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THE MASTER — PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN: BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke star as brothers playing a dangerous game in Sidney Lumet thriller

BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD (Sidney Lumet, 2007)
Museum of the Moving Image
35th Ave. at 36th St., Astoria
Saturday, October 1, $12, 2:30
Series continues through October 2
718-777-6800
www.movingimage.us

Sidney Lumet spins an intriguing web of mystery and severe family dysfunction in Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead. Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Hank (Ethan Hawke) are very different brothers who are both in desperate financial straits. Andy, a real estate exec, has a serious drug problem and a fading marriage to his sexy but bored young wife (Marisa Tomei), while ne’er-do-well Hank can’t afford the monthly child-support payments to his ex-wife (Aleksa Palladino) and daughter (Amy Ryan). Andy convinces Hank to knock off their parents’ (Albert Finney and Rosemary Harris) jewelry store, but when things go horribly wrong, everyone involved is forced to face some very difficult situations, leading to a harrowing climax. Seymour and Hawke are both excellent, the former cool, calm, and collected, the latter scattershot and impulsive. Tomei gives one of her finest performances as the woman sleeping with both brothers. Lumet tells the story through a series of flashbacks from various characters’ point of view, with fascinating overlaps — although a bit overused — that offer different perspectives on critical scenes. Hoffman chose the role of Andy over Hank, which leads to several surprises, including an opening scene you will never forget. Adapted from a script by playwright Kelly Masterson — whom Lumet had never met or even spoken with — Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (the title comes from an Irish toast that begins, “May you be in heaven half and hour…”) is a thrilling modern noir from one of the masters of melodrama. The underrated film is screening on October 1 at 2:30 in the Museum of the Moving Image series “Philip Seymour Hoffman: The Master,” a sixteen-film tribute to Hoffman, a native New Yorker who left us well before his time. The series continues through October 2 with such other Hoffman films as Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia, Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Anton Corbjin’s A Most Wanted Man.

HUDSON RIVER FLICKS — BIG HIT WEDNESDAYS: TRAINWRECK

Amy Schumer tries to find some peace in TRAINWRECK

TRAINWRECK (Judd Apatow, 2015)
Pier 63 Lawn, Hudson River Park
Cross at West 22nd or 24th St.
Wednesday, July 20, free, 8:30
www.hudsonriverpark.org
www.trainwreckmovie.com

Amy Schumer’s meteoric rise continued last summer with Trainwreck, and this semiautobiographical, raunchy romantic comedy did nothing to derail this New York native’s ascent. Schumer, who first broke through to national attention on Comedy Central’s roast of Charlie Sheen, then won a prestigious Peabody Award for her extremely clever and insightful cable series, Inside Amy Schumer, wrote and stars in Trainwreck, playing Amy, a magazine writer who prefers drinking and quick sex to cuddling and sleepovers. Once the deed is done, either she or the dude is gone, and she continues on with her supposedly happy life, which includes her sister, Kim (Brie Larson), who has had the gall to go all suburban mom and housewife on her; her philandering father, Gordon (Colin Quinn), a Mets fanatic who is suffering from MS; and her boss at S’Nuff, Dianna (an unrecognizable Tilda Swinton), a sassy Brit with no time for melodrama. Fortunately, through most of the film, director Judd Apatow eschews the melodrama as well, until he lets it all cave in with closing scenes that undo nearly everything that has been built up before. Thankfully, however, most of what happens before is as smart and funny as it is outrageous and perceptive. Amy is assigned a story on Dr. Aaron Conners (Bill Hader), a sports specialist whose best friend is LeBron James, who is a blast playing himself as a deeply sensitive, extremely cost-conscious man. Amy has to reevaluate her world view when she starts falling for Aaron, going against everything she believes in by dating a nice guy who just might really care about her.

