"My life doesn't add up," says Andy Hanson (Philip Seymour Hoffman). He is the payroll manager for a large New York real estate firm and makes good money. Trouble is, he has a drug addiction and a big dream. The last good sex he had with his wife Gina (Marisa Tomei) was when they were in Rio. Andy has hatched a big robbery scheme to get the money they need to relocate there. He shares the plan with his younger brother Hank (Ethan Hawke), who is three month's short on his child support payments and has a lousy job to boot.
Andy thinks his idea is foolproof: rob his mother and father's jewelry store on a Saturday morning when there is only a single employee there. The insurance will cover the loss incurred by their parents. But since Hank doesn't have the will power to do the robbery himself, he gets his friend Bobby (Brian F. O'Bryne), a petty criminal, to do the deed. He screws up big time. and everything goes wrong. Afterwards, Andy has to clean up the mess.
Sidney Lumet directs this crime thriller that really is an intense study of another dysfunctional family. Andy has no respect for Hank, and Hank is secretly having an affair with Gina. They both are willing to jeopardize their parents' lives just for some cash. Their father (Albert Finney) has never given his oldest son any affection or encouragement. After the botched robbery, he becomes an avenging angel with no mercy in his heart. Add to his fury the tough tactics of Bobby's brother-in-law (Michael Shannon), and you've got trouble spelled with a capital T. Phillip Seymour Hoffman carries this familial drama about sibling rivalry with his edgy performance.
Special DVD features include the making of Before the Devil Knows You're Dead featuring interviews with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei, and Sidney Lumet; and a filmmaker and cast commentary with 5-time Academy Award nominee and Lifetime Achievement Award winner Sidney Lumet and actors Ethan Hawke and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
