The film opens when two brothers organize the robbery of their parents' jewelry store but the job goes horribly wrong, triggering a series of events that sends them, their father and one brother's wife hurtling towards a shattering climax.
4 November 1917, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
3 May 1968, Queens, New York City, New York, USA
9 May 1936, Salford, Greater Manchester, England, UK
4 December 1964, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
24 November 1975, Concord, California, USA
14 February 1962, Manhattan, New York, USA
2 October 1956, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
11 August 1935, Brooklyn, New York, USA
23 July 1967, Fairport, New York, USA
21 September 1980, New York City, New York, USA
28 August 1980, New York City, New York, USA
9 July 1960, Fort Motte, South Carolina, USA
19 September 1927, Ashby, Suffolk, England, UK
May 16, 2016
The problem is that we get no real sense of what these characters were like before everything went haywire, so little is believably at stake.
November 28, 2007
As the Shadow used to say, the weed of crime bears bitter fruit, and Lumet has made a delicious pie out of it.
November 16, 2007
You feel Before the Devil Knows You're Dead more than you watch it. And the feeling is far from warm and fuzzy.
September 18, 2008
The movie's title comes from the Irish toast, 'May you be in Heaven half an hour before the Devil knows you're dead.' Unfortunately, everyone in the film is running about 35 minutes late.
November 16, 2007
At a time when family movies are usurped by fantasies of sentimental feelgood, Lumet's latest -- the mangled-heist melodrama Before the Devil Knows You're Dead -- delivers a swift kick straight to the jewels.
August 27, 2009
Ferociously pleasurable
August 14, 2009
Suspense and action would be enough to seal this film, but the feeling of dread, that under different circumstances this could be us, makes this a heist picture for the ages.
July 06, 2010
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead is an immensely disturbing and tragic morality tale, which focuses on the consequences and repercussions of a sinister act driven by greed.
September 11, 2010
( ... ) so perversely fun that a few false notes-a pushy score and certain moments that veer toward a cheaper kind of melodrama-don't nag as much as they might have.
August 14, 2009
Lumet proves he's still a master storyteller, and Philip Seymour Hoffman is fantastic.
January 11, 2008
Superior fare, packed with insight and suspense.
November 16, 2007
The problem is not that the director is working but that his latest film is working too hard. Way too hard â" this thing is melodrama running a marathon.
