Maidgethma Wonderfully offbeat film!

Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

seymourblack-1 Two elaborate deceptions, a nicely twisted plot and a collection of crooked characters are just a few of the fascinating elements of this intriguing thriller in which rape, blackmail and theft feature strongly. Flashbacks, double-crosses and the presence of people with unreliable identities soon place the action firmly in film noir territory and its well-balanced combination of suspense and humour also ensures that "Best Laid Plans" is extremely entertaining to watch from start to finish.A young man called Nick (Alessandro Nivola) is desperate to leave the small town of Tropico, Nevada where he grew up and when his father dies, expects his inheritance to enable him to leave for good. A problem arises, however, as it soon becomes evident that he'll actually receive nothing at all because of the back taxes that his father owed. Shortly after this disappointment, one of his colleagues at the Tropico recycling plant offers him the chance to be the getaway driver on a no-risk robbery and the prospect of earning a quick $10,000 is just too good to turn down. Unfortunately, the victim of the robbery turns out to be a violent drug dealer who wants to be repaid $15,000 within a matter of days and isn't open to negotiation.Coincidentally, one of Nick's old college friends, Bryce (Josh Brolin) returns to Tropico at about the same time and is house-sitting a mansion for some friends of his wealthy family. Nick and Bryce meet at a local bar and towards the end of the evening, just as Nick leaves, Bryce picks up a girl and takes her back to his place to spend the night. In the early hours of the morning, Bryce phones Nick in a state of extreme panic and asks for his help. At Bryce's temporary home, he explains that the girl he met at the bar has accused him of rape and is in possession of an I.D. that confirms that she's underage. To make matters worse, Bryce responded to her accusation by dragging her downstairs to his basement and handcuffing her to a pool table.It transpires that, the events that took place between Bryce and the girl are part of a plan to get Nick out of the trouble he's in but he and his girlfriend Lissa (Reese Witherspoon) soon find themselves in even more serous trouble before a further series of twists lead the story to is surprising conclusion."Best Laid Plans" is easy on the eye with some striking shots of the local bar and diner and a colour palette that's perfect for the type of story it tells. Nick is a typical noir character who finds that everything he tries to do to get out of the tight spot he's in, only makes matters worse. Alessandro Nivola gives a strong performance as this rather cold, uncaring guy whose flawed judgement is his Achilles heel and Josh Brolin is convincing as the conceited English teacher who's frantic with worry about his own predicament but doesn't have an ounce of concern for anyone else.Reese Witherspoon plays the story's most sympathetic character as she makes some extremely uncomfortable compromises in order to help the man she loves and carries out her part in scamming Bryce with consummate skill. Her ability to convey the many facets of Lissa's personality is both impressive and subtle and provides this enjoyable movie with one of its strongest features.

skinnywhiteb I have only seen the version that plays on TV on the channel FX, but there is a yellow sign that says "play sex games with a child" in black lettering, and there is also more text below it but I could not read it. Also there are two stick figures, one adult looking down at a child. I swear on my life that this is really in the movie, and it was viewable in the scene for like 5-10 seconds where there was metal fencing, I think the recycle plant, but not sure. I am trying to think of a good reason this was in the movie, perhaps some kind of joke or a warning sign. This kinda tripped me out and I really want to know why the hell this was in the movie. I searched google but found nothing, I am going to download the movie, and take a still frame, I will call it "best-laid-plans-sexgames", so search that name on google, I will post to a few hosting sites. I saw this movie a few times, but did not see the sign until today when I watched it.

archiecm This isn't a review. It's a discussion of the plot, especially the ending. First question: Why try to con Nick into being the driver of a heist by offering him ten grand? You think he's just inherited a hundred grand and yet he'd want to pick up a measly ten? Not. But it does work because Nick didn't get the hundred grand.Second question: When Nick finds out that his friends have conned him by faking the heist the whole plot collapses. Why? He doesn't really owe them his share (ten grand) but they do have his girlfriend tied up. They know he has the ability to get twenty grand in the next three hours right? Come to think of it, why do they settle for twenty grand when they originally asked for twenty-five? In their view he has a hundred right? Then the guy leaks that he knows Rick inherited money. And now that he knows they're not drug dealers it means to him that they won't harm the girl. How so? Why can't they say, "Get the money or we kill the girl." He could counter with, "the money didn't come through, my Dad lied on the insurance form." They'd counter with, "You already said you'd come up with twenty in three hours. So go get it." They could have pressed him to explain the girl in the trunk, and the twenty grand in three hours. If they pressed they might discover he had the Lincoln bill on him. It seems they gave up too fast.All right, maybe they're not killers and their death threat might ring hollow since regular criminals are more likely to get caught than members of the drug mafia (who seem to scare witnesses and generally seem to not get caught.)If so then how do they get to keep the car? Third question: Why is Lissa so mad at Rick? What did he do that was so bad? Is she mad because he put her in the trunk? Or because he brought the friend, Bryce, along on the body run when he could have just said no he was going to do it alone. (All of this meaning that she had to stay in the trunk way longer than if Bryce wasn't along for the ride.)I don't think that's it. I don't know why she's so mad at Rick. He didn't know he was the subject of the scam.Fourth question: Why not sell the Lincoln signature bill anyway and have some money? Rick doesn't seem all that concerned that Bryce is going to see Lissa in the coffee shop and know he had been scammed. If he doesn't see Lissa he will have to remain quiet about how the bill went missing. But he is about to go to the cops anyway so that ends the chance of keeping the missing bill a secret from the real owners of the bill (the owners of that fancy house.) But it seems fake that he'd go to the cops. He'll lose all those great things in his life he was so fond of hanging on to. And if he is going to go to the cops would he really tell Rick? Rick did the actual killing and has more to lose. Does he think Rick will just stand by and watch Bryce go to the cops? I'll have to watch this thing again I guess. Roger Ebert said that unlike Usual Suspects, Best Laid Plans would never get another viewing from him. He wasn't hooked into the characters or plot or both. But I want to give it another shot.

Faisal Saif When i saw this film in a cinema in India. The first thought that strike into my mind was to get this film's DVD as my personal collection. According to me this is the best thriller i've ever seen in my whole life. Brilliantly directed, Excellent camera work, Awesome performances, Mind-blowing lighting. The more you see this film, The more it grows on you. This film is like a slow but sweet poison which you don't want to miss. This film has everything. Shock, Twists, Romance, Emotions handled very very carefully. I always watch this film on DVD whenever i am free. I've till date at least seen this film 200 times, Or more. Kudos to the filmmaker for making such a wonderful cinema.