Let's be honest folks, veteran director Sidney Lumet hasn't made a decent movie in well over a decade, but Before the Devil Knows You're Dead is a return to form.Philip Seymour Hofman (PSH!), Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney and a largely topless Marisa Tomei star in this smart family/heist/revenge movie.
PSH and Ethan Hawke go ahead with an ill-conceived and even worse executed plan to rob their parents jewelry store. Things go awry, and Albert Finney hunts down the folks behind the robbery. Of course he doesn't know it was his own kids.
The performances are great, PSH as a cash hungry executive and Hawke as a dead-beat dad. Tomei almost wears out her welcome as the siren, but her role becomes increasingly complex as the story continues.
Perhaps it's greatest strength, is in the storytelling. Told in a non-linear fashion from differnt perspectives, giving us just enough information, and more importantly, with-holding information from us until absolutely necessary, this is the work of virtuoso writing by Kelly Masterson.
Flying relatively under the radar, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead should not be missed.
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