Monday, January 14, 2008

Chad Betz reviews Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Would anyone like this film outside of the slant "it's Lumet's big comeback"? Yes, the film has a certain sloppy energy to its direction and the acting of Hoffman, Hawke, and Tomei's breasts. But the nonlinear approach to a thriller looks plain amateurish and unwieldy compared to the way it's been handled in the past by Nolan and Tarantino; hell, Guy Ritchie did it better. And the cineastes want to talk about unlikable characters in Margot at the Wedding? There's not a single tolerable character in this fucking movie (the only other time I've ever said that about a film featuring Philip Seymour Hoffman was Capote). Usually that's not a big deal for me, but why am I supposed to care where this convoluted mess of a plot is taking these miserable characters, who do only two things: (1) screw/screw over each other (2) wallow. I even hated the little girl. SPOILER (if you can really spoil such sod as this): there's a point late in the film where Hoffman threatens to shoot Hawke and Hawke asks him to go ahead and do it. To which I wanted to say, "Yes, and save a bullet for me, too."

Seriously, where are these accolades coming from? Was anyone tricked into thinking it had tight plotting? Tight like a piece of ceram wrap wrapped around a big smelly fish. The character motivations never rise above questionable. The story's more dismal than No Country For Old Men's while lacking any of the poetry; the hammy stabs at profundity (Hoffman confessing his very obvious worthlessness to his dealer, Hoffman ransacking his own house, Hoffman crying about becoming his dad) seem pointless and mostly just a pain to watch. The film's conclusion quickly escalates into ridiculousness. And the editing together of all of it is haphazard and horrendous, the flashing freeze frame gimmick used to switch between timelines one of the worst crimes in the field since The Boondock Saints raped my eyeballs. Don't just avoid this movie, ostracize it.

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