Susan's Plan
Tags: comedy

Plot synopsis:
Susan Holland is a suburbanite woman who plots to kill her wealthy husband Paul in order to collect his life insurance policy. Though Susan's adultrous lover, Sam Meyers, she hires two incompetent criminals, named Bill and Steve, to kill Paul and make it look like a mugging gone wrong. However, when Bill and Steve show up as expected and shoot Paul outside his car in a parking lot, Paul survives and is taken to the hospital. Undaunted, Susan insists on continuing with her plans to kill Paul by having hiring a biker, named Bob, to carry out the deed while Paul is recovering in the hospital. Bob enlists a former prostitute, named Betty Johnson, to seduce Dr. Chris Stillman, the doctor treating Paul, to have the doctor move Paul to a private hospital room for Bob to isolate and kill Paul.
However, Susan's plan starts to unravel when a suspicious police detective, Detective Scott, begins suspecting her of having a hand in the attempt on Paul's life, and Sam's ex-wife, Penny, learns about the plot and wants in on part of Paul's life insurance money. Both Bill and Steve continue to insist to Susan to pay them for their work anyway despite they failed to kill Paul as planned. All through the film are funny and shocking fantasy sequences from various characters of their fears over being caught or shot by their own accomplices as details of the plan to kill Paul begins to fall apart.
Despite circumstances, Bob does manage to sneak into Paul's hospital room and kills him by smothering him with a pillow and makes a quick getaway. However, the next day, as Susan and Sam are planning to go to the police station to give their statement and pay off Bill and Steve for their work, Detective Scott and several policemen arrive and arrest all of them when security cameras at the hospital captured all of the events leading up to Paul's murder. When Bob arrives at Susan's house and the police move into arrest him, he attempts to run and opens fire at the policemen, but gets shot and killed trying to escape. Steve is shot and killed by a stray bullet in the crossfire. Susan is taken away to jail, while Sam's ex-wife Penny is also arrested due to her knowledge of the plot. Only Betty manages to slip away.
In the final scene, with Susan, Sam, Bill, and Penny all in prison serving their time, and the bodies of Bob, Steve, and Paul at the local morgue, Betty is shown to be living in Las Vegas in the free and clear and working as a casino cocktail waitress. When Dr. Stillman happens to visit the casino with his wife while on vacation, he spots and recognizes Betty working there under her new alias and knows that she had a hand in Paul's murder. But Dr. Stillman, fearing a negative reaction from his wife if she learned about his brief sexual tryst with Betty, pretends not to know who Betty is and lets her go while he continues his holiday in Vegas with his wife.

Review: We picked up the DVD and thought, "Hey, with a cast like this and with John Landis directing, it's got to be worth at least a look.
I mean, Landis did 'Blues Brothers', didn't he?"  I also need to point out that we are big Dan Ackroyd fans and will watch, at least once, anything the man puts on film.
Man, were we disappointed.Rather than beat a dead horse, we'll just throw a few adjectives and phrases your direction:  disjointed, bad editing, failing jokes (the fart jokes were the funniest, if this gives you an idea), no closure, redundant, unnecessary and distracting segues, gratuitous sex scenes (although Lara Flynn Boyles is very appealing, just not enough screen time to make it interesting!).We watched this movie and braved the hour and a half hoping it would get better and that the cacophony of subplots would somehow congeal into a cohesive crescendo.
Just got worse and left us feeling like we wasted the popcorn.Do not rent this movie.
If you need a Dan Ackroyd fix, just rent "Grosse Pointe Blank" or even "Ghostbusters."  And if you need a Rob Schneider fix, I understand 'Deuce Bigalow' was 'Citizen Kane' compared to this fine piece of...art..
Although funny at moments "Susan's plan" fails to provide a meaningful plot, it basically revolves around money, the amount of which is not even revealed.
The positive side of this movie is you get to see practically every female actress in it naked.
The stunningly beautiful Lara Flynn Boyle is one of the main reasons why I give this movie 6/10.
For example, we are told that Adrian Paul's character was bad and we're supposed to believe his death would not be a tremendous loss.
And if I had to see one more scene of gratuitous sex, I think I may have become violently ill.This supposedly is a comedy.
Many scenes seem completely pointless, and many others seem to be designed solely because somebody promised somebody that he/she could be in the movie and a minor cameo had to be created.
If anyone can explain why that character was necessary, I'll give him/her a dollar -- and that's nearly one-fourth of the total amount I wasted renting this movie!)It will be a very cold day in a notoriously hot place before I feel compelled to waste a couple of hours on this one again..
I can't really say that this was a good movie, as much as I'd like to say so, but some of the performances in the film are pretty funny.
I think Michael Biehn is terrific and he is easily the best character in the film.
I also think Rob Schneider and Billy Zane give good supporting performances.
Some of the gags are hilarious, but this Landis film can't compare to most of the stuff he's done in the past..
I liked this movie only because Nastassja Kinski starred in it, and it was kind of a different role for her.
I wish the movie had been better scripted and edited.
Why should we think Adrian Paul is worth killing?
Not John Landis's proudest moment.
I'm not sure what his last movie was before directing (and writing!) this forgettable dark comedy, but it seems as if he took a long break from the business.
You would think he'd make a big revival, after his many successes with such hit comedies as "Animal House," "Trading Places" and "Coming to America."  Wrong.
The film never quite hits the comic bull's eye, but it starts out on a positive note with many funny and entertaining moments.
Towards the end, the one-joke premise is stretched to the point where we're watching a series of violent dream sequences, which get quite repetitive.
The film loses all focus, and the audience is given the run-around.
Those who saw Landis's landmark comedy "Animal House" know his tendency to insert gratuitous nudity to catch the attention of his male viewers, but in that film it better fit the tone.
I don't know if it was exactly necessary to show Thomas Haden-Church doing Lara Flynn Boyle doggystyle.
Though I was laughing most of the way, I couldn't help but feel this film was way under par--especially for a man of Landis's talent.
The last thirty minutes is all over the map, and Landis seemed to have written those final scenes in his sleep.
I actually didn't expect this film to very funny, as the cover mostly made it look like more of an action movie - but as it turns out it was very very funny.
Most comedies nowadays have enough good jokes in them to last about ten minutes, but John Landis proves that movies like this still can be made..
Good "black comedy".
It's little unusual genre for John Landis.
I got used to his good comedies, like "Coming to America" or "Trading places".
This one is good movie too and it's "black comedy".
But I like this movie.
Characters during the whole movie find oneselves to the most stupid situation.
So I can call this movie "The standard of black comedies"..
What the hell has happened to John Landis?
The reason I watched this was for the cast, which boasts many talented performers, but I felt bad for them by the end, which is a slapdash mess.
The film starts off promisingly enough, but much like the titular `Plan', this movie falls apart by the third act.
One of the rules of this site discourages blowing the ends of movies, and I'll respect that, but be prepared for a weak, very predictable conclusion.
This film is also chockablock with dream sequences, which were a forgivable indulgence in `An American Werewolf in London', but in this seemed like a copout filmic device for audience misdirection that mainly seemed included to pad out a very thin script to feature length.
It's also got plenty of gratuitous female nudity, which is pleasant to look at, but kind of made me feel bad for the actresses, especially Lara Flynn Boyle.
In this case I think the actresses were exploited, but hey, it's a Landis movie.
Maybe an adequately diverting watch on cable if you're laid low by the flu or something, but if you're feeling fine, watch a good movie or go out and enjoy your life.
Ninety minutes could be better spent doing something other than becoming embroiled in `Susan's Plan'..
I've seen this film this evening with my wife and I'm very perplexed about it.
I think John Landis is near a genius - The Blues Brothers are there to show it - but this is a tired film with some great gags.
The cast of characters is very good and Dan (Aykroyd, obviously) play a splendid cameo but I'm not satisfied at all.
People had been dumping on this film a lot so I made sure to check all the other Landis movies I could before trying this one out.
Susan's Plan is a low budget "a bunch of people talking to each other" movie with a very simple plot - the title character comes up with a plan to whack her ex husband with the help of her friends and split the insurance money, but the plan goes wrong and hilarity ensues.Susan's Plan, even if obviously smaller, is still classic Landis.
The low budget is compensated by a strong narrative and a myriad of colorful characters who're rather at home in the Dream On universe, than in bigger Landis movies.
