Yikes, talk about money being the root of all evil! "Hank" (Bill Paxton), brother "Jacob" (Billy Bob Thornton) and their friend "Lou" (Brent Briscoe) are out hunting in the snowy wilderness when they discover the wreck of a plane. The pilot's corpse is still at the controls but they are more interested in the contents of a sports bag. It's got over $4m in it! What to do? Hand it in? Put it back? Keep it? Well the whole story is set against a backdrop of a less attractive American dream with a paucity of opportunity for any of these men. "Hank" will soon be a father and "Jacob" is determined to reclaim a family farm that was foreclosed upon years earlier. Decision made! Initially they are organised and disciplined. No splashing the cash, taking things responsibly and keeping under the radar - but gradually that disciple starts to crack. Not least because the expecting "Sarah" (Bridget Fonda) is conceivably even more determined to use the cash than the men who found it. Pressures begin to build, trusts begin to fray and some newspaper clippings inform them a little more of the likely source of their windfall. With the arrival of the FBI - well things turn sour on just about every level. It's Thornton who takes the plaudits here with an understated effort as probably the most principled of the men but all three work well together, with the increasingly Fonda stoking the fire, and though maybe just a little drastically far-fetched towards the end, this is quite a telling story of just what people might be prepared to do to better their lot. It's setting amidst the cold and darkness coupled with a rather benign small-town mentality (especially amongst local law enforcement) serves the scenario effectively as a sleepy town where nothing much ever happens starts to resemble something from an horror film. It's carefully written with little excess dialogue cluttering up a story of bad choices eliciting even worse ones, and is well worth a couple of hour.
