A SIMPLE PLAN  (1998)  ***1/2

Reviewed 12/20/98

The usually annoying Bill Paxton does his best acting ever playing a man who finds his life ever worsening after he stumbles upon $4 million. Billy Bob Thornton though is even better as the dim-witted brother making things even worse. As a reality-based thriller, it is absurd (particularly a plot twist near the end), but as a tragic fable, it is Shakespearean in grandeur. Bridget Fonda plays the Lady MacBeth of the movie, albeit not very convincingly.