Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Summarize Fact Check

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

Facing an upcoming audit that will reveal he has been embezzling money from his employer, payroll manager Andy Hanson decides to flee to Brazil. To raise the funds he needs, he enlists the aid of his brother, Hank, a divorced father who desperately needs money to pay child support.

Hank is well-meaning but easily dominated by Andy, a ruthless schemer. Andy, in turn, resents his younger and more attractive brother, whom their parents favored.

Andy plans to have Hank rob their parents' jewelry store, describing it as a victimless crime because the store is insured. He says that he cannot go himself because he has been seen in the neighborhood recently, but that Doris, an elderly employee, will be alone in the store and that only a toy gun will be needed. Hank reluctantly agrees to the plan. Andy intends to fence the jewelry through a New York City dealer their father knows.

Without consulting Andy, Hank hires Bobby, an acquaintance who is an experienced thief, to help him. Before the robbery, Bobby reveals that he has a real gun and insists on entering the store himself while Hank waits in the car. The brothers' mother, Nanette, happens to be filling in for Doris, and while Bobby is distracted, Nanette grabs a hidden pistol and shoots him; he shoots her back, mortally wounding her, before she kills him with a second shot. Hank flees the scene. Nanette dies a few days later in the hospital. Unsatisfied with the police investigation, her husband, Charles, becomes obsessed with finding information about the crime.

Meanwhile, Bobby's brother-in-law Dex confronts Hank and demands financial compensation for Bobby's widow, Chris, threatening to either turn him over to the police or kill him if he does not come up with the money.

As well, while Andy is away from his office, his superiors repeatedly try to contact him regarding irregularities revealed by the audit.

At Nanette's wake, Andy and Charles have an emotional exchange. Charles tells Andy he loves him, but Andy says he has always felt like an outsider in the family. At home, Andy’s wife, Gina, expresses her frustration with their marriage and Andy's growing coldness. Andy, preoccupied with his problems, hardly reacts when Gina announces she is leaving him or even when she reveals that she has been having an affair with Hank; he gives her money before she leaves.

Charles learns about Andy’s visit to the fence and immediately goes looking for him. He follows Andy from his apartment tower, watches as he goes to Hank's apartment, and then tails his sons as they leave together.

Andy decides to resolve Hank's blackmail situation by robbing a heroin dealer he frequents, after which he plans to leave the country. At the dealer's apartment, Andy and Hank overpower and rob him. Hank is shocked when Andy shoots the dealer and a client who happens to be there. The brothers then meet Dex to pay him off, but Andy impulsively shoots him, too. Andy appears ready to kill Chris, but Hank objects as Chris's baby is heard crying in another room. Andy turns the gun on Hank, revealing that he knows about his affair with Gina. Hank begs Andy to kill him, but Chris then shoots Andy in the back with Dex's gun. Horrified, she screams at Hank to get out, and he does so after guiltily leaving some of the money behind for her.

Charles sees Hank fleeing the apartment and calls out to him, but Hank does not hear him and continues running. Andy is taken to the hospital, and Charles follows him there. Andy apologizes to his father, saying that he did not mean to hurt Nanette, who was not supposed to be in the store. Charles appears to accept Andy’s apology, but then suffocates his son to death with a pillow. As medical staff rush to help Andy, Charles walks away.

After experimenting with the format of high definition video on the television series 100 Centre Street, Lumet made the decision to shoot Before the Devil Knows You're Dead on the Panavision Genesis digital camera system. 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]

Sidney Lumet knew Philip Seymour Hoffman was going to have more difficulty with the opening sex scene than Marisa Tomei. "I don't think Philip has ever conceived of himself in the nude fucking onscreen. It's just not something that comes his way. So when we started blocking, Marisa hopped up on the bed, got on her hands and knees, slapped her ass and said, 'Come on Phil, let's go!' I could kiss her. Because if Philip had any inhibitions, they were gone," Lumet said.^[8]

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.^[9] It opened in limited release in the United States on October 26, 2007, in two theaters, grossing US$73,837 in its opening weekend.^[10] In total, the film grossed over US$25 million worldwide.^[11]

Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 89% of 180 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 7.8/10. The website's 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."^[12] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 86 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".^[13]

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."^[14] Roger Ebert gave the film four stars out of four, calling it "superb" and its director, Sidney Lumet, a "living treasure."^[15]

Top 10 lists

The film appeared on many critics' top 10 lists of the best films of 2007.^[16]

• 1st - Stephen Farber, The Hollywood Reporter
• 1st - Steven Rea, The Philadelphia Inquirer
• 2nd - Marc Mohan, The Oregonian
• 2nd - Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
• 3rd - Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
• 3rd - Richard Schickel, Time
• 3rd - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
• 4th - Rene Rodriguez, The Miami Herald
• 5th - Marc Savlov, The Austin Chronicle
• 6th - Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times
• 6th - Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
• 6th - Keith Phipps, The A.V. Club
• 7th - Scott Foundas, LA Weekly (tied with Eastern Promises)
• 8th - Jack Mathews, New York Daily News
• 8th - Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
• 8th - Ty Burr, The Boston Globe
• 9th - Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
• 9th - Peter Vonder Haar, Film Threat
• 10th - Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette^{[citation needed]}
• 10th - Stephen Hunter, The Washington Post

Awards and honors

• American Film Institute Awards 2007
• Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cast
• Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Ensemble Cast
• Satellite Award for Best Cast – Motion Picture

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