User reviews

When I decided to see the movie, I didn't expect much of it, not more than a level of an usual Saturday night entertainment. But to my surprise, the movie, which first appeared to be a usual sentimental love story, evolved into a decent thriller. Directing is very good at this point, characters are quite "fresh", especially the drug dealer with the knowledge of the theory of economics. Actors also do a good job, especially Reese Witherspoon, although she doesn't get as much screen time as Nivola, her presence can be felt. The plot has some very unexpected turns, which make it very good, and the script is also above average. I give it 7/10, not a masterpiece, but some good entertainment.

Screenwriter Ted Griffin takes a page out of the David Mamet book with this story of the things we do for love and money, and how desperation has a way of leading even the most forthright among us into regions beyond the known. And the fact that there is no such animal as a sure thing is pointedly expressed in `Best Laid Plans,' a drama/thriller directed by Mike Barker, and starring Reese Witherspoon and Alessandro Nivola.

The film begins with a meeting in a bar between Nick (Nivola) and Bryce (Josh Brolin), old college chums who have not seen one another since graduation. Over a few rounds of drinks, they get reacquainted; Bryce is back in town to teach, while Nick has secured employment at the local recycling establishment. They do the good-to-see-you-again thing, and Nick leaves. But at about two o'clock in the morning, he gets a call from Bryce, who begs him to come over to his house (actually one he's watching for some friends who are out of town). Nick doesn't want to go, but Bryce sounds desperate and he can't refuse. What he finds when he gets there is something totally out of left field. Suffice to say, it involves a young woman named Lissa (Witherspoon), whom Bryce picked up in the bar just as Nick was leaving. It's not a pretty situation, and Bryce doesn't know what to do; so it falls to Nick to figure it out. And now, having crossed that proverbial line in the sand, Nick's involved, too. Or so it seems. But then again, maybe there's more to this than meets the eye. There's just something about this whole set-up that instinctively tells you that what appears to be, ain't necessarily so. The question is, what is it-- and who is doing what to whom exactly?

Barker has fashioned a fairly involving film from a story that initially seems somewhat convoluted, but which evolves, and later can actually be regarded as having a plot that is quite intricate and credible, making the comparison to Mamet entirely valid. The difference between this film and one of Mamet's, however, lies in the fact that Barker simply doesn't have that Mamet touch when it comes to presenting the material. He does a decent job, but lacks the finesse, the eye for detail and the grasp of what it takes to achieve that necessary sense of mystery that could have taken it to a much higher level. It lacks that sense of fear and menace, and the urgency it needed to be really effective. Barker does manage to give you enough to sustain interest, but his pace is wanting; there are moments when the pulse of his film simply flatlines.

Nivola is clearly the star of the show, and his performance is passable, but he lacks that extra something, that quality, that would have made his character anything special or memorable. Nick is believable, but too common; there's simply nothing distinctive enough about him to make you care much what happens to him one way or the other. On one hand, it's good acting-- the character is real-- but he's a guy who leaves you fairly nonplused; he needs a hangnail, as it were, a flaw that would have at least made him interesting.

Witherspoon gives a good performance, but this character is certainly not a stretch for her, by any means. Lissa, like Nick, is rather nondescript, and Witherspoon does little to spark much interest in her. In her defense, however, Barker really doesn't afford her the time nor the opportunity to do much exploring by way of characterization. But she is watchable, and fans of hers, especially, will no doubt find her work here satisfying.

As Bryce, Josh Brolin is disappointing, giving a one-note performance that is flat and forced. Granted, his character is supposed to be something of a nerd, but he puts nothing into it; a bit of nuance would have done wonders for his portrayal, and it's the kind of character that is ripe with opportunity, like a blank canvas just waiting to be shaded and textured. But Brolin dropped the ball, and Bryce ends up being completely forgettable.

The supporting cast includes Gene Wolande (Lawyer), Jonathan McMurtry (Vet), Rocky Carroll (Bad Dude), Jamie Marsh (Barry), Michael McCleery (Recycling Owner), Michael G. Hagerty (Charlie), Terrence Dashon Howard (Jimmy) and Sean Nepita (Freddie). A very average movie, but with enough twists and turns to keep it interesting, `Best Laid Plans' nevertheless comes off as inexplicably lackluster, given the storyline. This one had the potential of being a real edge-of-your-seater, but instead fails to stir the blood much at all. Performances aside, the story alone makes it worth a look; just don't expect too much. It takes some effort to get into it initially, and by the end you'll be reflecting on what a great movie this `almost' was. I rate this one 6/10.

"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)

Lissa (Reese Witherspoon) accuses Bryce (Josh Brolin) of rape, and then the film unfolds in interesting ways as we see how Nick (Alessandro Nivola) plays a part in her past and their future.

The film relies on the universal desires for love, sex and money. Bryce just wants to get laid, Lissa pretty much just wants love but Nick wants both love and money. His plans to get that money get in the way of other dead-end criminals also wanting money. As the film's title suggests, no plans go quite as according to plan. The various twists in getting the plans foiled weren't particularly ingenious but they were well done. I never quite knew what was coming next, but I always wanted to find out. A crime drama thriller with some crimes but minimal violence, and although it seems a bit slow there is enough intrigue to keep the suspense level, or at least interest, up.

