Best Laid Plans

Starring: Alessandro Nivola, Reese Witherspoon, Josh Brolin
Directed by: Mike Barker
Rating: R
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Box Office: $27,816
1999

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary:After a drug robbery, Nick (Alessandro Nivola) is caught by the original owners of the drugs, and given 48 hours to come up with $15,000, or he will be killed. He and his girlfriend Lissa (Reese Witherspoon) decide to trick Nick's old college pal, Bryce (Josh Brolin). in order to steal a priceless collectible.

Review:

Tim: Before I say anything else, I want to say that I was first excited about this movie because it stars Reese Witherspoon, for whom I have not attempted to hide my admiration. I'll start with her, and saying that she gave her usual excellent performance. To the best of my knowledge, she enjoyed a great deal of praise for her role, and its well deserving. In addition to being beautiful, the girl can act amazingly well. She was called upon to play a wide range of emotions, and she does this flawlessly, slipping into each one seemingly effortlessly. The success of this film depends almost solely on the audience's attitudes towards her character, and at the end, we truly do like her. That is very important.

Now with the lovely and talented Reese out of the way, we'll examine the rest of the film. This thriller attempts very hard to emulate past crime/thrillers, and attempts to throw a few twists into the plot. While the earlier moments of the film are fairly predictable, Best Laid Plans at least makes one twist that few can see coming. For that reason, it is both watchable and enjoyable. Furthermore, it is very entertaining to watch how the title comes true. This film makes a point to show that even the best laid plans can have terrible and unforseen results. This makes for a very good movie.

Besides the praise I have been giving this film, it suffers from quite a few setbacks. Besides Reese and a surprising twist, Best Laid Plans offers little that we haven't seen before. While Brolin and Nivola give very good performances, the film suffers from a plot suspended in a near-limbo location. The film can't stay quick-paced enough to keep our attention, yet isn't so slow as to completely bore us to death. The film isn't particularly slow, yet isn't very fast either. It makes for an somewhat uncomfortable viewing.

Best Laid Plans isn't the best of films, yet I've been much worse as well. Everything aside, it isn't a bad way to spend an evening. If for nothing else, the plot twists will just keep you entertained enough to continue watching until the end, and there's always the Reese Witherspoon factor.....

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Sweet Home Alabama, Face/Off, Flirting With Disaster, Election, Pleasantville