Director Judd Apatow and costars Amy Schumer and Bill Hader laugh it up on the set of TRAINWRECK

The film starts unraveling once Aaron begins treating Amar’e Stoudemire, who is a Knick in the film but since has gone on to play for Dallas and then sign with Miami, and ends with a cringe-worthy scene in Madison Square Garden. However, by then Schumer has already won you over with her ribald appeal over the course of numerous hysterical vignettes that are not quite as surreal as those on her Comedy Central show but are just as perceptive and tongue-in-cheek, skewering everything in her path, from love and romance to sexism and misogyny, doing the kinds of things men usually do in such movies, including those written, directed, and/or produced by Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, This Is 40). Professional wrestling champ John Cena nearly steals the show as Amy’s boyfriend who gets into an unforgettable argument with a guy (comic Keith Robinson) in a movie theater, an improvised scene that might make you choke on your popcorn. And King James rules with surprising chops when dishing lovelorn advice to Aaron. Many of the smaller roles are played by yet more comics; be on the lookout for Dave Attell, Vanessa Bayer, Jon Glaser, Tim Meadows, Jim Norton, and Bridget Everett, among others. Yes, that’s Method Man as Amy’s father’s caretaker, while ninety-nine-year-old Norman Lloyd, a veteran of Hitchcock, Welles, and St. Elsewhere, is her dad’s hospice pal, and the two people in the mock dogwalker movie are indeed Daniel Radcliffe and Marisa Tomei. But the stunt casting eventually gets burdensome, especially when Chris Evert, Matthew Broderick, and Marv Albert show up, as well as the Knicks City Dancers. It’s as if Schumer and Apatow didn’t have enough faith in their central story and had to fill it up with lots of silly fluff, which is a shame, because Schumer and Hader have a winning, infectious chemistry, and the film’s unfortunate plot turns ultimately undo much of what Schumer had accomplished as a woman in a man’s world, as writer and actor. But that shouldn’t slow down this express train of a talent. Trainwreck is screening July 20 on the Pier 63 lawn in Hudson River Park in the Hudson RiverFlicks: Big Hit Wednesdays series, which continues July 27 with The Big Short and August 3 with Creed.

TRAINWRECK

Amy Schumer tries to find some peace in TRAINWRECK

TRAINWRECK (Judd Apatow, 2015)
Opens Friday, July 17
www.trainwreckmovie.com

Amy Schumer’s meteoric rise continues with Trainwreck, and this semiautobiographical, raunchy romantic comedy should certainly not derail this New York native’s ascent. Schumer, who first broke through to national attention on Comedy Central’s roast of Charlie Sheen, then won a prestigious Peabody Award for her extremely clever and insightful cable series, Inside Amy Schumer, wrote and stars in Trainwreck, playing Amy, a magazine writer who prefers drinking and quick sex to cuddling and sleepovers. Once the deed is done, either she or the dude is gone, and she continues on with her supposedly happy life, which includes her sister, Kim (Brie Larson), who has had the gall to go all suburban mom and housewife on her; her philandering father, Gordon (Colin Quinn), a Mets fanatic who is suffering from MS; and her boss at S’Nuff, Dianna (an unrecognizable Tilda Swinton), a sassy Brit with no time for melodrama. Fortunately, through most of the film, director Judd Apatow eschews the melodrama as well, until he lets it all cave in with closing scenes that undo nearly everything that has been built up before. Thankfully, however, most of what happens before is as smart and funny as it is outrageous and perceptive. Amy is assigned a story on Dr. Aaron Conners (Bill Hader), a sports specialist whose best friend is LeBron James, who is a blast playing himself as a deeply sensitive, extremely cost-conscious man. Amy has to reevaluate her world view when she starts falling for Aaron, going against everything she believes in by dating a nice guy who just might really care about her.

