Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
Metascore
84 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 37 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 34 out of 37
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 37
  3. Negative: 0 out of 37
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  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    100
    A superb crime melodrama.
  2. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    100
    This flick is fast and ferocious, his (Sidney Lumet) sharpest and best since "Prince of the City" (1980) - and surely one of the year's finest.
  3. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Steven Rea
    100
    A wicked deconstruction of a dysfunctional clan: brothers at each other's throats; a father whose legacy is anger and betrayal; an unfaithful wife; a history of deceit. It's a horror show of hatred and festering psychic wounds.
  4. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    100
    Its virtues are velocity, energy, innovative storytelling - and something that seems even more the province of young directors: a certain heartlessness and ironic distance in the tone.
  5. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    100
    Compact, nasty, and altogether wonderful, a tale of brotherly greed and New York comeuppance that shows an old dog dusting off old tricks using new technology.
  6. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    100
    Mesmerizing.
  7. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: J. Hoberman
    100
    The movie grabs hold and runs you through the wringer.
  8. Slate
    Reviewed by: Dana Stevens
    100
    Offers the rare pleasure of watching a major director return to his own material and rework it 30 years later. This story of a pitiful jewel heist gone so profoundly wrong that it approaches the scope of Greek tragedy isn't quite a remake of "Dog Day Afternoon."
  9. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Ann Hornaday
    100
    In addition to being a study in great acting, this is a study in great directing.
  10. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: Robert Koehler
    100
    One of the great American films of the past decade, and the crowning masterpiece of Lumet's long career.
  11. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Shawn Levy
    91
    Emotionally brutal, ferociously acted, crafted with unflagging expertise and relentlessly locked in its vision of human darkness, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead is as grim and despairing as any tragedy by Sophocles or Shakespeare.
  12. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Frank Scheck
    90
    Pungently atmospheric, brilliantly textured and featuring superb performances from every performer in parts big and small.
  13. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Rick Kisonak
    90
    Bleak, weirdly witty at times and unrelentingly suspenseful, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead is the cinematic equivalent of a perfect storm.
  14. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    90
    His (Sidney Lumet) touch in Before the Devil is so sure, so perfectly weighted, that it’s hard to imagine him capable of making a bad movie. The thing is just enthralling.
  15. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Carina Chocano
    90
    This is no nostalgia trip taken by an 83-year-old director. It's a fierce, hot slap of a movie, a shameless melodrama with bite.
  16. Time
    Reviewed by: Richard Schickel
    90
    It is, like quite a few Lumet pictures, rather small in scale, easy to overlook. But I think it is time to gather around a director who has embraced his octogenarian bleakness and sing his praises. Ultimately, I think you'll laugh a lot at what he has wrought here -- but only well after the movie is over and the full scale of its perversity settles into your bones.
  17. Variety
    Reviewed by: Lisa Nesselson
    90
    The wrenching tale has something for anyone who likes their melodrama spiked with palpable tension and genuine suspense.
  18. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marc Savlov
    89
    While the evil that men do to one another in this film may well be rooted in the Cain-like enabling of original sin from one doomed brother to another, the final familial tragedy feels exactly like classic Lumet.
  19. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    88
    A dynamite film that ranks with the year's best.
  20. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jack Mathews
    88
    Arguably Lumet's best film in 20 years.
  21. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    88
    The true star of this nerve-racking family crime drama, shot with a minimum of fuss by Ron Fortunato, is playwright and first-time screenwriter Kelly Masterson's deft script, which carefully develops each fatally flawed character and tells their stories in achronological flashbacks that seamlessly fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.
  22. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    88
    One bad idea can unravel and ruin lives in unimaginably horrific ways.That's the concept underlying the riveting Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, a sharply acted and highly entertaining morality play.
  23. Premiere
    Reviewed by: Glenn Kenny
    88
    The action is violent, messy, and threaded through with dark humor. This is a movie for grownups, for sure, but it has a mulish kick that most such pictures consider themselves to tasteful to aspire to.
