Before the Devil Knows You're Dead | Albert Finney, Marisa Tomei

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead | Albert Finney, Marisa Tomei | albert finney

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Before the Devil K...

	Before the Devil Knows You're Dead Albert Finney, Marisa Tomei ThinkFilm, 2008 average customer review:based on 99 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A Sharp Cast Led by a Brilliant Hoffman Ignites Lumet's Fever-Pitch Suspense Melodrama

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.

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albert finney

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
great movieBefore the Devil Knows You're Dead
albert finney is great

Lumet Still has What It Takes.

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.

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Before the Devil Knows Marisa Tomei's Naked.

"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.

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