Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead centres on two brothers in the New York suburbs who decide to rob their own parents' jewellery store. Andy, a real-estate executive with a drug habit and money troubles, draws his younger brother Hank, whose wages barely cover his obligations, into a scheme he presents as straightforward: no weapons, no violence, and insurance to cover the loss. Hank agrees without knowing that the target is the family business. The plan collapses when an accomplice changes the arrangements, and the consequences spread through the Hanson family far beyond the two men who set it in motion.

Sidney Lumet directed from an original screenplay by Kelly Masterson, with William S. Gilmore, Michael Cerenzie and Brian Linse producing. It is the twenty-sixth film Lumet directed in chronological order, following Find Me Guilty the previous year. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke play Andy and Hank, with Albert Finney and Marisa Tomei as their father and Andy's wife, alongside Aleksa Palladino and Michael Shannon. The production, a British and American co-release, cost about 18 million dollars and returned roughly 25 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.3/10 from around 122,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 7.1/10 from a much smaller pool of about 1,800. A critics' rating of 8.1/10 from 180 reviews places it above both audience scores.