Dead Simple

This black comedy in which a country bumpkin checkmates some slick operators has a satisfyingly nasty edge. Henpecked Kansan Frank Jacobs (Daniel Stern) gets no respect from his conservative wife, Helen (Patricia Richardson). She dismisses his notions of a Country Western songwriting career, and never joins him when he sings at the local karaoke bar. One night, drunken Roy (James Caan), the lead singer of a touring pair of karaoke sharks, tosses out his over-sexed co-star, Julie (Lacey Kohn). She winds up crying on Frank's sympathetic shoulder, and plants the seeds of artistic discontent in Frank's mind. She encourages his writing ambitions, and suggests they cut a d...