Best Laid Plans

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source: Best Laid Plans

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon.) This mostly forgotten thriller starring Reese Witherspoon (Lissa) and Alessandro Nivola (Nick) suffers from a mightily contrived plot and a "Huh?--What happened?" ending. Nick is a guy who works at the local recycling plant (that's a new workplace for celluloid protagonists) who is about to inherit some big bucks from his father who has just kicked the bucket. Meanwhile some of his coworkers are scheming up a plot to...well, no spoilers here. Let's just say that the viewer does not find out about this plot until the end, and then it seems a little...well, lame. Along comes Lissa looking mighty fine and they fall in love, although I must say the chemistry certainly didn't spark up the screen. Now comes complication number one: the old man blew almost all his money and what he didn't blow the IRS is grabbing. Because of this Nick gets tempted into driving a get-away car for a drug rip off... Things go awry and Nick ends up in deep doo-doo, and in desperation gets Lissa to help him rip off an old school chum...which... Well, what these people do in desperation is a little on the unbelievable side. I'm sorry that's all vague, but at least it's enough information to let you know if you actually saw this movie or not. Now, if you like probability-challenged, convoluted plots with loose ends and a lot of unlikely twists and turns, you might find this movie interesting. And if you like Reese, and you should, you might also find a reason for sticking around until the end. I know I did. She does a good job and looks good doing it. Bottom line: although the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, it can also be said that the most meticulously contrived plots sometimes turn out about as convincing as pseudoscience. Incidentally the title is a paraphrase of the 18th century Scottish poet Robert Burns's line: "The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men/Gang aft a-gley."

SPOILERS - Note to self: Boyfriend gets suckered into being the driver for $40,000 drug heist, turns out to be fake, all were in cahoots to get $20,000 of his inheritance to help pay college tuition, inheritance was actually zero, thinking he was really in trouble he and girlfriend (Witherspoon) attempt to pull off heist of pardon signed by Abe Lincoln, that goes awry, friend (Josh Brolin) drags and ties Witherspoon in basement of house he is sitting for, boyfriend pretends he smothers her, carries her out, car is highkacked, he eventually discovers the scam. But they leave town together, broke, but maybe wiser. The writing and nicely convoluted story are clever, no one really gets killed, or even harmed. However lots of bad language. Glad I saw it, being a fan of Witherspoon, it is always interesting to see what she does with a role. Josh Brolin is also excellent.

source: Best Laid Plans

I really enjoyed this film noir story about hopeless people taking desperate measures to try to wriggle out of the trouble wrought by their bad luck and foolish acts. Ted Griffin's screenplay is first rate with numerous unexpected plot twists and ironies. I defy anyone to outguess all the curves he throws. What is noticeable about the plot is that it was very realistic. The schemes were hair brained, but it was believable that the numbskull characters portrayed would cook up these kinds of cons. Mike Barker's direction was very good. He was visually daring and unconventional with liberal use of tight shots and extreme close-ups that were mostly effective. He was a little too enamored with these techniques though, and used them to excess. Such shots are good to emphasize certain emotions or to add impact, but Barker has the viewer in the actors' faces more often than your average teenage lovers. After a while the whole film has the feeling of watching characters with giant heads. Yet, this is a minor criticism for what was mostly a very good directorial effort. The weakest aspect of the film was the acting which was mediocre though not terrible. Alessandro Nivola gave a lifeless performance as the hapless Nick desperately scheming for a way out of his small town. He came across too wimpy and flaccid for the daring character who was planning this elaborate rip off. Reese Witherspoon was mostly window dressing in this film. Though she did a reasonable job with her character, the part did not have much meat to it as she was relegated to the role of sycophantic girl friend, a victim of her own weakness and bad judgment. Josh Brolin was the weak link. His interpretation of his character's emotion is mostly measured by how loud he yells at the camera. Since his character was in hot water through most of the film, he was mostly screaming his lines at the top of his lungs. His portrayal was like surgery performed with a chain saw. The best performance of the film goes to Rocky Carroll as the intimidating drug dealer who threatens to kill Nick for swiping his money. Carroll stole every scene he was in with high energy performances. Overall, I gave this film a 7/10. The acting was not compelling but it was not so dreadful that it detracted from a terrific story and a well crafted film by Barker.

On the plus side, this movie features some terrific performances, especially by Reese Witherspoon. (I'm a fan.) On the down side, while it tries to be a clever film-noir a la "Usual Suspects", its story doesn't bear scrutiny. The first time I saw this, I was fooled by some of the tricks and surprises, but having just watched it a second time, it seems obvious and hardly believable. I found myself thinking, "Would anyone really do THAT?" "The Usual Suspects", for all its faults, can be watched three or four times, and you still feel a frisson of surprise as the story turns itself inside out and back again. I sometimes think that there really is no point to it, but at least it's entertaining enough so that few viewers care. "Best Laid Plans", on the other hand, suffers from a lack of credibility that ultimately ruins it for a second viewing. However, the two leads are likable and the production values are strong, so it's worth a spin, at least.

Bryce (Josh Brolin) reconnects with old friend Nick (Alessandro Nivola). Then he calls on Nick for help. He had drunken black-out sex with Kathy (Reese Witherspoon) who claims to be underage and threatened to call the cops. Bryce shows Nick that he had tied her up down in the basement. Four months earlier, Nick first met the girl who eventually becomes his girlfriend Lissa. He expected a big insurance payday after his father's death but instead he loses everything. He gets involved with small time hood Jimmy (Terrence Howard) to steal $40k from (Rocky Carroll). It goes sideways and Nick needs to come up with $15k as his share of the heist. Bryce is back in town housesitting and shows him a special Lincoln stay-of-execution note. He comes up with a plan to steal the note without Bryce reporting it. The turn back to the past sucks away some of the cool neo-noir vibe. This could have worked as a stylish three person play. Brolin is overacting a little and Nivola is a bit too stoic. The acting is OK and it's set up for something cool. Then the story adds in a twist. The big problem is the motivations for the twist make no sense. If Nick had the money, he would never do the job. There isn't any reason to scam him. The guy is begging to be paid at the job. Barry must have heard about it since Nick apparently tells him everything. How much money could Nick have in the bank? Even Nick's plan is questionable. I'm not sure what Bryce would do after finding the note missing. That part of the plan seems very dubious and I would think the stolen note would eventually land back on Nick. There are too many questionable plans going on here.

"Best Laid Plans" has invited a lot of comparisons with "The Usual Suspects", but with its caper-plan-gone-awry storyline it reminded me more of "Palmetto" - except that it's not as good as either of those films. The whole set-up is rather laborious, and the payoff, while clever, doesn't really amount to much. Ultimately, this is a very unexceptional movie; you can easily find many of its equivalents in the "crime" section of your local video store. What makes it worth your time are the performances; Nivola, in particular, has an engagingly laid-back presence and Reese Witherspoon is good as usual. (**1/2)