Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney, Marisa Tomei, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Aleksa Palladino
When two brothers organize the robbery of their parents' jewelery store the job goes horribly wrong, triggering a series of events that sends them, their father and one brother's wife hurtling towards...( read more
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DVD Release Date: March 4, 2008
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Stats: 8,024 reviews
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Flixster Reviews (8,024)
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January 5, 2010ugh, any movie that Philip Seymour Hoffman gets naked in seems to be way to depressing (see Love Lisa)
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October 27, 2009Before the Devil Knows You're dead is a movie about misery and bad decisions. Misery leads to more misery, and bad decisions made because of misery, that in turn lead to even more misery.
The specific kind of misery involved here is the brand unique to families. Misery resultin...( read more) -
October 10, 2009Non-linear story telling making a mess of a crazy plot, time shifts are constant as the scenes change like a Tarantino flick. Eerie and depressing conclusions but the cast and performances are excellent. Family destroys itself in this film, terrible. Albert Finney's facial exp...( read more)
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September 5, 2009Oh, I didn't really care for this one. The casting is desperately unimaginative (Hawke is a spineless crybaby, PSH yells a lot and is stressed, Marisa Tomei is an inconsequential sexpot) and the narrative is interlaced with hilariously bad ~flashbacks~, denoted with a hilariously...( read more)
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July 12, 2009An extremely surprising find with possibly Ethan Hawke?s best performance to date, plus great performances from both Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Albert Finney. The flashbacks are a tad tiresome at times, but the editing of them are very clever in the storytelling. A unique angl...( read more)
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February 5, 2010"The thing that character wants more than anything," Lumet said recently at the New York Film Festival, "is that kind of fancy sex in an idyllic, away-from-everything set-up. These are the standards he lives by. I felt you had to know that to understand anything about him."
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January 30, 2010Slick heist film, more about the characters and their motivations before and after the event. Great script, direction and outstanding performances by the cast.
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Critic Reviews
November 15, 2007
Colin Covert, The Minneapolis Star Tribune
November 2, 2007
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
An invigorating, refreshing and unusual thing to see one done so expertly. full review
November 2, 2007
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Sidney Lumet's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead is such a superb crime melodrama that I almost want to leave it at that. To just stop writing right now and advise you to go out and see it as soon as... full review
November 1, 2007
Claudia Puig, USA Today
A sharply acted and highly entertaining morality play. full review
October 26, 2007
Pete Hammond, Maxim
It has been exactly 50 years since Sidney Lumet made his first movie but let's hope on the basis of this shattering edge-of-your-seat stuff that he hasn't made his last. full review
October 26, 2007
A.O. Scott, The New York Times
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead is a chronicle of destruction -- physical, spiritual and moral.
October 24, 2007
Armond White, The New York Press
Lumet tries getting back to the outrageous satirical mode of Network and Just Tell Me What You Want, but this family dysfunction story fails the classic requirements of social critique. full review
October 22, 2007
David Edelstein, New York Magazine
[Sidney Lumet's] touch in Before the Devil is so sure, so perfectly weighted, that it's hard to imagine him capable of making a bad movie. full review
October 18, 2007
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Working with the startlingly talented new screenwriter Kelly Masterson, Lumet fuses dark wit, suspense and tragedy into a time-shifting movie that vibrates with energy. full review
Comments
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April 20, 2008Well written and acted movie about 2 greedy brothers stealing from their family's business. A movie with a lot of flashbacks that gives you the fit the pieces of the puzzle kind of movie. Also this was the perfect example why these parents should have given their boys up for adoption when they were born. I think the ending could have been more explanatory regarding one of the characters.
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