Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) angry with Hank (Ethan Hawke) for mishandling robbery. (Will Hart for The Star)

Some of the best thrillers begin at the end.

Billy Wilder's dark classic "Sunset Boulevard" starts with the film's narrator talking in voiceover as his dead body floats in Norma Desmond's pool.

More recently, Tony Gilroy's excellent "Michael Clayton" told its story in reverse -- jumping around in time to do so.

We're getting used to this approach in the thriller genre: "Pulp Fiction" did it. So did "Memento" and "The Machinist," to name a few.

Now, Sidney Lumet has taken the same approach with his latest film, "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead."

Lumet, now in his 80s, hasn't made a great movie in 25 years. This one -- despite its attempt at freshening up the narrative structure -- doesn't prove a return to form for the director of some of the 1970s' most memorable movies ("Serpico," "Dog Day Afternoon," "Network").

While it has some bright spots -- Marisa Tomei is lovely to watch throughout -- the film lacks suspense, mystery and characters worth caring about.

The film hinges on the thin story of two down-on-their-luck brothers (Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke) who decide to rob their parents' jewelry store.

Lousy choices

Things don't go right with the robbery and the situation for the brothers -- who look nothing alike -- goes from bad to worse as they make a series of terrible choices.

The problem: I didn't care at all about what happened to either one of them. At all.

The story told from various perspectives as it jumps around in time could have been delivered just as effectively in half an hour. Little new comes from offering us the characters' different angles or the jumping back and forth.

It just feels like a gimmick, like a way to stretch this tiny tale of a lame caper gone wrong into a two-hour feature film.

Gimmick's not enough

A boring story made non-linear is still a boring story.

The other big problem here is the characters and the actors who play them don't have the power to compel us to watch like George Clooney in "Michael Clayton" or William Holden in "Sunset Boulevard."

Hawke, who (bravely) looks hunched over, ragged and terrible throughout the film, plays a wimp who wears a shirt and tie to work and constantly disappoints his young daughter and always-angry ex-wife.

Hoffman's character -- a pink and plump drug-addicted accountant taking cash from the company till -- is bitter about his childhood and not very appreciative of his pretty-but-clueless wife (Tomei).

Both brothers really want money. That's the main thing we know about them. Hawke's character wants it so he can pay child support. Hoffman's wants it so he can buy drugs.

And then there's Dad. Played by Albert Finney, the father is a geriatric grump who was never very nice to his older son (Hoffman). The last third of the film becomes sort of an action-adventure flick for the AARP set as Finney's character takes the law into his own hands and goes after the young whippersnappers.