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Best Laid Plans

1999, Movie, R, 92 mins

Best Laid Plans: Review

BEST LAID PLANS
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As the title suggests -- and many a noir thriller has proved -- even the most carefully thought out schemes are bound to go awry in this imperfect world; a world in which everything revolves around greed, power and, sometimes, spite, as one character in this satisfyingly tight and twisty thriller points out. A seemingly innocent evening spent playing catch-up with an old college acquaintance leads to a night of hell-on-earth for Nick (Alessandro Nivola), a frustrated college graduate whose degree in history has earned him a dead-end job at the recycling plant in his dreary hometown. Hours after leaving buddy Bryce (Josh Brolin) at a local dive, Nick gets a panicked phone call: Something's gone terribly wrong, and Bryce really needs his help. Shortly after Nick left the bar, Bryce went home with a young woman (Reese Witherspoon) who, after what he thought was consensual sex, cried rape. Statutory rape, to be exact: The girl is only 16 years old. Now Bryce has her handcuffed to a pool table in the basement and won't let her go until Nick makes sure she won't go to the police, thereby implicating Nick in the crime. Smell a set-up? Well, you're only half right. Ted Griffin's cunning script is full of the kind of twists and turns one expects in a neo-noir, but the film is anything but predictable. Ben Seresin's stylish cinematography -- all oblique angles and cocktail-lounge lighting -- lends the film its dark and desperate tone, and the cast is perfectly in synch with the mood (Rocky Carroll almost steals the film with a hilarious turn as an Adam Smith-spouting drug dealer). Director Mike Barker has delivered a film that proves there's life left in the old genre yet, and does so with style, intelligence and surprisingly little violence. leave a comment --Ken Fox
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