The Devil You Know (2013) Reviews

• Is this the best they could come up with?

  mauriceh012016-06-27

  I just watched Rosamund Pikes' Return to Sender and was hoping this movie would be better. In fact, it was a lot worse! Many of the scenes had no point, most of the actors were way to serious and uncomfortable looking. The directing was awful and this film was a complete waste of time. There was no tension that a thriller usually has. It was too tedious and seemed like nobody even wanted to make this movie. I don't get it because Lena and Pikes are pros, especially Lena Olin, who's been doing movies forever! It doesn't make sense that they would put out such a poorly made movie like this. The ending was beyond stupid. The movie scores/music was the best part - actually the only good part, except for the constant filming of the girls' legs in the movie.

• Dumbest movie ever

  chldofthe80s2013-11-30

  My friends and I chose this randomly from a list on pay per view. Mostly because Jennifer. Lawrence was listed in the credits. And that was Mis-leading - she was only in one flashback scene And did not have any lines. I wish that I get could my time back that I wasted watching this - and the $4.99 rental fee. Bad acting , bad editing,confusing storyline. The only good part in the entire movie is when it finally ended ! Why would Jennifer Lawrence even have ave her name attached to this is beyond me. Don't bother renting it - I would have rated it ZERO but 1 was the lowest score.

• A missed opportunity

  johnklem2015-01-06

  Loosely based on, or at least inspired by the Lana Turner, Cheryl Crane, Johnny Stompanato murder, The Devil You Know shows all the signs of having run out of money during principal photography. Valiant attempts to stretch what footage there was into a feature film and give it a stilted, 90s European art-house feel resulted in a 72 minute, stylish mess. That said, the film has its strengths, not least the principal performances. IMDb's Trivia section shows Lesley Ann Warren as having been replaced by Lena Olin. If true, the filmmakers fell on their collective feet. Olin's perfectly cast as the fading star, as is Molly Price as her PA. The real star performance, though, belongs to Rosamund Pike as the daughter in constant fear of being eclipsed. Pike's a great actress in search of the perfect role. She was extremely good as a Bond girl, albeit too subtle for the core audience and she was wonderful in Gone Girl but this is her best performance to date. A perfect portrayal of a daughter locked into a battle with the mother from hell and with plenty of her own demons. And therein lies the attraction of The Devil You Know. At its core, it's a great depiction of a deeply flawed mother daughter relationship. Pointless to speculate on what might have been with solid financing and a firmer hand at the helm. Instead, enjoy for what it is. Warts and all.

• Where Was Jennifer Lawrence Did I Miss Something

  SadnessNeverGoes2015-06-08

  you know what guys this film is a complete solid fraud its has no proper script & no story the characters are boring the only bonus point is the cinematography. the story of the devil you know revolves around 2 movie stars then rest of the movie is usual we have all seen before you know the jealousy,family secrets & relationship crap then comes a hilarious climax with both women pointing guns on each other but surprisingly no one gets shot. is this supposed to be a joke or something i sat through this lame boring film expecting some good acting from both Rosamund Pike & Lena Olin but these 2 talented actresses got wasted what a shame & how dare these people put name of Jennifer Lawrence in the cast i saw this movie twice hoping i would spot her in some scenes but where the hell was she anyway guys did i miss something this is bad marketing & quite a crime i am not a fan of Jennifer Lawrence but if she is reading this she should sue these people for using her name so people will buy this crappy film. hey i forgive Rosamund Pike for signing this script but why Lena Olin did this despite the terrible role she was given she gave her best & i loved the silver dress Lena Olin was wearing. for those people out there expecting some action,horror,suspense & some hot kinky sex they better get ready for a disappointment as this film has no such thing like that to watch except never ending conversations between characters or weird flashbacks it felt like i was watching a completely different film from late 80's & what was the genre anyway. the entire film is misleading i mean you wish it was some ghost story but hell no this is a insult & blasphemy against the art of film-making. Overall The Devil You Know 2013 is a waste of time & money my rating is 2/10.Skipp It

• Very easy to see why this film took so long to be released

  TheLittleSongbird2016-04-04

  The initial premise was cool and interesting, and if executed right it had the potential to be a solid film. And this viewer also really likes Rosamund Pike (like in 'An Education', 'Barney's Version', 'Pride and Prejudice', 'Made in Dagenham' and in particular 'Gone Girl', and while 'Die Another Day' has a lot of problems she is one of the best things about it), who has generally really grown as an actress. In fact there is some good talent here. Sadly, 'The Devil You Know' does very little with it. It took a long time to be released, and it is very easy to see why. There are two redeeming qualities. One is some nice shots at the start (like the opening with Zoe and the water fountain), which were quite moody and stylish. The other is the performance of Pike who like in the recent 'Return to Sender' does a very admirable job with material that is quite frankly beneath her. She is also the only one who looks involved and seems natural. As much as this is going to sound like hero worship, when it actually isn't as there is the acknowledgement that along with some great work she has had misfires, she is not to be judged, like she has been (based on a thread on her message board regarding her facial expressions, which resorted to hyperbole and insults), solely on performances in 'Jack Reacher', 'Wrath of the Titans' and 'Doom'. Those films did nothing for her talents and gave her virtually nothing to do, even the best of actors would struggle to bring believability to the material she was given in them, something that all her detractors on that thread ignored. Unfortunately the rest of the cast struggle. Lena Olin has the film's most nonsensical character, and practically sleepwalks through it, any acting talent is clearly forgotten here. Dean Winters, who has shown skill in comedic roles and playing it straight, looks very uncomfortable, never have seen him so out of his depth actually. As for Jennifer Lawrence, her appearance is so brief it can be forgiven if one questions whether she was in this at all (a complete waste and waste of talent is one of the worst things a film can commit in my view). There is no natural chemistry, while stilted dialogue, lazy direction (stylistically and dramatically) and nonsensically written characters (that, apart from Zoe, were impossible to relate to) do nothing in their favour, instead working against them. 'The Devil You Know' is very lazily directed, with shots that border on self-indulgent (like a mix of a glorified fashion show and pornographic-like shots of legs), complete lack of engagement with the story and literally non-existent direction of the actors. The editing is so dizzying and slip-shod it is sometimes hard to make out what's going on. The look of the film is drab and poorly lit, even for a mystery-thriller. The script throughout is laughable and the embarrassment on people's faces could be seen very clearly. The story is a complete failure, and for me the worst component of the entire film. Which is saying a lot for a film that has so little to recommend it. There is absolutely no suspense or tension, it takes far too long to get going and remains tedious throughout, it is far too thin to sustain the running time and the red herrings were either underdeveloped or incredibly confusing, which gave 'The Devil You Know' such a confused feel that the worst parts bordered on the incoherent. Overall, aside from some nice shots at the start and Pike 'The Devil You Know' is a mess. 2/10 Bethany Cox