan” (1998, 121 minutes) with its new state-of-the-art laser projector on Tuesday, April 15. Tuesday Nights at the Movies screenings begin at 7 p.m. at Woodmere (9201 Germantown Avenue). Doors open at 6:30 p.m.. Light refreshments are served. Films are free to attend, but contributions are gratefully accepted. Check woodmereartmuseum.org on the day of the screening for weather-related cancellations.
