Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
By John • Jan 14th, 2008 • Category: 2 Stars, Crime, DramaI must admit I have heard both good and bad reviews about this film, but what prompted me to watch this movie is the cast. Hoffman is always good, Albert Finney has been a favorite of mine since Erin Brokovich, and I have a soft spot for Marisa Tomei.
Ironically Marisa Tomei was the worst performance. I don’t think it’s really her fault, she wasn’t given good material to work with. Her character really wasn’t developed at all.
The story of the robbery is a classic bad idea that precipitates. The problem I had with it is that Andy should not have trusted his younger brother with such a big and important thing. He should have known that LB was not to be trusted.
And even if LB was such a loser, he really handled it impossibly wrong. There are so many things he could have said to his friend in order to avoid using the gun.
The relationship between Andy and his father was a bit too stereotyped, it was never really depicted except for that one conversation during the funeral. That’s not enough for me to justify the final scene.
The timeline was fine at first, we got to see what each character was doing before the robbery, however after that I got tired of it, and it felt like a gimmick that overstayed its welcome.
I guess it was a nice idea, but it was poorly executed.
Rating: 2 Stars
Main Feed