Posted: 11/10/2007

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead

(2007)

by Matt Wedge

A quick perusal of Sidney Lumet’s filmography reveals a stunning collection of some of the finest films of the last fifty years: 12 Angry Men, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Network. I could continue this list for another half-dozen films, but you get the picture. Therefore, nobody could fault him if he decided to kick back in the twilight years of his life and crank out sanitized, Hollywood-friendly junk. The man has earned the right to take a break. Apparently, nobody told him that. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead is a great film that is full of energy and dark humor.

Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote) and Hank (Ethan Hawke, Training Day) are brothers who grew older, but never grew up. They’re both miserable screw-ups, but Andy hides this fact considerably better than Hank. Andy has been embezzling money from the real estate company where he works to support his trophy wife, Gina (Marisa Tomei, In the Bedroom) and his drug habit. Hank is simply broke. He is three months behind on his child support payments and struggling to keep up with the tuition for his daughter’s expensive private school. Andy hatches a scheme to rob a jewelry store and ropes Hank into his poorly planned idea, thinking it can solve both of their money woes. Is it any surprise when things go straight to hell faster than you can blink your eye?

In a way, it feels that Lumet is taking to task the films of younger directors that glamorize criminals and seek to make cool their exploits. The characters in his film have obviously seen too many of these movies. Their half-baked heist is planned while they giggle nervously at the sheer absurdity of the idea. It isn’t until the robbery turns deadly that they realize the awful and unexpected consequences this can have on their lives and they spend the rest of the film scurrying like pathetic, sweaty rats on a sinking ship, looking for a way out that doesn’t exist.

At the same time that Lumet presents these pathetic, wannabe Reservoir Dogs characters, he actually apes the styles of the films that he’s critiquing. He presents the story in a disorienting, non-linear style that shows events in flashback a la The Usual Suspects. He also employs a bizarre transition technique where he cuts back and forth between two scenes for a few frames at a time before moving on to the next scene, creating a parody of the ADD-editing style of so many Hollywood directors these days. The whole concoction is fascinating to watch as Lumet comments on the same films that seemingly inspired his characters to start down their path of no return.

For the most part, the cast lives up to the quality of their director and Kelly Masterson’s caustic, twisty script. Hoffman adds to his long line of arrogant scumbags, playing Andy as a passive-aggressive bully, cocksure and pathetic at the same time. As the father of the brothers, Albert Finney (Big Fish) adds a nice touch of bitter anger to a man grieving for his recently deceased wife at the same time that he slowly comes to realize that his children have turned into the type of people he so piously dismissed earlier in his life. Michael Shannon (Bug), Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone) and Aleksa Palladino (Find Me Guilty) all make the most of their brief supporting roles, fleshing out the story as not-so-innocent bystanders caught up in the fallout of the robbery.

Where the casting falters is with Hawke and Tomei. Hawke’s hyper mannerisms just seem out of place with a character so weak and easily swayed as Hank. Instead of coming across as a sniveling coward, he behaves like a spastic clown, overacting every emotion. It also doesn’t help that most of his scenes are opposite Hoffman who can act circles around most anyone working in film today. If Hawke is too over-the-top, Tomei is far too reserved. It’s not that she gives a bad performance so much as she fails to take advantage of the opportunities that she’s given. While her scenes as a potential femme fatale are sexy and well played, she’s content to fade into the background for the majority of the film, turning herself into nothing more than pretty window dressing.

Casting gripes aside, Lumet has given us a wonderfully cynical tale of greed, desperation and revenge that is never scared to play dirty with its characters or the audience. He may be getting a little long in the tooth, but he’s still turning out films more vibrant and entertaining than most directors half his age.

Matt Wedge is a writer and film critic living in Chicago.

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