  24. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Noel Murray
    83
    Ultimately, the film is just a smart caper picture with some good performances, but at times it's VERY smart, and Hoffman's performance in particular is one of the most natural and unexpectedly affecting that he's given in years.
  25. Empire
    Reviewed by: Helen O'Hara
    80
    Bleak, brutal and quite possibly brilliant, this is a triumphant return to form for Lumet and further proof that Hoffman is on an incredible winning streak.
  26. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: A.O. Scott
    80
    Curiously exhilarating. Some of this comes from the simple thrill of witnessing something, or rather everything, done well.
  27. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    80
    This is not a drama of shadings, but of ever-increasing intensity.
  28. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: David Denby
    80
    Furious and entertaining little morality play.
  29. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    75
    What you’re left with, finally, is the pleasure of a wily director’s company. In much the same way John Huston defied convention and predictability in the third act of his directorial career, with films as odd and fresh as “Wise Blood” and “Prizzi’s Honor,” Lumet is doing the same, right now.
  30. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    75
    Philip Seymour Hoffman is in fine form as a man teetering on the edge.
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User Reviews

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User Score
7.0 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 165 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 68 out of 104
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 104
  3. Negative: 25 out of 104
  1. FDT44
    7
    Another installment in the POV thriller, this one, packing more emotion and melodramatic "fluff" than anything seen on "General Hospital." The plot is innately simple and intriguing, but is suddenly contrived with non-linearity. On the upside, however, each scene is shot delicately, drawing great amounts of real-life feeling. Seymour delivers his usual, banal acting job, bailed out only by solid writing. The real firmness and direction is lead by Finney, whose genuinately is more than able and deserving. As for Tomei...well, what you see is what you get. Don't let me stray you from thinking any differently, the film is very well done: methodical, concise, and enlivening. The subtle undertones and suggestions are superb, the anticipation is live, the direction is vague, and the irony is delicious. The biggest quandary, though, Hollywood's obsession to aggrandize...I guess simpler isn't always better...?… Full Review »
  2. PhilN
    4
    A mystifyingly overrated film. The biggest flaw - which I found completely crippling - was that it was impossible to root for any of the characters. Attempts to justify the two leads' actions fall short (especially when it later becomes clear an alternative was available), and as human beings they are simply despicable, exhibiting infantile selfishness and irresponsibility. Good film & TV (such as The Sopranos, There Will Be Blood) has shown us we can care deeply about monstrous people, or at least care about their fate, but this film fails to invoke any such feeling - I could have left half way through and would never have wondered about these two losers again. Furthermore, the plot is shaky and unconvincing and descends into hackneyed TV-movie gibberish toward the end. Albert Finney's character, who initially seems like the only glimmer of humanity and perhaps the movie's saving grace, unfortunately also turns into a cliche in his final - almost nonsensical - scenes. The non-linear, POV-switching storytelling is nothing more than a gimmick - nothing is revealed through these shifts, there's simply no reason for them to be there and they make the film needlessly cumbersome. The dreadful audio/visual effect that accompanies each shift is ugly and jarring, making them even more annoying. Positives: the film is nicely shot and the performances are good (but these too are overrated - the two great actors here, PSH and Finney, are coasting, nowhere near the height of their powers). The best thing is really the premise, which had potential but ultimately the film is a pointless waste of time and talent. Certainly not the worst film I've ever seen, but one I find impossible to recommend.… Full Review »
  3. Jimbo82
    5
    This film is about 2 brothers Andy and Hank (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke respectively) who plot to rob their parents jewellery store. The robbery is initially told from 2 perspectives for both brothers and later we get a third perspective of the robbery through their father Charles (played by Albert Finney). I thought the film started off well as the robbery unfolds and we start to see the brother's motivations behind the robbery. The trouble is that once we get past the initial premise, the film begins to become repetitive and a bit tedious. The second half of the film was just filled with squabbling and melodrama and never really seemed to go anywhere by this point I was getting pretty bored with the film. I was ultimately disappointed with this film which is a shame as it started out well and ended up being only an average film at best.… Full Review »
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