Philip Seymour Hoffman should’ve been nominated for his other rageaholic in 2007
Film Lists Philip Seymour Hoffman
Watch This offers movie recommendations inspired by new releases, premieres, current events, or occasionally just our own inscrutable whims. This week: The Academy Awards are Sunday, so we’re looking back on times when an actor was nominated for the wrong film—and on the performance they should have been nominated for that same year.
Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007)
There’s no way Philip Seymour Hoffman can control the vein in his forehead, right? In Sidney Lumet’s pitch-black swan song Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead, the actor seems to wield the crease bulging across his face as an emotional tool every bit as expressive as the brows, eyes, or mouth. For the morally dissipated white-collar crook Andy Hanson, this feature comes to resemble a tube clogged with rage that he can only let out in abrupt jags of verbal abuse, directed for the most part toward his younger brother, Hank (Ethan Hawke). Years of barely suppressed anger have hardened and narrowed his vein as effectively as any cholesterol, so that the feelings passing through it can only be released under a terrible and violent duress hinting at how deep his many resentments run. That goes for the sibling he bullies, but also the father (Albert Finney) with whom he is so bitterly estranged that he suspects they might not be related, and the wife (Marisa Tomei) he treats like a non-presence in their home.
The turgid vein gives the impression that Andy is under so much pressure that he’s liable to blow at any moment, which he is. His heroin habit—depicted in coolly detached scenes now unbearably sad, given the fate awaiting Hoffman—has led to chronic embezzlement at the office, which has led to an IRS audit, which has led to a plotted getaway trip to the extradition-free haven of Brazil, which has led to a need for lots of cash and quick. All of that leads to what should be a simple robbery at the jewelry store owned by the Hanson parents, at which both boys worked in their younger years and know like the back of their hand. But of course things go horribly awry. And then that leads to two deaths, which leads to the arrival of a vengeful brother-in-law (Michael Shannon, right before he broke big), which leads to another sloppy stickup job to get him paid off. Bad circumstances repeatedly compound themselves for Andy and Hank, compelled into joining his brother’s scheme by mounting child support payments, and can only be resolved by making another round of ill-advised decisions. Andy may be contemptible and Hank may be weak-willed, yet it’s still painful to watch them dig themselves deeper and deeper without anywhere to go, the non-chronological timeline arranging these events for maximum wallop.
Andy does not handle the sensation that his own life is closing in on him with anything like composure, and Hoffman conveys his gradual breakdown with the gusto of a room-filling Italian tenor. By this point, audiences knew that the actor could blow up with the best of them, the coarse consonants of his “SHUT UP” a work of art unto itself, and he scored an Oscar nomination that same year for the short-fused CIA op Gust Avrakotos in Charlie Wilson’s War. While his stint spent speaking Sorkinese went as well as could be hoped for—he’s Philip Seymour goddamned Hoffman, that’ll happen—it’s mostly just loud in comparison to the searing vitriol spewed in Lumet’s film. Andy’s fury burns in the bottom of his soul, consuming his entire being and leaving little more than ash behind. Even so, something about Hoffman draws us to him despite his character’s repugnant qualities, a magnetism he first exudes while going to town on Tomei in the opening scene. In an early sign of his poisonous self-regard, he’s looking at himself, but we can see what she sees in him once Lumet cuts to the pair interlocked in postcoital intimacy. We don’t know what a scoundrel he is just yet, only that he’s hard to resist. Through his descent into degradation, we’ll stick with him every step of the way.
Availability: Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead is currently streaming on Kanopy, Hoopla, Cinemax GO, and DirecTV. It’s also available to rent or purchase from Amazon, Google Play, Apple, YouTube, Fandango Now, Microsoft, and VUDU.
75 Comments
Good performances, okay movie.
Somewhere there’s an earlier, 1980s or 1990s version of this screenplay called “Hey, Let’s Rob Our Parents!”
This does prompt a bit of a thought exercise: what’s the worst movie with the greatest number of good performances? Like, how many really good acting performances can you pile onto a movie and still have it turn out badly?
The 2016 Ghostbusters. The four lead ladies had perfect chemistry, and even the bit characters (Zach Woods’s skittish haunted house tour guide, Hemsworth’s himbo secretary, Cecily Strong’s dismissive mayoral aide, Steve Higgins’ obnoxious college dean) were a ton of fun. The plot/action/pacing/effects were somehow simultaneously boring, chopped-up, manic, and confusing. It literally felt like the reels were played out of order (one character has an emotional return to save the group in the nick of time…except we never saw her leave? It’s unclear whether they’re trapping the ghosts or killing them? What does killing a ghost mean? Who the hell is the villain and where did he come from and what does he want?)
