Before the Devil Knows You're Dead - R

Mature heist film full of violence, explicit sex.

Rating: R for a scene of strong graphic sexuality, nudity, violence, drug use and language. Studio: Think Film Directed By: Sidney Lumet Cast: Albert Finney, Ethan Hawke, Philip Seymour Hoffman Running Time: 117 minutes Release Date: 10/26/2007 Genre: Drama

Common Sense Note

Parents need to know that this intense, mature heist film about two adult brothers who conspire to rob their parents -- no one is supposed to get hurt, but things go very awry -- definitely isn't for kids. It's full of loud, bloody, harrowing violence (including a robber exchanging gunfire with an elderly woman) and some pretty explicit sex scenes (thrusting, panting, naked bottoms, visible breasts/nipples). Several scenes show drinking and explicit drug use (cocaine, marijuana, heroin), and there's adultery, cigarette smoking, and plenty of strong language ("f--k," "s--t," and more).

Families can talk about the characters' bad/strained family relationships. Why do the brothers resent their father? How do they act out with each other? What role does Gina fulfill for both of the brothers? Do you think relationships like these are realistic? Is it more "entertaining" to see a movie about dysfunctional characters or functional ones? Why?

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Common Sense Review

Reviewed By: Cynthia Fuchs

Family tensions run high throughout BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD. Brothers argue, parents and children resent each other, spouses cheat. At its best, Sidney Lumet's latest movie reflects this torment and rage in its complex structure and excellent performances; as the story cuts back and forth in time, viewers come to see motives and consequences gradually, piecing characters together as they come to understand themselves. But at its worst, the movie lapses into melodramatic formula, with men clashing and competing while women suffer.

Seeking to recover their youthful appreciation of each other, Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and his pretty wife, Gina (Marisa Tomei), vacation in Brazil. Sweating and sexing in their exotic mirrored hotel room, they exult in their seeming abandon, telling each other that if only they could escape their New York lives forever, they'd be happy. But the mirrors show right away that such thinking is delusional: Andy watches himself in bed, performing as if he's powerful, desirable, and oh so sensuous.

Of course, he isn't. That much is demonstrated in the film's next scene, a cut forward in time to "The Day of the Robbery," Andy's decidedly un-brilliant scheme to make his fantasy getaway feasible. Because he sees himself as above such dirty work, he convinces his younger, more earnest, and less clever brother Hank (Ethan Hawke) to carry out the deed -- stealing from their parents' jewelry store.

The crime is meant to be victimless, but it goes very badly, leaving a masked accomplice dead, Andy and Hank's mother Nanette (Rosemary Harris) in a coma, and Hank in a complete panic, screeching his rental car out of the suburban mall parking loot while cursing his brother's name. Slam-bammy camerawork and tight close-ups of Hank's horrified face suggest the chaos he's committed and also feels.

The rest of Before the Devil Knows You're Dead provides sketchy, somewhat predictable context for each brother: While Andy fears losing Gina (rightly so, as she's having an affair), Hank is desperately behind on child payments ("I need money," he says flatly, more than once). At the same time, they must put on a show for their distraught father, Charles (Albert Finney), while their mother lies dying in the hospital.

As each reveals his fears and disappointments (hard-drinking, scatterbrained Hank feels like a "loser," as his daughter calls him; overachieving, self-destructive Andy laments to his father that "I never felt like I was part of the club"), he also discovers that his life is too far gone to recover. Addicted to cocaine and heroin, Andy can't find a dark enough hole in which to disappear. And Hank, making one bad decision after another, discovers that he'll never be as rich -- or as miserable -- as his brother.

Though the brothers' gnarly relationship creates a compelling puzzle, the women around them tend to fall by the wayside, serving more as evidence of the men's failures than as characters with their own lives -- or deaths. Even Nanette's passing becomes an occasion for the boys to argue and flail about. As reckless and forlorn as the brothers and their father may be, you can only imagine how much worse it is for the women who live with them.

Viewers looking for other Lumet movies might check out 12 Angry men or the outstanding Network. For other clever-crime-goes-bad stories, try (the very bloody) Reservoir Dogs, Let Him Have It, In Cold Blood, or A Simple Plan.

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Content		CS	adults	kids
Content
Sexual Content Repeated sex scenes showing naked breasts, buttocks, and sexual activity. First scene takes place in a mirrored hotel room and shows explicit sex from various angles. Other scenes show an adulterous couple (a man with his brother's wife) and reveal her breasts and his bottom. A couple of scenes show tongue-kissing. Andy undresses (not explicit).
Violence Brutal violence during the central robbery, when a masked thief and the elderly jewelry store owner face off, shooting each other repeatedly (lots of blood, crawling on the ground). Justin, an upscale drug dealer, regularly answers the door with his gun in hand. After she's shot, an old woman appears in a hospital room with tubes and monitors; ultimately, a decision must be made about keeping her on life support. A widower crashes his car into a police cruiser in despair. Father slaps son. Lots of shooting and fighting near the end (panicky gunfire, yelling, blood on walls and bodies).
Language Language includes frequent uses of "f--k" and "s--t" (a couple with "bull"), and far fewer instances of "ass" (one with "hole"), "hell," "goddamn," and derisive slang ("faggoty" and "prick").
Message
	Social Behavior Characters include thieves, addicts, bullies, and cheaters. Both brothers are insecure, competitive, and violent; their father is distant and cruel; wives are vindictive and resentful. A character's presumed homosexuality is equated with deviance.
	Commercialism Brief visual or verbal references to Dell laptop, Tiffany's jewelry.
	Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco Several scenes take place in bars, where characters drink beer and liquor. Frequent cigarette smoking. Some marijuana smoking and cocaine snorting. In a business/potentially kinky sex arrangement, Andy pays a young man to inject him with heroin a couple of times (needles, powder, and spoon visible). Hank appears drunk.