Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly: "[Philip Seymour] Hoffman has become a cathartic actor, who taps his darkest sides without protection, as if to say: Admit it, you all know this pain too. Late in the movie, he has the quietest trashing-the-room tantrum I've ever seen, and it's one of the most memorable. He and Hawke, who makes Hank a jumble of duplicity and childlike trust, give seismic performances, and so does Albert Finney as the dad who towers over both of them. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead may be the only movie I've seen that earns comparison to both a great film noir and Long Day's Journey Into Night."

David Edelstein of New York: "[Sidney Lumet's] touch in Before the Devil is so sure, so perfectly weighted, that it’s hard to imagine him capable of making a bad movie. The thing is just enthralling."

J. Hoberman of The Village Voice: "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead is less Sidney Lumet's comeback than his resurrection. Three years after being presented a Lifetime Achievement Oscar, the 83-year-old director comes forth with a violent family melodrama that is his strongest movie in at least two decades."

A.O. Scott of The New York Times: "... one of the least likable guys Mr. Hoffman, a specialist in acutely observed male unpleasantness, has ever played. Andy bullies Hank mercilessly, lies to his employers and seems to experience minimal remorse after his perfect crime goes horribly awry. And yet, while never for a moment soliciting our empathy, Mr. Hoffman makes us care about this man, the scale of whose ethical failures gives him a kind of negative grandeur."

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone: "So it's a kick that Lumet, 83, puts the younger mavericks to shame with a dynamite film that ranks with the year's best ... All the actors are first-rate: Hoffman continues to astonish, Hawke digs deep to create a haunting portrayal of loss. And Lumet's direction dazzles, notably in the robbery scene, when things go wrong and Hank hyperventilates in the getaway car. No way you won't be knocked for a loop."