“The Chase” with Brando and Redford?
Gangs of New York
CrashTerrible movie. Actually has some really top-notch acting, though, if you can look past, you know, the rest of it.
Kind of incredible that Sidney Lumet made a movie this great in 2007 (almost exactly 50 years after 12 Angry Men, his debut).
It’s so incredible that it didn’t actually happen. This movie was middling at best.
I think middling is harsh, but it is definitely geared more towards showing off powerful performances from Hoffman and Finney, while not really giving Hawke or Tomei much to do in the B-plot. Speaking of plot, there wasn’t a lot to be had, and other than some really bleak moments that surprised me, a lot of it was predictable (raise your hand if you thought Andy was going to make it to Brazil). So if we graded this purely on plot then I would agree, but the performances and some dialogue raised it.
12 angry men is nothing to write home about either. Serpico was alright.
I thought this movie stunk, and Albert Finney who could be fantastic (Miller’s Crossing) was fucking ripe in it. The only reason to watch it is, and for this I apologize, how gorgeous Marisa Tomei is in it. I’d put this as only slightly better than “Night Falls on Manhattan” which was another real stinker (but inert instead of pulpy).Hoffman should have been nommed for Owning Mahowney, very underrated (as was Love and Death on Long Island by the same director)
“For this I apologize,” even said facetiously, is peak 2021. “Don’t you dare express admiration of the beautiful woman who spends half the film naked, except to complement her acting.”
I think at some point in yesteryear men would still preface assessments of women’s looks with “not to be a dog but…” before “DID YOU SEE THOSE GAZANGAS”People did still have manners in the past, it wasn’t just this horny on main scuzzfest people pine for.
I mean, it’s hard to do an academic study of it (I’ve certainly tried to get funding), but I’d imagine even a survey of comments on here-always a relatively respectful comments section-would see fewer apologies for comments on female attractiveness. Not singling you out, not that I think it’s the biggest problem in the world (that’s the Yankees’ 5-10 start), just find it interesting.TLDR: Marisa Tomei is insanely hot in this film, and the director shoots her accordingly.
OK, I’m sold. I’ll watch it soon as I can. Their performance in “The Wrestler” is also quite good.
I probably should have also mentioned that I think Tomei is a fantastic actress with serious chops
I agree. She gets such shit for My Cousin Vinnie (no way a jackass character like Vinnie gets close to her character), but everything she’s in is better because of it. Yes, even “Seinfeld.”
Not long-ago rotations on cable say she’s naked twice, within the first half hour of the movie, and the first time within a few minutes of its start. I first thought Lumet was being a dirty old man (even if understandable, because, my god, her body at that age), but I chose to read it as Lumet giving the audience some good thing, some happiness, before the bleak and terrible events that make up most of the film.
Is she really not naked after the first half hour or whatever? I would’ve sworn she was, but maybe she’s just in various partial states of undress.
I don’t think she is after the first half hour. I recall two scenes—and a big spoiler alert for the second: the first is the beginning of the movie with PTH in bed. The second happens when we find out (stop reading now if you haven’t seen the movie and you want to be surprised, I’m warning you) that she’s been sleeping around on PTH with his brother. Those are the only two times she’s naked, I think.
Good to know. I should rewatch this thing regardless.
It’s a great movie, though pretty grim. First time I saw it I was very surprised the ending went there.
I chose to read it as Lumet giving the audience some good thing, some happiness, before the bleak and terrible events that make up most of the film.That’s so gross of you. I mean, seriously. She’s a human being and an Oscar-winning actress not a spankbank who only appears in films so you can tug one out later. Fucking hell this entire thread makes me so sad for women.
I should have said I was kind of being facetious. Watching the film, you see no reason for Tomei’s nude scenes, more than one, with each a little longer than the usual nude scene, like a European movie. On this last rewatch I did wonder why they were there. One speculation was Lumet was a dirty old man (also kind of facetious). But I came up with the above interpretation. Its not true, but I kind of like it. It doesn’t dehumanize Tomei in my opinion but makes her the only source in the movie of a postive, good feeling. Again, I’m kidding here. In any case, she did get nude and people are appreciative. I don’t think it dehumanizes women to show off their bodies, right?
Yeah, I felt somewhat the same. It’s just not a very good movie, despite some fine performances.
“…some fine performances.”We’ve already discussed Marisa.
I agree, and as I read it I was thinking PSH was better in both Owning Mahoney and Love Liza, two more sad portraits of a man falling apart.
