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  read more... ) a shattering climax.

Flixster Users

69% liked it

75,735 ratings

Critics

88% liked it

156 critics

R, 1 hr. 57 min.

Directed by: Sidney Lumet

Release Date: November 2, 2007

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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)


  • January 5, 2010
    ugh, any movie that Philip Seymour Hoffman gets naked in seems to be way to depressing (see Love Lisa)
  • October 27, 2009
    Before 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)g because the poor relationships between father and son, husband and wife, and father and daughter. There may be a crime at the center of the plot, but it's never really the movie's focus.

    The acting is as good as you expect. Seeing Hoffman and Tomei in the same movie was a treat, because they are two of my favorite people in Hollywood. There are no weak spots in the cast to think of. And the re-occuring theme music that plays from time to time in key scenes? Awesome.

    Much of the movie moves at a slightly subdued pace, and I'm sure there are people who won't care for that. But when an intense scene does happen, you won't be able to look away.
  • October 10, 2009
    Non-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)ressions are weeeirrd. Ethan Hawke makes some bizarre noises, and Marisa Tomei is always getting naked. Sidney's lost it!
  • September 5, 2009
    Oh, 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) shitty editing trick. Sidney Lumet probably watched a bunch of new movies and decided that chronological fuckery was the easiest way to modernize his material, which could have been made in 1975 and no one would have noticed.

    The critical rapture over this movie frankly stuns me and I think that a lot of people were just poised to herald a RETURN TO FORM!!! for Mister Lumet. Also, I think this movie came at a time when public and critical fondness for Philip Seymour Hoffman was hitting a fever pitch, which may have sharpened the enthusiasm. I've since learned that I just don't care for him in what I've seen. He has, to my knowledge, exactly one good performance (The Savages) and in everything else he plays the same emasculated, Napoleonic sap. Anyone who will listen also knows my overwhelming hatred for Ethan Hawke. I choose to just perpetually associate him in my mind to Jesse from Before Sunrise/Sunset and then I'm not so angry. I've never seen Tomei in much but I think she's an interesting presence here, and though the movie is ultimately not concerned with her, it would also be weaker if she wasn't there. Unfortunately, her performance is wasted on what is one step above a stock character, just as the rest of these are. Chock full of ready-made daddy issues and fits of insecurity, we're somehow supposed to care that this fucked-up, uninteresting, unlikable family is devouring itself whole. It's more or less like watching a highbrow episode of Jerry Springer; entertaining on a primal level, but still base and obnoxious and furiously empty.
  • July 12, 2009
    An 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)e for the ?robbery? theme films and one that just got better and better as it went on.
  • February 8, 2010
    I don't really remember it...which I think says something.
  • February 7, 2010
    We're broke. I know - let's hold up mum and dad's jewellery store!
  • 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."
  • January 30, 2010
    Slick heist film, more about the characters and their motivations before and after the event. Great script, direction and outstanding performances by the cast.
  • January 29, 2010
    where did Hank go??? kiddin'?

Critic Reviews


November 15, 2007
Colin Covert, The Minneapolis Star Tribune

The family dynamics are skillfully rendered, the suspense is bruising and each man's performance is a revelation. full review

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

View more Before the Devil Knows You're Dead reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • perfecthalo
    May 3, 2008
    this was the stupidest, boring movie ever!!!!!
  • rubee122
    April 20, 2008
    Well 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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Before the Devil Knows You're Dead Trivia

Before the Devil Knows You're Dea... Trivia


  • In "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead", what's the relationship of the characters played by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke?  Answer »
  • Out of the 3 films Philip Seymour Hoffman starred in last year (2007), which one was not nominated for any Oscars?  Answer »
  • Philip Seymour Hoffman is in the film 'Before the Devil Knows You're Dead' 2007.  Answer »

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