Bad Luck, Bad Plans
You could say it all started for Nick (Alessandro Nivola - Face/Off) the day he ran over a cat and then got a flat, that day may have seen him meet Lissa (Reese Witherspoon - Election) but it was the start of the bad luck. They were followed by the news that because his dad owed money to the IRS he is getting no inheritance, the money he planned to use to escape from town. Desperate he then does something seriously stupid and becomes a driver in a drugs deal and when things go bad he ends up owing the drug dealer money. With time running out and getting increasingly desperate Nick and Lissa come up with a plan to scam money out of his old college friend Bryce (Josh Brolin - The Goonies).
"Best Laid Plans" starts with Nick and Bryce in a bar having drinks were Bryce picks up a woman. Shortly after he calls Nick to his as the woman who calls herself Kathy claims he raped her and he now has her tied up in the basement. It's a solid start if you have not bothered to read up on the movie anywhere as it ends with us learning that this is a scam as Nick knows Kathy who we soon discover is Lissa. What follows takes up back to four months earlier and details how they ended up getting to that situation. Of course it doesn't end at that point we get the conclusion which serves up a surprise as well.
Now the thing is that "Best Laid Plans" isn't one of these thrillers which trade on sex, drugs and violence, it has its moments but it is more of a wordy thriller. It is more about the character of Nick and how his life goes wrong, becoming increasingly desperate to escape the mess he is in. At the same time it is all about the closeness of Nick and Lissa and how loved up they are and they certainly come across as cute which means we feel for them in their desperate times.
But the thing is that whilst "Best Laid Plans" is a solidly made entertaining thriller which also features a good performance from Josh Brolin as a jerk it isn't a movie you will feel a desperate need to watch again. It is just a solid thriller with some nice twists which at the end make sense but doesn't make you go wow. There is nothing amazingly new, remarkable or fancy about it which whilst it doesn't need anything would have made the difference between being entertaining and being a movie you have to watch again.
What this all boils down to is that "Best Laid Plans" is a solid little thriller which if you are a fan of thrillers is worth a watch but you won't feel the desire afterwards to watch it again.
