I’ve seen Diane Keaton in several movies over the years and I usually like her in them. I recently rented a few movies and found Plan B, a movie she was in that I hadn’t heard of before. It sounded interesting so I rented it.

Fran found out after the death of her husband that he owned money to mobster Joe Maloni and she ended up forced to work for him as a bookkeeper to pay off the debt. Several months later, Joe took her to a meeting where assassins were waiting on him. Somehow, Fran managed to shoot the assassins which pleased Joe. He decided to make her his new assassin and sent her to kill someone. Fran didn’t want to be an assassin and just couldn’t kill anyone and instead she took Donnie to her brother’s house in Florida instead of killing him. Things got more complicated when Joe kept coming up with more men for Fran to kill.

Movies dealing with the mob have never been my favorites though I will occasionally watch one. The plot for Plan B sounded different for a movie about the mob. The idea of a mob boss turning his widowed bookkeeper into a killer was unique as was Fran’s way of dealing with the situation. Fran ended up in several dangerous situations that she somehow managed to get out of. She really wasn’t good at the job, though Joe refused to see that. It probably didn’t help that she told Joe she did kill the men. She got hurt every time she went after someone. There really wasn’t that much violence in the movie, especially for one that was rated R. I think the rating was more for the language used by some of the characters. The violence shouldn’t be too graphic for anyone.

It did take a little while for Plan B to get going and reach the point where Joe decided that he was going to send Fran out to kill his enemies. Some of the early scenes didn’t seem to have much point and slowed the pace down. There were a few other scenes that seemed pointless later in the movie as well. The pacing could have been tighter overall since there were scenes that dragged on too long throughout the movie. The plot was very straightforward with only a few small surprises so there really wasn’t any mystery in the movie. The movie was just focused on Fran’s attempts to deal with the ever growing mess she had gotten herself into. Some of what happened, like why she took them to her brother’s house in Florida instead of sticking them on a plane for another country, wasn’t the most logical.

I thought that Plan B was intended to be a comedy. Since the mob and killing was involved, there were elements of a black comedy used. People that don’t like black comedies should just avoid this movie. Right from the beginning, humor was added to what was going on. Some of it worked, though was a bit silly, while some of the attempts at humor failed. Fran was clumsy which was used to add humor in several scenes, especially when she was trying to do what Joe wanted. Some things that happened were a bit bizarre and made me laugh for that reason. The movie did make me laugh several times even though it wasn’t a hilarious comedy. It could have been better, but it could have been a lot worse too.

Fran wasn’t a violent person and had never touched a gun before Joe made her carry one to a meeting. She didn’t want to be an assassin but she headed off intending to do what Joe wanted at first. She came up with the idea for Donnie to pretend to be dead on the spur of the moment after she couldn’t shoot him and just ran with the idea, taking him to Florida. She didn’t think a lot of things through, which caused her trouble more than once. Fran was accident prone, clumsy, and flighty so she wasn’t anything like most assassins. Diane Keaton was fine in the part and even managed to be believable. Her characters were very different in The Family Stone and Something's Gotta Give. James and Fran hadn’t seen each other in a long time, so he was surprised when she turned up with a man in tow. There really wasn’t any exploration of James and Fran’s relationship in the movie. Bob Balaban didn’t have much to do as James. I saw Balaban in Lady in the Water a few months ago.

Joe had a thing for expensive shoes and suits and got very annoyed if the people around him didn’t share his knowledge and appreciation of those things. Joe was not someone you’d want to cross. He had no problem with sitting back and sending Fran to do his dirty work. There could have been more development for the character. Paul Sorvino was fine in the part and did seem to fit the character. Donnie was the first man Fran was sent to kill. He went along with the plan easily. Raymond and Sal, the other men, needed more convincing. None of them were developed much. Natasha Lyonne had a very small part as the mistress of the man that lived next door to James.

Main Cast

Bob Balaban - James
Maury Chaykin - Donnie
Diane Keaton - Fran
Natasha Lyonne - Kaye
Paul Sorvino - Joe
John Ventimiglia - Raymond
Burt Young - Sal

Greg Yaitanes

DVD Information

I rented Plan B is available on DVD. The DVD I rented was in the widescreen version. That was all the rental place had, so I don’t know if there is a full screen version too. The DVD included a commentary, additional scenes, and a screen test. I didn’t check out any of the extras because I hadn’t enjoyed the movie enough to be interested in them.

Plan B had an interesting idea for the plot. I was entertained by the movie even though I did think it had some problems. The movie wasn’t horrible and fans of Diane Keaton might enjoy it somewhat since it was mildly entertaining.


Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD