Customer Reviews
Lumet Still has What It Takes. 
2008-07-02
I won't attempt to state the plot or anything else that's been covered by so many other reviewers. I'll simply say that this rather dark family story is a wonderful surprise. I frankly didn't think 84-year-old Sidney Lumet still had it in him to tell a riveting story, but I was terribly wrong. This beautifully written, well-crafted film is Lumet at his best and stands shoulder to shoulder with his many of his other memorable films. After a while, I started feeling like a voyeur watching this work because as implausible as the story line seemed and reprehensible the Ethan Hawke and Phillip Seymour Hoffman characters were, it all felt very real and believable - as if I was watching the tragedy of a real-life family unfold. The Blu Ray disc heightened the realism of the experience. This is a highly recommended work of art.
Before the Devil Knows Marisa Tomei's Naked. 
2008-06-30
"Hey little brother, I've got an idea."
"Yes older brother?"
"Let's rob mom and dad's jewelry store."
"You can't be serious, big brother."
"I'm dead serious. It's as safe as can be. Know one will get hurt..."
Enter in modern day Shakespearean tragedy-type plotline and, oh yeah, Marisa Tomei naked on at least three occasions, Phil Hoffman's bare butt on at least one more, and Ethan Hawke sporting his usual, cracked-out back alley mustache and we've got yet another poorly-written indy film that will likely be hated by many but adored by even more.
I could go all poor-man's Ebert on you right now, but I'm not going to because only three of you will read this anyway. This film is mediocre and possibly the worse Phil Hoffman film I've seen this side of Twister.
Did I mention Marisa Tomei will cause every choir boy alive to stumble in a myriad of ways? Makes you wonder why she started doing Hanes commercials being that she doesn't wear any clothes in 60% of her scenes in this film.
"Just wait until we get our Hanes on you." If Marisa is wearing them, I'm buying.
Gotta hand it to the screenplay guys out there. They know what sells DVDs these days, especially when your plotline is minimal at best.
Its official....Hollywood has run out of ideas 
2008-06-29
This is a depressing story about a family's implosion based on an unrealistic premise. The faults with the acting and story are well described by others. Particularly disconcerting was the still very hot Marisa Tomei playing the wife of a very unappealing Phillip Hoffman. Riiiight. In your dreams buddy. And to top it off, he cant get excited by her. Get real. Or is that supposed to give us some pseudo-insight into his character? No sale. The flashback technique tries to divert you from the realization that there is no worthwhile story here. Once the premise is established you can pretty much guess the rest. There were several times I almost stopped watching but I kept hoping the movie would improve. I regret sticking with it all the way. In the bonus features, the producers and other personnel are tripping over themselves talking about how wonderful everyone is to work with and how important they all are and how lucky they that Sidney picked this script out of so many others. Was this really the best that Hollywood could do? Don't waste your time watching this one.
albert finney 
2008-06-16
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
great movieBefore the Devil Knows You're Dead
albert finney is great
Indulgent acting mars what might have been a hard-edged story. At least we can see Rosemary Harris show us the real goods 2008-06-14
The contradictions, and especially the indulgences, in Sidney Lumet's Before the Devil Knows Your Dead are queasily evident in the first and last scenes. In the first, which pops up as soon as the lights dim, we have a nude, pale, flabbily fat actor doing Pin the Tail on the Donkey with a nude actress on her knees, hips high, in front of him. The only image that came to mind was of a quivering Moby Dick throwing the harpoon at Mrs. Ahab.
The last scene -- spoilers alert! -- gives us an old man who had to study like a son of a gun just to pass his written driver's test suddenly smart and clever enough to know how to fake out a heart monitor machine in a busy hospital so he could smother to death a gunshot victim and not be caught.
In between these two points are the bones of a hard-edged story of unlikable people that could have been a classic. Instead, we admire the potential but are bored by a lot of the show-off flash. Lumet has always had the reputation of an actors' director, a man who can pull great performances from a cast. Actors, in turn, have always been eager to work with Lumet. At least in part, now we know why. Frequently with this movie, the story, the tension and our interest come to a screeching halt when Lumet permits Philip Seymore Hoffman as Andy to plunge headfirst into "acting"...or to permit Ethan Hawke as Hank to plunge headfirst into "acting"...or to permit the two of them to share intense scenes of "acting," all the while with the camera respectfully observing the performances. Only a disciplined director able to impose his will on actors will be able to convince most actors that less is more. It seldom happens here, and the movie -- despite the potential for classic unhappiness and despite scenes of real tension -- winds up as self-conscious melodrama. This is a frustrating situation because Hoffman is riveting at times as a slick, sick manipulator whose life for quite a while has been on the down escalator. Hawke as Andy's shlumpf of a younger brother is stuck in a losing role as an unsympathetic weakling. Albert Finney as their father, who, with his adored wife, owns a small jewelry store, does Albert Finney again. To give him credit, he picks up steam when his character decides to be the avenging angel.
It's Andy's plan to rob his parents' store that goes bad, but it's Hoffman's indulged acting, approved by Lumet, that's the real crime. Even some of the secondary actors, particularly Michael Shannon as Dex, over emote...and actors playing secondary characters wouldn't do that without the specific encouragement of the director. Rosemary Harris, as the two brothers' mother and Finney's wife, does the real acting. Harris is one of the great actresses of the American and British stage (and the mother of Jennifer Ehle). Her role is brief, just two real scenes. One shows her affection for her aging husband and the other as the frightened victim of the robbery who decides to resist. Harris knows the value of less is more. She gives to a small part real strength and motivation, and makes Finney's motivation for revenge believable. The irony is that while many movie fans will be thrilled by Hoffman's performance, most probably won't even notice how good Harris is or even recognize her name.
Lumet must have been aiming for tragic drama but he wound up with the Hollywood version. This was a real disappoint for me because I have a lot of respect for Lumet and for a number of his actors.
Film noir american style 2008-07-21
The storytelling in this film is worth comparing to a modern Shakespeare. This is not just some sort of tragedy. This is a tragedy of gigantic proportions. We see fantastic cast of actors (Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei and Albert Finney) assembled in this sad family saga. Two brothers, one seemingly well off and married to a beautiful woman and the other a complete loser without career, money and divorced, agree to commit "victimless crime" by robbing their parent's jewelry store. The idea is that the insurance would cover the loss of the jewelry that is estimated to $500,000-$600,000 value. Brothers would take care of their financial responsibilites and start their lives fresh. At least that is the plan, until everything not only fails but spirals down with dizzing velocity. I have not seen film this good since "All the King's Men" came out couple of years ago. This film will shake you in more ways than one.
Frantic, explosive, and poetic - begining to end! 2008-07-12
Sidney Lumet's "Before the Devil knows your Dead' is a whirlwind movie with surprises at every corner. Very well written by Kelly Masterson, the storyline relishes in reality, while the characters develop very believably throughout the movie. No black magic here, this movie is all to real. Director Lumet's very satisfying directing makes this movie surprises even Lumet fans.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman plays Andy. A successful Payroll Manager with a beautiful wife, played by Marisa Tomei, and some expensive drug habits. Ethan Hawke plays Hank, Andy's troubled younger brother: A down-trotten divorce' who spends more money in bars than paying for his child support. The two brothers. Besides their lineage, they share a more common problem - money. To fix this, Andy hatches a plan to rob a jewelry store - only the jewelry store is the one owned by their parents. Since they both know the stores layout, this seems at first to be an easy job. Andy gives Hank an 'advance' to hire a thug to rob the store early one morning. Anticipating only an elderly woman employee opening the store, Hank eagerly waits in the get-away car while the hired hand walks in to take the loot; an estimated $500-$600k.
Then the plan goes way awry.
The simplicity quickly turns into a family tragedy while the characters themselves begin play a game of cat & mouse with the law, their family, and with themselves; avoiding their obligations and while confronting a growingly uncertain future.
Hoffman's acting abilities are remarkable in this movie. His character 'Andy' is all too believable and all to human. Too, Ethan Hawke's apprehensive and confused 'Hank' shows Hawke coming into form as a Hollywood A-list actor. He was perfect for this part. Marisa Tomei's frank, and vivid scenes, show her amazing acting talents as a trophy-wife having an affair while a drug-induced husband sails through life giving her mere luxury; without fulfilling her basic needs only her lover (Hank) affords her.
Albert Finney plays a tour-de-force as Andy and Hank's Dad. His character's persistence unravels the truth, and ultimate discovery, that tears the family apart. The ending of " Before the Devil..." is pure poetic justice.
While not a box office standout, this movie deserves more credit than it received. "Before the Devil knows your Dead' is a masterpiece: Both engrossing and, most importantly, very believable.
I highly recommend this movie!
A Way You'll Never Be 2008-07-12
This movie starts off with a bang, literally. Andy Hanson (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is sharing an intimate moment with his wife (Marisa Tomei). Its an intense but totally emotionless scene. It is emotionless because Andy does not make connections with people. Andy doesn't feel, and he thinks he is alive only when he is able to make some kind of impact on another's life. But his wife is equally remote, and equally dysfunctional, and their "relationship" is simply a collison of two souls damaged beyond repair.
The rest of the film is the story of what happened to Andy Hanson to make him this way.
We slowly learn that highly successful older brother Andy Hanson never could please his demanding dad (Albert Finney), and to make matters worse younger brother Hank (Ethan Hawke), despite being incompetent at everything he tries to do & incapable of even having an idea that he could call his own, receives all of the love mother & father & sister have to give. Even Andy's wife, an almost always topless/bottomless (or both) Marisa Tomei, prefers Hank and meets him every Thursday afternoon.
Andy's life is thus a living hell, and he tries to ease the pain with the only thing that seems to give him peace & love & everything else that life denies him: heroin.
Nothing in Andy's world is right (at one point he says that none of the pieces of his life fit together) and in a kind of last gasp effort to make things right once and for all he comes up with a plan.
What is brilliant about this film is that we know that Andy is seeking his own kind of redemptive justice (ie revenge against all those whom he perceives to be unfairly against him) and we also know that whether the plan goes right or wrong Andy's intentions will be realized. What we don't know, and what is brilliantly realized in scene after scene, is the depth of Andy's pain & the extent he will go to make things "right" in his world. Andy thinks he has hit bottom, but with each step of his plan he sinks lower and lower. Ironically, his attempt to make things right slowly destroys (what is left of) him.
Sidney Lumet made his reputation with DOG DAY AFTERNOON & SERPICO & THE VERDICT (and about twelve other masterpieces), and yet late in his career he manages to make a film that is fresher than any Independent film I've seen since HARD EIGHT.
And what I love about this film is that it shows the results of choices & actions (something very few crime films do). The intitial action here was a father's refusal to love his son, and the result was a psychic breakdown that took years to reach its crisis point. This film is that crisis point. Philip Seymour Hoffman astonishes in a performance that is so real that you almost have to look away. But you won't.
An Oscar worthy performance in an Oscar worthy film.
May you be in heaven half an hour... 2008-07-11
This is a thoroughly diabolical tale of just how bad things can go wrong. A simple robbery. Pick up some serious change. Get our finances together and everything will be hunky-dory. But--mom and pop's jewelry store? No problem. Insurance pays for it all. No guns. Nobody gets hurt. Easy money.
Older, more successful (it would appear) brother Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) has a few minor problems. Heroin addiction, cocaine habituation. A wife (Marisa Tomei) that...well, he can't seem to perform for. His flat belly days long gone. Younger, sweet, slightly dim-witted brother, Hank (Ethan Hawke) with a few dinero problems of his own. Behind in child support payments for his daughter, in debt to friends and relatives, not exactly wowing them in the work of work, etc.
Sydney Lumet, in this performance at the age of 82 (!), directs and gets it 99.99 percent right, which is hard to do in a thriller. I have seen more thrillers than I can remember and most of the time the director gets the movie printed and lives with the plot holes, the improbabilities, the cheesy scenes, and the hurry-up ending. Here Lumet makes a thriller like it's a work of art. Every detail is perfect. The acting is superb. The plot has no holes. The story rings true and clear and represents a tale about human frailty that would honor the greatest filmmakers and even the Bard himself.
Hoffman of course is excellent. When you don't have marquee, leading man presence, you have to get by on talent, workmanship and pure concentration. Ethan Hawke, who is no stranger to the sweet, little guy role, adds a layer of desperation and all too human incompetence to the part so that we don't know whether to pity him or trash him. Albert Finney plays the father of the wayward sons with a kind of steely intensity that belies his age. And Marisa Tomei, who has magical qualities of sexiness to go along with her unique creativity, manages to be both vulnerable and hard as nails as Andy's two timing wife. (But who could blame her?)
It's almost a movie reviewer's sacrilege to give a commercial thriller five or ten stars, but if you study this film, as all aspiring film makers would be well advised to do, you will notice the kind of excessive (according to most Hollywood producers) attention to detail that makes for real art--the sort of thing that only great artists can do, and indeed cannot help but do. (By the way, I think there were twenty producers on this film--well, maybe a dozen; check the credits.) All I can say in summation is, Way to go Sydney Lumet, author of a slew of excellent films, and to show such fidelity to your craft and your art at such an advanced age--kudos. May we all do half so well.
Okay, the 00.01 percent. It was unlikely that the father (Albert Finney) could have followed the cabs that Andy took around New York without somehow losing the tail. This is minor, and I wish all thrillers could have so small a blip. Also one wonders why Lumet decided not to tell us about the fate of Hank at the end. We can guess and guess. Perhaps his fate fell onto the cutting room floor. Perhaps Lumet was not satisfied with what was filmed and time ran out, and he just said, "Leave it like that. It really doesn't matter."
And I think it doesn't. What happens to Hank is not going to be good. He isn't the kind of guy who manages to run off to Mexico and is able to start a new life. He is the kind of guy who gets a "light" sentence of 10 to 20 and serves it and comes out a kind of shrunken human being who knows he wasn't really a man when he should have been.
See this for Sidney Lumet, one of Hollywood's best, director of The Pawnbroker (1964), The Group (1966), Serpico (1973), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Network (1976), and many more.
A Sharp Cast Led by a Brilliant Hoffman Ignites Lumet's Fever-Pitch Suspense Melodrama 2008-07-03
This intensely involving 2007 character-driven suspense drama is like a big, juicy piece of Shakespearean-level steak from a master filmmaker who knows how to draw out uncommonly ferocious, to-the-edge performances from his actors. Consider for starters - Henry Fonda's lone dissenting juror in 12 Angry Men, Katharine Hepburn's delusional Mary Tyrone in Long Day's Journey Into Night, Rod Steiger's conflicted concentration camp survivor in The Pawnbroker, William Holden's wintry lion in Network, and Paul Newman's alcoholic lawyer in The Verdict. The list encompasses some of the finest screen work of the past half-century, and you can safely add Philip Seymour Hoffman's desperately controlling Andy Hanson to the ranks. At 83, director Sidney Lumet shows no signs of octogenarian fatigue, and in fact, he revels in the melodramatic turns of first-time screenwriter Kelly Masterson's thickly plotted script.
The scale of the story is deceptively small as it focuses on the moral compromises that unravel in a family where two brothers have become desperate for immediate cash. Woody Allen followed a similar fraternal dynamic in his last film, the oddly pinched Cassandra's Dream, but Lumet is neither pinched nor cautious in his fierce approach to this inescapable tale of ambiguity and deception. The plot revolves around a crime that was meant to be victimless. Embezzling funds from his real estate company's payroll to keep his neglected wife Gina happy and to satisfy an expensive drug habit, smooth-talking Andy is about to be exposed in an IRS audit. Meanwhile, his younger brother Hank is a mass of post-divorce, codependent insecurities falling way behind in his alimony and child support payments.
Andy concocts a supposedly foolproof plan to rob their parents' suburban jewelry store while neither of them is supposed to be there. The goal was for the brothers to collect the haul and the parents to claim the insurance. Murphy's Law intervenes in every possible way starting with Andy pressuring Hank to do the job himself. After some brotherly cajoling, Hank agrees to it, but too scared to do it alone, he recruits a reckless, gun-toting busboy to handle the robbery. By fate, the heist occurs on the one day that Andy and Hank's mother is opening the shop, and things quickly spiral out of control from there. Although the back-and-forth storytelling technique is not new (for example, Alejandro González Iñárritu's 21 Grams comes to mind), Masterson's approach works effectively in delineating certain events from multiple perspectives so that you understand how each character is led to the repercussions of the unfortunate event.
The acting is pitch-perfect starting with Hoffman's riveting performance as Andy, a Machiavellian reptile whose cool exterior and innate amorality mask layers of resentment toward his family. I thought he was great in Tamara Jenkins' The Savages, but he is even better here. Lumet even draws a solid performance from the usually insufferable Ethan Hawke as Hank, imbuing him with the emasculated weakness that informs his every ill-planned move. As their embattled father, Albert Finney acts with his typical late-career bluster, but he provides the necessary foundation for the Oedipal-level complexities. Marisa Tomei is a smart choice to play Gina, as the actress economically keys in on the responsive, watchful nature of a small but pivotal role. The estimable theater veteran Rosemary Harris (now better known as Peter Parker's aunt in the Spider-Man trilogy) has precious little time as the mother, as does Amy Ryan as Hank's bitter ex-wife.
There are scenes that border on excess, especially as the situation becomes increasingly desperate for the brothers, but the principals inject such energetic brio to them that the flourishes become forgivable. After the disappointment of the cartoonish Find Me Guilty, it is refreshing to see Lumet in peak form here. The 2008 DVD offers terrifically informative commentary from Lumet, Hoffman and Hawke, all of whom converse with ease and insight throughout. Along with the original theatrical trailer, there is also a better-than-average 24-minute featurette, "Directed by Sidney Lumet: How the Devil Was Made", which features on-set footage and snippets of interviews with Lumet, two of the producers and the principal actors.
