Best Laid Plans

For a film with a to-the-point title, this little psychological thriller doesn't have the best-laid plot. Not that the exercise is all for naught. Scruffy Nick (Alessandro Nivola) is strapped in small-town America after his father passes on and leaves him with a financial headache. For some fast cash, Nick pairs up with a few dubious characters to pull off a no-brainer job. Things go awry and Nick winds up large into the town's crime boss.

Then there's Nick's old college buddy Bryce (Josh Brolin); the two reconnect over drinks and Bryce scores with the gorgeous nymphet (Reese Witherspoon) who's hovering around the bar. Now things get worse: the nymphet accuses Bryce of rape, he blames Nick, and she ends up bound and gagged in the basement. Can all this bad shit happen to one guy all at once? No, and that's the film's hook: everything is not what it appears to be. Best Laid Plans is handsomely shot, but when the plot tips its hand, this grandiloquent illusion misfires. Screens at the Copley Place Saturday, September 18 at 6:45 and 9:30 p.m. and Sunday, September 19 at noon and 2 and 4 p.m.

-- Tom Meek

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Film Festival Feature Films

| Keepers of the Frame | The Runner | The Carriers Are Waiting | Tumbleweeds | Deterrance | The War Zone | Happy, Texas | Joe the King | The Legend of 1900 | Best Laid Plans | Original Diner Guys | The Glass Jar | Rose's | Wirey Spindell | Starry Night | Bellyfruit |

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More Boston Film Festival information, film descriptions, and show times

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