"Best Laid Plans" stars three great actors at the beginning of their careers, and each proved why they have become the respected-stars they are. I recommend it to fans of crime drama thrillers and to fans of Reese Witherspoon, Josh Brolin, or Alessandro Nivola.

This could have been a good movie, there were strong performances from Reese Witherspoon and Alessandro Nivola. However, Josh Brolin was a bit weak and unconvincing. In addition, the script was convoluted and improbable, which sunk the sinking ship for me. Zipp0 rating of 4/10.

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.

The only reason I watched this is because my girlfriend threatened me to. This is movie is sooo desperate to be a post modern crime thriller that it looks and feels so relentlessly superficial.

Most scenes are decked out in unpleasant pastel colors and interiors are always lit with warm lights. It's nice to look at but has a student filmmaking feel to it that distracts me.

Something else that is quite unreal is the scene in which Nivola and Witherspoon discuss their forthcoming crime...on a roof in front of a neon sign on a sofa. Yeah...like people keep sofas on roofs in front of neon signs. This was obviously an attempt by the director to add a little sparkle to an otherwise BORING scene. Which is also the reason he throws in some cliched camera angles. It's a "film noir" you see...so diagonal shots on an ordinary scene are standard.

Composer Craig Armstrong was obviously hired at the last minute when the director heard the score for Romeo and Juliet to provide a superficial (that word again) soundtrack. It sounds like it belongs in a totally different movie. But perhaps this is a good thing. There isn't much theme but the music does evoke some weird feelings from us. Much like the feelings the characters have. It's cool and I wish more scores were this way.

The "twist" wasn't too obvious to me. Once it occurs it takes away all the tension and stress right away and will relieve you big time. It even manages to change the tone of the whole movie to light-hearted.

In case your wondering my girlfriend lists this as number 2 in her top 3 movies. Number 1 is Devils Advocate and 3 is Moonwalker...ugh!

This was a pleasant surprise. I really didn't know what to expect, but what I got was a very intelligent movie with more than enough twists and turns to keep things rather unpredictable. It took a little too long to get everything set up properly, and it perhaps had one twist too many, but overall, it was a great film with strong performances by Alessandro Nivola and Reese Witherspoon. Definitely worth checking out.

Enjoyed this film simply because it had a very different twisted story that kept you guessing just what it was all about and how is this story going to turn out in the end. Alessandro Nivola,(Nick),"Junebug",'05, plays the role of a hard working easy going guy who works in a recycling plant. Nick meets up with an old high school buddy, Josh Brolin,(Bryce),"Into The Blue",'05 who is rather successful after going to college and becoming a teacher. Reese Witherspoon,(Lissa),"Walk The Line",'05 meets up with Nick and their scene together gets very hot and steamy and they just can't leave each other alone. Bryce seems to get himself in trouble and calls on Nick to help him out and that is when the picture gets very interesting. Good entertaining film and Reese Witherspoon did a fantastic starring role in this tricky film.

I just picked Best Laid Plans up at the video store simply because there was nothing that looked better. Well, even though this isn't a great film, it was probably better than all those other videos in the store that day!

Best Laid Plansd is a dark crime thriller about Nick (Alessandro Nivola) who needs to raise some cash urgently to pay off some mob debts. He enlist his girlfriend Lissa (Reese Witherspoon) to seduce an old college buddy, Bryce (Josh Brolin), out of his cash and to cry rape. However, things do not go to plan when Bryce takes Lissa hostage and asks Nick for advice on what to do.

Director Mike Barker has really gone for the Tarantino side of filmmaking, which he does impressively. Surprisingly, Best Laid Plans is actually better than some of the Quentin Tarantino projects, including Reservoir Dogs and Jackie Brown. It is more intriguing and clever than those two films due to an excellent screenplay and some really good performances; particularly from the rather unlikeable Alessandro Nivola and the stunning Reese Witherspoon.

Not faultless, but perfectly watchable and recommendable.

I rate Best Laid Plans 7 out of 10.

Best Laid Plans is a fascinating character driven story about desparation and love in time of need. Reese Witherspoon's roles are often ones about innocent girls, but this time her character is quite a bit different, to say the least. The story: Reese Witherspoon is gonna extort a guy she slept with, by claiming he raped her. Things spiral out of control though, when this extortion game doesnt go as well as planned; best laid plans are turned to ruins...

This movie deserves more than an average 6 Imdb rating, but it probably is rated so low, because this story is rather vicious and bleak. The masses often dont like such a depressing story, but I do. I love vicious plot driven stories. And it surely isnt all depressing, because there are some truly suprising AND uplifting plot turns as well, which flip the whole story in 1 big swoop into in entirely unforeseen direction. Really marvelloulsy written!

There is good acting, done by several great actors, all still being in their younger years, there is beautiful photography and a cool soundtrack to be enjoyed as well. Despite all these recommendations this movie still doesnt quite reach a gem level though, but it certainly comes close.

I kept looking at the young woman and thinking, she looks like a fuller-faced Reese Witherspoon. Turns out it was Reese Witherspoon - I hadn't looked at the cast list.

The film begins with Nick (Alessandro Nivola) and his college friend Bryce (Josh Brolin) in a bar. A young woman walks by, and you can see Bryce checking her out. Nick leaves, and while he's asleep, he gets a panicked call from Bryce. The woman has threatened to call the police and claim rape. Bryce has tied her up and duct taped her mouth because he's terrified and doesn't know what to do.

Eventually the film flashes back to an earlier time. When his father dies, Nick assumes his father will leave him a lot of money which will help him get out of the one-horse town in which he lives. Unfortunately, his father died and left him with nothing as he was $240,000 in debt to the IRS, plus other debts.

When he gets an opportunity to make some real cash by stealing money from a drug dealer, Nick agrees. Somehow the dealer finds out he's involved and has him picked up. He tells Nick if Nick pays him back, he'll forget about what happened. Nick is frantic to get the money since he no longer has his cut.

Pretty good noir with good acting. Someone here commented that Alessandro Nivola is dull. I liked him because he played the character as if he was capable of anything.

Not a stretch for Reese Witherspoon; the other people were fine.

I liked the film, I thought it was well done, and I like that certain things were revealed in the beginning. I loved the scene where the commercial for the recycling place came on television, and Nick is so desperate to get Bryce's back to it. Very funny.

In better hands, this could have been a blockbuster. But it's still good.

Well, Reese Witherspoon is in this, Josh Brolin looks more nerdy than he ever has before or since and Pollax Troy (Alessandro Nivola) talks like a normal human being in this wannabe noir that is not quite as clever as it thinks it is.

If I went through the whole plot, we could be here for a while, so, in a nutshell it's about a young couple Nick (Nivola) and Lissa (Witherspoon) who try to blackmail their friend Bryce (Brolin) into allowing them to steal a rare Abraham Lincoln signed "Bill of Release" from a mansion Bryce is minding. The path the film takes to get us into the mansion, and then out and to the finish line is particularly convoluted and, while the resolution doesn't insult the viewer's intelligence, it will leave many asking "is that it?" The film has the typical late 90s indie style, with a lot happening in darkness and little lighting. Some of the staging is obvious, but is in general effective at establishing mood and maintaining the desired atmosphere.

On the acting side, Nivola is a long way from Face/ Off and a lot more at home as our down-on-his-luck loser protagonist. He manages to keep his character sympathetic throughout, in spite of being a deeply flawed human being. Josh Brolin is deliberately cringeworthy as the unlikeable, socially inept Bryce, while Witherspoon is decent as Lissa, a character I had a hard time connecting with at all through no fault of hers. Every actor seems aware of the type of movie they've signed on for.

Best Laid Plans is a pretty small movie, and not essential viewing, but it does do enough right to be an enjoyable viewing experience, if a little light upon repeat viewings.

A seemingly simple plan to steal money goes increasingly awry.

We get Reese Witherspoon and Josh Brolin (who would later reunite in "Inherent Vice") and some other people. And we get them before they got really big. So that is something special, especially because this film seems to have largely gone under the radar.

"Best Laid Plans" received mixed reviews from critics and currently holds a 43% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. This is somewhat understandable, because the plot is not as clear as it perhaps should be, and at times the acting borders on the melodramatic. But the overly story is good, and looking back now (2015) there is much to like from these up-and-coming actors.

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.

In brief this film should have done better than it did. The cast are good, the cinematography is very pleasing. The sets and costumes are great.

The soundtrack is also pretty good.

Really good story that improves the more you watch it. At least you will think a little bit during and after the film as so many situations are raised.

Makes living in small town America look pretty desirable. Also makes you think about the people you grow up with.

Give it a shot!

I wanted to like this film the ideas were there, the acting was there too. It comes down to a poor script and too many plot holes...if only it's execution was better it could have been really enjoyable...

A mild-mannered blue-collar worker stuck in the minimum-wage blues plots to steal a valuable document from the estate where an old college friend is currently housesitting; he gets his girlfriend involved, but will vengeful thugs spoil their plans? Not so much a psychological thriller as a shaggy dog story, a black comedy filled with indecisive, unbelievable losers. Ted Griffin wrote the screenplay, and his dialogue is mind-bogglingly ludicrous (at one point, frustrated Josh Brolin cries, "I just wanted to get laid, instead I got f****d!"). This low-level of wit permeates everything in the scenario, turning nearly all the plot-points into dumb red herrings (the peanuts, the cigarette fire, the neon signs, even the song playing on the car radio!). Reese Witherspoon co-stars, and she's green enough to go along but professional enough not to look very enthused about it. The male leads are filled by Alessandro Nivola, a Jeremy Piven lookalike with a tight little smirk, and Brolin, who continually talks too loud and seems unsure what to project with his body language (he alternately stands stock still or moves about waving his arms). There's always a stupid-clause in pictures like these (with the proviso being, if there wasn't one--there would be no movie). Here it arrives with Nivola giving Brolin a ride even though he doesn't want him along. Brolin's excuse for coming: he's hungry. I was, too, after watching this fatally undernourished modern noir. *1/2 from ****