Almost everybody in this movie is famous for one thing or the other, even the small parts, just check out the cast.
The most unexpected performance comes from Michael Biehn, I'm not sure if he ever played something so funny and against type, because it's a role one would expect Jim Carey to play.
Susan's Plan feels constructed around cheap and accessible locations and well known, but inexpensive actors, and it's very well done at that.
At just 85 minutes it appears to have some padding scenes of various importance, like characters' dream sequences, Susan's day job as a teacher, or Stuart Gordon as a doctor telling a dirty joke, but it's done to make a full creative use of a location.
One thing that I found amazing was how Landis and his actors manage to switch between something really funny, or plain silly to something suspenseful and genuinely scary almost all in a single scene.
Overall it's a small crime comedy for midnight TV that looks bigger than it actually is.
Great cast, hillarious film!.
I rented this movie becuase Michael Biehn was in it, and found it surprisingly good.
However, the film is also filled with humorous portayls by Lara Flynn Bolye, Nastassja Kinski and Billy Zane.
Rob Schneider, Thomas Haden Church and Adrian Paul also give semi-funny performences, and Dan Akroyd plays a barely believable, but funny role as "Bob".
The plot is very cliched and rather normal, but the film is very funny and the charecters interesting to watch.
Highly reccomended to fans of Biehn, Kinski, Boyle or just fans of good comedies..
In case you haven't seen the movie.
Did Paul  (adrian paul) die in the movie or what.
Adrian paul's character calls his ex-wife susan(nastassja kinski)and says he been been in an accident but he is fine.so is he dead or what, or was it all a scam.Then at the end it shows betty (lara flynn boyle) in vegas who happens to run into the doctor (thomas hayden church),when he asks her how she's been.
This would only make sense if paul"s character really died.
I really liked the film thought it was very funny,I laughed a lot..
A pretty funny movie scarred with a bizarre ending and a weak plot..
Stars: Natassja Kinski, Billy Zane, Lara Flynn Boyle, Rob Schnieder, Michael Bien, Dan Aykroyd, Thomas Hayden Church and Joey Travolta.This was a genuinely funny movie with great performances.
It's a kill the husband get the money plotted film, but John Landis's script is surprisingly fresh.
His lack of humor in the film is actually the funniest part of it.
Schnieder and Bien are good as the two buddies in the film.
Now my problem with the film was the horrible ending.
The plot felt so unresolved and it ended on such a horrible note that it ruined the rest of the film for me.My rating: ** out of ****.
Funny until the ending.
Right up until the ending, I had been enjoying this film.
It's dark humour and well defined characters brought together by a great cast.
It was very interesting to watch Michael Biehn play someone very different to his usual characters.The only (and unfortunately, quite a major) drawback to this film was its ending, which made it look like the writer ran out of ideas and after deciding they were bored, quickly slammed on a hurried ending.
It just amazes me that John Landis- genius behind Animal House, Blues Brothers, American Werewolf in London, Coming to America and Spies like Us, was responsible for this waste of time.
With some wonderful names attached to this film you would expect to see some great acting...
All the main cast were superb in their roles.So why am I not enthusing over this film.
It had all the trappings of being exceptional but, perhaps it went a little too far overboard and became a little confusing - in the 'why did the Director want to do that?' sense of the word.The highs: Michael Biehn as the inept, would-be-killer, Bill, stuck in the closet with panicking Billy Zane's Insurance salesman and Bill's 'flatulent' best buddy.Dan Ackroyd in a wonderful deadpan role as 'Bob'.The Lows: The script - it was a little too flat and I am amazed the actors did such a great job given some of the lines they had to work with..
With the introductory titles at the beginning of the movie, one can sense that this film is in big trouble.
The first set of scenes seems to set the tenor of the movie and is a grand hint that what follows has the potential of being awful.
Somewhere about the 30 minute mark, it becomes exceedingly difficult to suppress the thought that the producer, director, and writer, John Landis, should not be taken outside and shot.
It is amazing how he can take a more than capable cast and have most of them looking like low IQ dimwits.
The movie's only saving grace is that it is highly uneven, meaning that there is something there to almost balance out its dreadfulness, but not quite.
That factor is Dan Aykroyd whose reputation as a comedian proceeds him and without that awareness, the movie would be a complete failure.