Director Judd Apatow and costars Amy Schumer and Bill Hader laugh it up on the set of TRAINWRECK

THE REALISTIC JONESES

John Jones (Michael C. Hall) says farewell to a dead squirrel as Jennifer (Toni Collette) and Bob Jones (Tracy Letts) look on (photo by Joan Marcus)

Lyceum Theatre
149 West 45th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
Through July 13, $29- $135
www.therealisticjoneses.com

In his first Broadway play, The Realistic Joneses, Will Eno is as much choreographer as writer, his words twirling, spinning, lifting, throwing, bouncing, and ricocheting among the four characters, performing an intoxicating dance of language. As in his previous two works, Title and Deed and The Open House, a kind of existential absurdity hovers over the proceedings, which delve into the deeply psychological natures of home and family. The Joneses live a rather isolated life up in the mountains, Bob (Tracy Letts) a curmudgeon suffering from a mysterious disease, Jennifer (Toni Collette) taking care of him while trying to deal with his sudden mood shifts. Their peaceful tranquility is somewhat shattered when a cheerful, energetic couple also named the Joneses move into the house down the way, John (Michael C. Hall) a repairman, Pony (Marisa Tomei) a sort of ditzy ingénue. Over the course of a few days, the four characters interact in different groupings, sharing their views on love and marriage, home and health while debating the meaning of language and communication in general and certain words and phrases specifically. “Nature was definitely one of the big selling points of here. Plus, the school system’s supposed to be good,” Pony says. “Oh, do you have kids?” Jennifer asks. “No, it’s just that John hates stupid children,” Pony responds. “We communicate pretty well, even without words,” Jennifer says about Bob, then later tells John, “I think you have a nice way with words.”

Pony (Marisa Tomei) and John Jones (Michael C. Hall) are looking forward to a new life in the mountains, but little do they know what awaits them (photo by Joan Marcus)

Eno, who was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for 2004’s Thom Pain (based on nothing), stealthily riffs on the old saw “keeping up with the Joneses” by equating the two couples in clever, understated ways, tantalizingly making one wonder whether they are actually different manifestations or younger and older versions of the same people. (Even though John and Pony appear more youthful than Bob and Jennifer, all four actors are in their forties, Tomei eight years older than Collette, Letts five years senior to Hall.) “We’re not so different, you and me,” John says to Bob, who responds, “I think we’re probably very different,” to which John adds, “Yeah, me too, actually.” And later, Pony tells John, “I don’t want to turn into those guys, next door.” Director Sam Gold (Fun Home, Seminar, Picnic) maintains a quick pace throughout the play’s fast-moving ninety minutes, another Eno specialty, with most scenes working well, although a meeting between John and Jennifer at the local market feels unsure of itself and falls flat. Otherwise, The Realistic Joneses is a smart, engaging comedy boasting an outstanding cast having a whole lot of deliciously infectious fun with the crazy English language.

PRINCE OF THE CITY: REMEMBERING SIDNEY LUMET

BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD concludes weeklong tribute to Sidney Lumet at the Film Society of Lincoln Center

BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD (Sidney Lumet, 2007)
Film Society of Lincoln Center, Walter Reade Theater
165 West 65th St. at Amsterdam Ave.
Monday, July 25, 8:30
Series runs July 19-25
212-875-5601
www.filmlinc.com

Sidney Lumet spins an intriguing web of mystery and severe family dysfunction in Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead. Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Hank (Ethan Hawke) are very different brothers who are both in desperate financial straits. Andy, a real estate exec, has a serious drug problem and a fading marriage to his sexy but bored young wife (Marisa Tomei), while ne’er-do-well Hank can’t afford the monthly child-support payments to his ex-wife (Aleksa Palladino) and daughter (Amy Ryan). Andy convinces Hank to knock off their parents’ (Albert Finney and Rosemary Harris) jewelry store, but when things go horribly wrong, everyone involved is forced to face some very difficult situations, leading to a harrowing climax. Seymour and Hawke are both excellent, the former cool, calm, and collected, the latter scattershot and impulsive. Tomei gives one of her finest performances as the woman sleeping with both brothers. Lumet tells the story through a series of flashbacks from various characters’ point of view, with fascinating overlaps — although a bit overused — that offer different perspectives on critical scenes. Adapted from a script by playwright Kelly Masterson — whom Lumet had never met or even spoken with — Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (the title comes from an Irish toast that begins, “May you be in heaven half and hour…”) is a thrilling modern noir from one of the masters of melodrama.

