\Th TASTE OF PARADISE" Seafood Grill B an qu e t Center Movies Open Daily for Lunch and Dinner FRIDAYS 1 lb. King Crab Legs Catching Up With Sam Raimi includes redskins garlic mashed potatoes, vegetables and Pompano's specialty salad $19.95 SATURDAYS SERENA DONADONI Special to The Jewish News , -) Above right: Billy Bob Thornton, Bridget Fonda and Bill Paxton. in `A Simple Plan."-- A Simple Plan" goes astray. A Simple Plan is a fairly simple and involving thriller until it develops airs — solemn, searching airs, as if trying to do a Farmer's Almanac edi- tion of Chekhov. Scott B. Smith adapted his novel, reverently, and Sam Raimi directed the story about three yokels in a small, wintry, very Midwestern town. Chasing a fox through the snowy woods, they find a smashed airplane containing a corpse and a bag with more than $4 million in cash. What to do? Continuance of the film would argue that they keep the money. The cash is kidnap loot, the corpse one of the unlucky crooks. At first resisting taking the treasure haul is Hank (Bill Paxton), who is "smart" — a farm boy who went to college, though he still clerks in a feed and grain store. Hank has thought himself a happy man, with a lovely wife (Brid- get Fonda) and a baby on the way. Unhappy is brother Jacob (Billy Bob Thornton), who has stringy dweeb hair and the stunned look of trying to mentally fuse an I with a Q. Jacob is a simple soul who loves the simple plan — to keep the money in hiding until the coast is clear. Also keen for it is his moronic and alco- holic best friend, Lou (Brent Briscoe), whose life illustrates the deep kinship between "mess" and "misery" Hank gets to hide the stash but, of course, such a simple plan must go wrong. Unlike the usual heist movie, in which an elegantly knitted criminal scheme unravels in one devastating detail or oversight, this is a bad-luck, dumb-idea movie in which a foolish plan fouls up repeatedly. Inevitably there are violent deaths, making those in Fargo seem richly complex and historically resonant. Paxton has become a sturdy and capable but dull leading man, OK as an ordinary guy out of his shallow depth, yet almost blank as a mirror of moral reckoning. Thornton does better as Jacob, the busted toilet of life's little dreams. Director Raimi made his rep as an extreme stylist of horror comedies. He has gone from volatile excess and brazen, giddy payoffs to a tedious meditation on the gutless and guilty. It is hard to make a story light up when it's about dim bulbs. Inside this morbid blunder party we can sense a comedy about lives of quiet despera- tion, struggling to get out, then dying with a wheeze. Rated R. ** — Reviewed by David Elliott, Copley News Service I is taken two decades, but film- maker Sam Raimi is finally get- ting some respect. Raimi, who grew up in Franklin, Mich., made his name in horror films remark- able for their dazzlingly inventive cam- erawork and off-beat sensibility. But even though he's built a sizable cult following, Raimi is finally begin- ning to receive mainstream acclaim for his latest film, A Simple Plan, which graced a number of year-end best-of lists. Although A Simple Plan, opening today, is in many aspects a horror film, it is decidedly different from what Raimi has done before. A character-driven story of two brothers who find millions of dollars in ransom money in a downed air- plane near their snowbound small town, the film follows the moral rami- fications of what happens when they conspire to keep the money. Raimi spoke via telephone from New York City, where he was shooting scenes for his next foray into main- stream filmmaking. Surf & Turf 10 oz. prime rib and 6 oz. lobster tail includes redskins garlic mashed potatoes, vegetables and Pompano's specialty salad $19.95 Live Entertainment every Friday and Saturday Guitarist, Vocalist ARLIE SAL O CH is here thru the month of January We have 4 separate banquet rooms seating up to 300 We offer Hotel accommodations and complimentary room for the Bride and Groom All Catering by Pompano's 38123 W. 10 Mile Road At the Holiday Inn Farmington Hills (248) 478.4780 F COUPON CANFIELD'S RESTAURANT JN: The style of A Simple Plan, which is very basic and direct, is very differ- ent from your previous films. Did you feel this approach best suits this type of story? SR: The movies I make are usually screaming to entertain loudly with great insecurity, the camera racing around trying to entertain as much as possible. But I had so much confi- dence in the script and these actors that I felt that the only choice for me was to put the camera not in the most exciting or dramatic places but in the proper place and really allow the actors to tell the story. JN: Based on newspaper clippings that characters in the movie read, it seems as if A Simple Plan takes place some- where in the Thumb area of Michi- SAM RAIMI on page 100 4625 WOODWARD at Canfield (313) 832-3200 ENJOY A COMPLIMENTARY BREAKFAST, LUNCH, SUNDAY BRUNCH OR DINNER ENTREE WHEN A SECOND ONE OF EQUAL OR GREATER VALUE IS PURCHASED. UP TO $10 VALUE OFFER EXPIRES 1/31/99 I. COUPON a American Heart Association- rLDloz: Figlying Hea a Medical miracles start with research Detroit Jewish News 1/22 1999 99