The basic plot of the movie is contained within its title, "Dying to Get Rich!
--- Susan's Plan," and revolves around Susan, played by Nastassja Kinski, scheming to get rid of her ex-husband to collect his insurance money.
Characterizing the film as a "black comedy" cannot mask its gross deficiencies.
It is painful to watch an actress of Nastassja's caliber having to mouth some of the lines that are liberally interspersed with a four letter word, starting with "f" and ending in "k."  This must be a Guinness world record for Nastassja uttering the "f" word in any of her movies.
It is my fervent hope that Nastassja will never have to attend a film festival of her works and have to provide commentary on a frame to frame basis for this movie.
Because this movie is like a sitting duck, it is too easy to blast it out of the water.
The awkwardness and stiffness of some of the scenes should constitute a nice lesson on how-not-to-make a movie.
This movie sucked big time.
I like this special comedy with much of neurotic fun very much.
Susan's Plan is to kill her husband, and the film shows us many versions, how people to do it.
The night on the swimming pool, with Susan the whisky and him is very strange.A film about possibilities against realities, about the opposition between dreaming and real-life.
A neurotic comedy like Woody Allens "Borris Gruschenko", where he is planning (together with the Diane Keaton) to kill Napoleon (and they kill double of Napoleon).
Nastassja as Susan in one of her best roles in the last ten years.
Very good is the scene, where she is sitting in the car and reading Stephen King.
Hard to say what went wrong with this movie.
Great cast and a director famous for his funny films - but somehow the pieces of the puzzle don't fit together.
Except for the unexpected dream sequences, the film holds few surprises and just doesn't make me laugh as often as it should.
Worth watching for the fans of Dan Aykroyd, though, because he's never had the opportunity to play such a mean tough guy before (as far as I know).
Nastassja Kinski still got the magic: I love the moment in the prison cell, when she looks at the other prisoner and doesn't know if she wants to cry or laugh...
GREAT FILM, BUT NOT ON TAPE OR DVD BUT ON CINEMAX.
This excellent indie film by John Landis was thankfully shown on late night Cinemax where it could be taped.
An intelligent and funny film with great acting and directing..
Susan's Plan.
Incoherent, unfunny John Landis comedy about a team of buffoons who try to pull off the perfect crime.
This is a funny, nonsense movie that should not ever be taken literally.
Most of the lists (including the one broadcasted on Max) neglect to mention Adrian Paul as the guy all the others are trying to kill.
Anyway, at the showing here in Dallas my daughter-in-law went with me to the film festival.
She really likes John Landis & was thrilled to meet him & get his autograph.
Mr.Landis asked her if I approved of how he used him in the film.
Since this was the first time I had the opportunity to see Mr. Paul on the big screen, it is a night I shan't forget.
In most of the comments I've seen,  haven't seen any comments on Adrian Paul's performance.
I happen to be a rather big fan of his and am trying to be patient about when I will be able to see the movie.
I have no idea of when it goes to video and if the networks are going to air it, but I am sure everyone on the film did a bang up job, and I mean everyone, including the grips and other BEHIND the scene peoples..
I really wanted to love this movie.
It had a great cast and John Landis!
But This is not a Landis movie, just some sub-par Tarantino-likestory, lazily executed, where annoying nightmares takes up the role ofthe disjointed-time sequences you find in any Tarantino wanabee (Andthere are already too many of 'em).
This movie is just fun, I liked it, and that's all that matters in the end of the day.
It had great jokes, great acting, and I felt the dreams bit were edge of your sit stuff.
Small, amusing John Landis film.
That's what it was, a small, amusing, John Landis film.The plot is simple.
Woman and her lover hires people to kill her no good ex-husband for the insurance money.
Watch this movie for the actors.
Michael Biehn plays against type as a weirdo, and he's very good.
Billy Zane is funny and gorgeous, and so is Natassia Kinski as the scheming woman who want to do away with her husband, the incredibly handsome, sexy Adrian Paul.This is a nice movie with some very funny moments, unfortunately the story and the dialog could've been written better.
I think that's why this movie never went to the theaters.Personally, I liked the movie for its' quirky characters and good acting.
Rent this movie when there's nothing else to do on the weekend.