What a sad and icky thread.
I like it. I do not consider it a movie, I consider it a “flick”. Nice watching all these performers in this unstoppable downward spiral.
I thought this movie was great, but I’m with you on Owning Mahowny. Hoffman was outstanding in that movie.
I think the performances were better than the plot. Like, a lot of it was predictable in that the audience knew things were going to go to hell and Andy was never going to make it to Brazil. A few things surprised me, but I think it was more of a vehicle for Finney and Hoffman. Tomei was super gorgeous, but she didn’t have as much to do as another film that had her half naked a lot of the time, “The Wrestler” where she got to show off her acting skills in a much more multi-layered role.
Love to see any coverage of this film, so thanks.
A good question would be where this ranks among great directors’ final films. The below piece has it 5th, and I would personally put it above 3 of the 4 movies ranked ahead of it (Night of the Hunter being the exception).https://www.indiewire.com/2014/07/22-all-time-great-directors-and-their-final-films-274399/
How does Night rank on the first film directed list?
2nd (Vinnie Chase’s Jekyll & Hyde remake was 1st).
Tell me more about this turgid vein.
I quite enjoyed this movie as a big fan of the “shit goes sideways” genre. Dog Day Afternoon will forever be my favorite Lumet film, but I think this compares well with his best work. I have wondered what this film would have been like with Hoffman & Shannon swapping roles.
I’ve never been able to get through Dog Day Afternoon. What I did find interesting about watching Serpico for the first time ever last year was that I already knew the tropes and plot and the cliched lines thanks to them becoming part of the Hollywood lexicon. It was highly enjoyable, and there are definitely a few scenes that are iconic and haven’t really been replicated, but it reminded me of how I’ve never seen Forest Gump but I might as well have thanks to how much it was quoted to me when it first came out.I am also, in no way, putting Forrest Gump on the same level as Serpico.
Hahaha, I get what you’re saying. I love Serpico and have seen it a number of times, but I have never seen Scarface and feel like I’ve seen it a dozen times from the random clips and the number of times I’ve heard “say hello to my li’l friend!” shouted by people.
Scarface is actually worth watching, even though it is also immensely quotable. I also think it illustrates a change in how movies were made back in the late ‘70s-early ‘80s.
Pacino looks hot in Serpico with the beard and longer hair. Of course he’s great in it. He should have won for it.
Between Pacino, de Niro, and Nicholson, they should have had an arm full of awards every year in the 1970’s. I still find it crazy that Jack is the only actor to get an Oscar four decades in a row. “This town needs an enema!!”
Like did they really need to give a Oscar to Art Carney. Now if it was Tonto that got the Oscar I wouldn’t mind.
They should have nominated him for The Late Show.
The special effects in Forest Gump were for 1994 simply amazing. The battle scene in Forest wasn’t matched until Saving Private Ryan four years later.
There is a lot to choose from, but Dog Day Afternoon is my favorite Pacino role. Charisma, vulnerability, raw emotion, showing confidence and fear in the same breath. Also, the fact that such a wild role was based on a real life person, even more intriguing. Usually I feel that if an actor has based their performance off a real person they can study and learn from it is typically less impressive than if they portray someone completely fictional, yet they get disproportionately rewarded by the Academy for playing real people, though in this case I think Pacino was amazing.
I dunno, Gust Avrakotos is a great character (and, of course, the academy loves it when an actor plays an actual person.) He’s not particularly short-fused in that movie (as far as I recall, he only has one big blow-up) but his offhand, mumbled delivery made Sorkin’s dialogue land.
“I wasn’t standing at the door, don’t be an idiot, I bugged the scotch bottle. It’s got a little transmitter on it, I got a little thing in my ear, get past it. I was going to tell you about it but I had to leave the room for a second because you were getting indicted.”
But, of course, ripping the ass out of the future Howard Stark was fantastic.
Yeah, I didn’t get the line that seemed pretty dismissive of this movie, and Sorkin in general. He has tics and a style but in the right projects it works really, really well. That scene is great. I enjoy how great Slattery is there too with the “under the dam” line; if I were to guess Sorkin meant that as one of his “character makes unwitting and unrealistic mistake so other character we’re supposed to like and think is very smart can correct it” but his delivery is so good that it just comes across as an intentional phrasing to sound casual. And that makes Hoffman’s character not catching that nice shorthand for his lack of social polish that’s holding him back in his career.