Sidney Lumet discusses BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD and more at the New York Film Festival in 2007 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead is screening July 25 at 8:30 as part of “Prince of the City: Remembering Sidney Lumet,” the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s tribute to one of New York’s greatest directors, who passed away in April at the age of eighty-six. Trained in the Yiddish theater and married to such celebrities as Rita Gam and Gloria Vanderbilt (and Gail Jones, daughter of Lena Horne), Lumet made more than forty films during his fifty-year career, which began in 1957 with the powerful, claustrophobic 12 Angry Men (screening July 19 and 22) and continued with such gritty New York City dramas as The Pawnbroker (July 19 & 22), Serpico (July 20 & 23), and Dog Day Afternoon (July 23 & 25), virtually redefining the world’s view of the Big Apple. He also adapted Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night with Katharine Hepburn and Jason Robards (July 24), Anton Chekhov’s The Sea Gull with James Mason and Simone Signoret (July 23), and, yes, The Wizard of Oz with The Wiz, starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson (July 23). The series, which runs July 19-25, includes Q&As with screenwriter Walter Bernstein following the July 20 screening of 1964’s cold war thriller Fail-Safe and with Luis Guzman, Paul Calderon, and Judge Edwin Torres after the July 24 screening of 1990’s Q&A; Treat Williams will be on hand, along with the man he portrayed, former narcotics detective Robert Leuci, for the July 24 showing of 1981’s Prince of the City. Despite such an impressive track record — the series also includes Network (1976), The Verdict (1982), and Running on Empty (1988), as well as the little-known The Offence, in which Sean Connery plays a British detective on a very sensitive case — Lumet received only one Academy Award, an honorary Oscar in 2005.

MARIE AND BRUCE

Marie (Marisa Tomei) and Bruce (Frank Whaley) are in for quite a day in Wallace Shawn revival (photo by Monique Carboni)

Acorn Theatre, Theatre Row
410 West 42nd St. between Ninth & Tenth Aves.
Through May 7, $60
212-239-6200
www.thenewgroup.org

This year the New Group is honoring lawyer Fred Wistow and playwright Wallace Shawn at its May 9 gala benefit; in the case of the latter, it can’t be for the current revival of his 1979 show, Marie and Bruce, now playing at the Acorn at Theatre Row. As the audience enters the theater, Marie (Marisa Tomei) is tossing about in bed while her husband, Bruce (Frank Whaley), appears to be sleeping comfortably, setting the stage for what could be a rather tumultuous day in the life of this not-very–happy couple. Soon Marie is addressing the crowd directly, complaining about Bruce; when he eventually wakes up, she lets him have it, spewing curses and telling him how much she hates him. Frank responds by putting on urine-stained pants, making coffee, and somewhat sarcastically repeatedly calling her “darling.” That scene’s not too bad; nor is the ending, when Marie and Bruce discuss their immediate future at a small restaurant. Unfortunately, in between, the bulk of the play takes place at a party that is simply excruciating to watch. The attendees are all seated at a round table that slowly spins as snippets of chatter build up and then fade away, never finishing any thoughts or allowing these minor characters to develop. The audience is left to feel like they’ve paid good money ($60 in this case) to go to a party that doesn’t want them there, filled with people they can’t stand being around. It’s jaw-droppingly offensive and hard not to want to bounce Marie’s epithets right back at Shawn and the director, Scott Elliott. Even if their intent was to make the audience feel uncomfortable — both Shawn and Elliott have not shied away from experimental moments throughout their careers — well, they’ve succeeded beyond their wildest imagination, presenting a production that is impossible to recommend, even to the most masochistic of theatergoers.