thank god this wasn not base on a true story and because what a story it be . populate by despicable character whose depravity know no bound and before the devil be a mesmerizing and jaw drop excursion into perversion which would be laughable ( and sometimes be and even with or perhaps because of the sickeningly tragic undercurrent of human dysfunction throughout ) if it weren not carry out with such magnificent and overwhelming conviction by it star . the excellent script by kelly masterson and superb direction by none other than sidney lumet doesn not hurt either . the main dysfunction here be of a family nature and with the two majorly screw up brother ( brilliant portrayal from philip seymour hoffman and ethan hawke ) decide to rob their own parent jewelry store and an attempt that go pathetically awry . the story be tell with time shift ( which be note on screen and such a represent charlie represent two day before the robbery and so no one should be confuse ) while some people have say they do not like this device but i think it work perfectly and add to the skeweredness of the whole affair and consider that the two brother in question be hardly play with full deck between them you couldn not make a decent poker hand to save your life . throw in these cheesy extra tidbit represent one of the brother be a drug addict and marry to gina ( marisa tomei and also excellent ) and who be have an affair with the other brother and toss in some monumental sibling rivalry and along with the fact that say drug addict brother hat his father ( a wrench performance from albert finney ) and who have apparently cause him serious past pain and and you have get a shakespearean or greek tragedy on your hand . proceed with caution .