Funny, I saw that Slattery “water under the dam” as indicating he’s a failing upward moron of the “born on third base, thought he invented the game of baseball” type who coasts by on looking and acting like John Slattery. It’s not pointing out that Gust is smart, it’s pointing out that Slattery’s dumb as a fucking post and Gust is willing to call him out on it, which leads into Slattery’s whole idiotic “well, you can understand questioning someone’s loyalty to America when they’re barely Americans to begin with,” shit when talking about first and second generation American citizens. (Though it’s SUUUPER Sorkin to throw in a Gilbert and Sullivan HMH Pinafore reference in the middle of Gust’s rant.)
Plus, it’s a great line in the video above, “For 24 years people have been trying to kill me. People who know how.”
I don’t know why, but that ‘people who know how’ line has stuck with me.
I miss PSH so damn much. His loss left a big damn crater in the world. Can you imagine the work he would’ve done in the era of Too Much TV?
It makes me tear up a little thinking of it, this is one actor whose death actually gave me feelings.
The cool thing is that he had already won Best Supporting Actor in 1998 for The Big Lebowski and in 1999 for The Talented Mr. Ripley.In my mind.
Dammit, now this is lodged this in my head. Even though I know it’s not true, some time years from now I will state that Hoffman won an Oscar for The Big Lebowski.
Happy to help.
Mandala effect!
“That’s marvelous.”
It’s a deeply disturbing movie, and pretty remarkable accomplishment coming from Lumet right at the end of his career. It’s brilliantly constructed, and all the performances are great, including Hawke, who I usually don’t like. More people should see it.
BTDKYD is the PSH movie I regularly recommend. After State and Main, and The Invention of Lying.
This movie is also where Ethan Hawke began his run of great roles – middle aged Ethan. The “Hawkaissance” if you will. “Great” may be relative, but they’ve all been good, solid career moves for him. He was better than expected in The Magnificent Seven remake and continues his run with The Good Lord Bird.
The Ethanaissance, if you please.
“Phillips Seymour Hoffman should have been nominated for (insert any and every PSH performance.)
Hoffman was a good actor, but he played to his obvious strengths and, though many say he resisted typecasting, I disagree. His ‘type’ of character we don’t need: toxic male through and through.
His characters in Boogie Nights and Lebowski said otherwise. They were schlubs. I think that’s what made him so renowned, he could go from Clark Kent to Zod.Ben Mendelsohn is about as close as I’ve seen in years to Hoffman. His performance in Mississippi Grind is top caliber schlub.
Well good news, there are plenty of dull, insipid movies bereft of conflict and complexity for you to enjoy. Art doesn’t require this type of hall-monitoring – you can simply take your Mamma Mia! DVD and move along.
Some folks getting high on their own supply in this thread. This movie is fantastic, and PSH was on fire in this.
Watched this recently, and I completely agree. PSH was so amazing in this part, and I found him magnetic in a very weird way.
I always think one of PSH’s very best performances came in one of his last roles, the film version of John Le Carre’s A Most Wanted Man, playing Gunther Bachmann, a German spy chief / anti-terrorist head. In a career packed with great portrayals this is one of his very finest. Tragically he died before the film was even released. Such a waste.
Oddly, I’d put Mission Impossible 3 on the list of great PSH roles, not just because I’ve never seen him be not-great, but because he was so far ahead of the main peloton of sneering movie villains, and the interrogation scenes (both with him in the chair and with him asking the questions) brought out the best in Tom Cruise.He’s been more magnetic, even (or especially) playing profoundly uncharismatic men, but that one was a blast.
Absolutely. Haven’t seen MI3 for a while but I’ll dig it out this evening. He also gets a very satisfying, and credible, demise….
I agree, such a world-weary yet persevering character. Reminds me of if his CIA character from “Charlie Wilson’s War” had pissed off a lot of people (very likely) and gotten reassigned to this thankless post in Germany, and had calmed down a lot. Sort of reminded me of “The Wire” as well. I love that movie, even if I can’t separate it from PSH’s death, it would have been great had he survived to make another. Sort of like “Blackstar” for David Bowie or “The Drop” for James Gandolfini (that movie wasn’t great but his performance was)
Never saw this one, but man do I miss this guy. He was amazing in everything I saw him in, and I instantly liked a movie more when he showed up.
He was never more menacing than in Punch Drunk Love.
I didn’t know that this movie existed. I think I was busy moving to another country when it came out. Seymour Hoffman, Lumet, Hawke and Tomei is right in my wheelhouse and discovering of its existence in 2021 is like found gold.
I remember this mostly for the scenes Hoffman and Finney shared, that was a masterclass in displaying thinly veiled contempt, but I forgot Michael Shannon was in this! Speaking of guys who can blow up with the best of them.