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# Lumet’s latest is heavy on drama
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/lumets-latest-is-heavy-on-drama/
- Published: 2007-11-17T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T03:58:31.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Entertainment, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By KEN TARR Special to the Daily Press*

In Sidney Lumet’s darkest picture yet, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke play brothers Andy and Hank (I know, they look nothing alike). Both struggling to get by, Andy comes up with a plan to rob a jewelry store and somehow convinces Hank to co-conspire. Hank is neck-deep in debt to his ex-wife and child and Andy is a closet heroin addict who is always looking for easy money. Andy’s wife, Gina (played exceptionally by Marisa Tomei) wants the good life they once shared in Brazil and due to her wanderlust, she has started an affair with Hank. Hank and Andy have a bad relationship with their parents, but still love them. But, not enough to keep them from robbing THEIR jewelry store.

This movie stretches the bounds of believability. Well-directed and anchored by strong performances from Hawke and Hoffman, the audience doesn’t roll their eyes that often at this melodramatic story as much as one would expect. Every character acts out their vulnerability to the Nth degree. The film is only missing a Greek chorus, because not very much is a Sophoclean tragedy. Albert Finney uses his full size and age to convey an emotional gravitas that in any other actor’s hands would seem hackneyed.

The story switches perspective from character to character in a very unique, almost comedic manner, that at times is off-putting, at times pitch-perfect. For such a veteran and frankly, old director, Lumet seems to be having a lot of fun and in the process makes it OK to really go for it in melodramatic family tragedies. It is nice to see no fear in this film. It does hurt this film in the last 20 minutes as it grows weary because the characters are utterly unlikable. Still, for a very original story, executed without much emotion or sympathy for anything but the dramatic conflict, this film is definitely worth seeing.

KEN TARR is a student at Santa Monica College, an actor and writer and is also taller than 99 percent of the population. He can be reached telepathically or at trutoulouse@yahoo.com.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 17, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/111707.pdf?ref=smdp.com)