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Parents' Guide to

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

By Cynthia Fuchs, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 18+

Mature heist film full of violence, explicit sex.

Movie R 2007 117 minutes
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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age 18+

Based on 1 parent review

Ken R.
Ken R. Adult
November 10, 2020
age 18+

Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead – Invites Slow Thinkers

There’s a film making device that not even the sometimes overrated Kubrick could make work (IE; check out his heist movie: ‘The Killing’) It’s the tired old flashback device of repeating the same scene over from several viewpoints, even when it’s totally pointless (as it is here). First-time writer Kelly Masterson and veteran director Sidney Lumet must have felt everyone will have forgotten that padded-out earlier old flick, thinking they could get away with ‘borrowing’ the idea for their dreary heist movie. This one is a ‘dozy’ and should please those who live their lives thinking the best time of year is the bleak mid-winter - during a power failure and severe food shortage. Writer and director must have been so aware of their over-stretched plot, that they may have thought (wrongly) by starting their movie with a sensationalised, voyeuristic porno type shot, featuring two of their stars rear-end copulating - will shock jaded viewers into thinking it exciting and modern. Trouble is, the whole thing is sleazily set up and ultimately unappealing. Pity the poor 40ish Marisa Tomei (even though she looks very good) is shown in 80% of her scenes more than half naked – talk about used and abused. Lumet would have been better to have retired before he was reduced to ending his career at this merge point. A strong hard-working cast delivers their distraught lines with conviction - while given situations that just about defies any close examination by intelligent audiences. The pathetic characters that inhabit this story are just too difficult to feel anything for. I’m not going to give away any plot details here but it’s this depressingly overstated type of movie-making that appeals to festival in-crowds and certain critics. It’s also a reminder, for those who have forgotten what great classic writing used to do with genuine human tragedy. Here, it’s shredded and reduced to pathetic characters and ridiculously laboured situations - designed to manipulate the audience into thinking it way far better than it is (some will – many won't)
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What's the Story?

In BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD, greedy Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) convinces his younger, more earnest, and less clever brother Hank (Ethan Hawke) to carry out a robbery at 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. The rest of the film provides sketchy, somewhat predictable context for each brother: While Andy fears losing his wife, Hank is desperately behind on child. 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 brother reveals his fears and disappointments, 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.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1 ):
Kids say (2 ):

At its best, Sidney Lumet's latest movie reflects the characters' 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.

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.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • 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?

Movie Details

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