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Created Oct 18, 2009 01:10AM PST • Edited Oct 18, 2009 01:10AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Pretty Bad 1.5

   Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead plays less like the work of a seasoned veteran, more like that of a newcomer misanthrope. Indulging in, rather than properly illuminating, its characters’ escalating misery, Sidney Lumet’s so-called “return to form” comes out the over end an example of more soulless filmmaking – all in the name of the genre of choice’s thrills and spills. A jewelry store robbery gone wrong means dire consequences for two conspiring brothers (Ethan Hawke and Philip Seymour Hoffman) as both their accomplice and their mother (running the counter at the time) are shot dead. Desperately trying to prevent anyone finding out, they’re driven to desperate measures as father Albert Finney tries to unravel the mystery of who was ultimately responsible for the death of his wife. Thus, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead becomes the Philip Seymour Hoffman show whenever it isn’t enjoying the scummy little actions it insists on every fleshed-out character taking – from Marisa Tomei’s sexual back-and-forth between the two bros, to the double-murder of a drug dealer and client, to a damned Hospital-set smothering (all soullessly exploited by Lumet). For his part, Seymour Hoffman goes from the cool, collected businessman of the opening to some approximation of the big bad wolf as he desperately huffs and puffs towards a solution to the problem he initially caused. As the bodies pile up and the pervasive music continues to bring one of the film’s fleeting glimpses of class, one can’t help but feel turned off by the approach, which adds up to suspense at all costs, meaning these carcasses are just thrown aside in pursuit of the next dank plot twist. Lumet and his fellow filmmakers bring a pristine visual appeal to the film, yet it can’t entirely cloak the disdain and disregard Before the Devil clearly has for its characters, from its tits-on-parades (Tomei) to its main audience pull (Hoffman). Had Lumet brought a little conscious soul to the piece, maybe the sour taste wouldn’t be lingering so long – as is, he can’t even get a sex scene right.

4. Acting

   Good 3.0

5. Male Stars Good 3.0

6. Female Stars Very Good 3.5

7. Female Costars OK 2.5

8. Male Costars OK 2.5

10. Film

    OK 2.5

11. Direction Barely OK 2.0

12. Play Barely OK 2.0

13. Music Great 4.0

14. Visuals Very Good 3.5
15. Content

16. Edge

    Sordid 3.0

17. Sex Titillating 2.5

18. Violence Brutal 3.1

19. Rudeness Profane 3.5

21. Reality

    Glib 1.5

22. Circumstantial Glib 1.5

23. Biological Glib 1.5

24. Physical Glib 1.5