Two brothers plan a jewel robbery but it goes awry and things just keep spiraling down. Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) can't keep clean from drugs and the store he wanted to rob was his father's. His mother gets into it with the would-be criminal and she ends up in a coma. His father is bent on finding out who the bad guy was and both brothers are worried they could be implicated. The girlfriend of the guy who tried to rob the store gets her brother to threaten Hank (Ethan Hawke) who is Andy's brother. Sidney Lumet directs this crime drama which has superb writing and kewl scenes which break the mold of two dimensional movies of its genre. For instance, Hank has to go back and get a compact disc he left in a rental car and the nervousness of showing his identification card was outstanding acting fitting the character wonderfully. Then there's the robe-wearing Asian who lives in a high-rise with apparently no job. The brothers want to take his money to pay off the menacing brother. The ending of BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD picks up the pace and the frenetic tumbling of events are even more compact as the father (Albert Finney) follows the two boys around finally figuring out who is behind the caper. Hoffman is unforgettable as the son who never satisfied his father. [4.7 stars]
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