Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Note: The story is explained here in its chronological order, rather than as it is presented in the film.

Andy Hanson (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is a finance executive at a real estate firm in New York City. Facing an upcoming audit he knows will reveal his having embezzled from his employer (in support of a drug habit), Andy decides to escape to Brazil, believing there exists no extradition treaty between Brazil and the United States. To raise the necessary funds for the trip and to establish himself once there, he hatches a scheme and enlists the aid of his brother, Hank (Ethan Hawke), a divorced father who also needs money to pay three months' back child support as well as his daughter's private school tuition. Hank, meanwhile, has been having an affair with Andy's wife, Gina (Marisa Tomei), who has been unsatisfied with her marriage.

Of the two brothers, Hank is well-meaning, but weak-willed and cowardly, easily dominated by his stronger-willed older brother, Andy, a ruthless schemer. Andy in turn harbors great resentment that his younger and more attractive brother received more love and affection during childhood from their parents than he did. Andy devises a plan to rob their parents' jewelry store, to which Hank reluctantly agrees. Andy argues that he cannot go himself because he has been in the neighborhood recently, and could therefore be recognized. They assume that only Doris, an elderly woman who works for their parents, will be in the store. Andy says that only a toy gun is needed and that it is a "victimless crime," because insurance will fully compensate their parents for the stolen items. Andy plans to fence the jewelry via a New York City dealer his father knows, and expects to net about US$120,000 from the robbery.

Without consulting Andy, Hank hires Bobby Lasorda (Brian F. O'Byrne), an acquaintance who is an experienced thief, to help him in the robbery, as he is too frightened to carry out the crime alone. Bobby reveals a real gun and decides he will commit the robbery himself; Hank just needs to wait in the car. The brothers' mother Nanette (Rosemary Harris) happens to be filling in for Doris. The robbery goes awry when Nanette pulls a hidden gun on Bobby, causing a shootout; Bobby dies on the scene, and the severely wounded Nanette falls into a coma. She dies a week later in the hospital after her husband Charles (Albert Finney) decides to take her off life support. Unsatisfied with what he considers police's indifference, Charles decides to investigate on his own. He becomes obsessed with finding information about the crime and any others involved in it. Shortly after the botched robbery, Hank is confronted by Bobby's brother-in-law Dex (Michael Shannon), who demands financial compensation for Bobby's death to provide for his widow, Chris (Aleksa Palladino), Dex's sister.

While Andy is away from his office dealing with his mother's death, his superiors at work repeatedly try to contact him regarding irregularities in his department's accounts that have been revealed by the audit. At the wake for Nanette, Andy and Charles have a complex and emotional exchange, wherein Charles states he loves Andy despite their long-standing differences; Andy says he has always felt like an outsider in his father's house. When Andy questions his biological heritage, Charles slaps him. Andy and Gina immediately leave. On their drive home, Andy has an emotional breakdown over his relationship with his father. Later, at home, Gina tells Andy his boss has been trying to get in touch with him. She expresses her frustration with their marriage and Andy's growing coldness. Andy, preoccupied with covering up his embezzlement and trying to help Hank deal with Dex's blackmail, hardly reacts when Gina announces she is leaving him. She attempts to gain an emotional response from him by revealing her affair with Hank, but he doesn't react and she leaves.

Charles, searching for information about the robbery, visits the same fence Andy had contacted in New York City. After an acrimonious exchange that indicates Charles and the jeweler have known and disliked each other for decades, the jeweler hands Andy's business card to Charles, revealing to Charles that Andy recently came to him looking to fence some jewels. Charles immediately goes looking for Andy. Andy decides to resolve the blackmail situation with Hank by robbing a heroin dealer whom he frequents, and then escape abroad.

At the dealer's apartment, Andy and Hank overpower the dealer and steal his money. Hank is shocked when Andy kills the dealer and a client who happened to be present. The brothers meet Dex to pay him off, but Andy impulsively kills him to prevent continued blackmail. Andy appears ready to kill Chris (Bobby's widow and Dex's sister) when Hank objects. Andy turns the gun on Hank, revealing that he knows about Hank and Gina's relationship. Hank begs Andy to kill him, but Andy hesitates. As Andy pauses over whether to shoot his brother, Chris shoots Andy with her brother's gun, wounding him. Hank leaves his brother and guiltily leaves some of the money behind for Chris before fleeing with the money, drugs, and paraphernalia they robbed from the heroin dealer.

After leaving the fence, Charles tails Andy. He follows Andy from his apartment tower, watches as he goes to Hank's apartment, then follows his sons to their meeting with Chris. He finally follows the wounded Andy to the hospital, where he is taken by paramedics. Andy breaks down and apologizes to his estranged father for the robbery, explaining Nanette's death was an accident. Charles appears to accept his apology. Charles attaches Andy's heart monitor to himself and suffocates his son to death with a pillow. Andy struggles to stop his father, but in his weakened condition he is overpowered. As medical staff rush to help Andy, Charles walks away.

Lumet made the decision to shoot Before the Devil Knows You're Dead on high definition video after experimenting with the format on the television series 100 Centre Street. At a press conference at the 2007 New York Film Festival, Lumet called shooting on film "a pain in the ass," and predicted that as soon as distributors and exhibitors could agree on a digital projection format, photographic film would be rendered obsolete.[6]

The primary robbery scene was filmed at the Bay Terrace Shopping Center in Bayside, Queens, New York.[7]

The film premiered on September 6, 2007, at the Festival of American Cinema in Deauville, France. It was also shown at the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada on September 13, 2007. It opened in France on September 26, 2007. The film made its American debut on October 12, 2007, at the New York Film Festival.[8] It opened in limited release in the United States on October 26, 2007, in two theaters, grossing US$73,837 in its opening weekend.[9] In total, the film grossed over US$25 million worldwide.[10]

Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 88% of 173 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 7.73/10. The critical consensus reads: "A tense and effective thriller, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead marks a triumphant return to form for director Sidney Lumet."[11] On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 84 out of 100 based on 37 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[12]

TIME magazine's Richard Schickel named the movie one of the top 10 films of 2007, ranking it at #3, saying, "At one level the movie is a wonderfully intricate exploration of family dysfunction. At another, it's a coolly controlled examination of increasingly insane criminal ineptitude. Either way you look at it, this is a hypnotizing film from one of our great masters."[13] Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars, calling it "superb" and its director, Sidney Lumet, a "living treasure."[14]

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 15, 2008.

• Before the Devil Knows You're Dead on IMDb
• Before the Devil Knows You're Dead at AllMovie
• Before the Devil Knows You're Dead at Box Office Mojo
• Before the Devil Knows You're Dead at Rotten Tomatoes
• Before the Devil Knows You're Dead at Metacritic
• Interview with director Sidney Lumet, actors Philip Seymour Hoffman & Ethan Hawke on The Charlie Rose Show