Wonderful character development!

A Masterpiece!

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

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.

I was warned not to watch this film by several sources but, as it is the first movie with a credited appearance by Jennifer Lawrence, I ignored them and gave it a go. To be fair, in the hands of another director, this might not have been too bad. Filmed around 2005 but not released till 2013 (which should tell you a lot) the story involves a fading actress, Kathryn Vale, played by Lena Olin, who has decided to try for a comeback. Living in her shadow is her daughter, Zoe Hughes (Rosamund Pike) who is trying to get her first big break but at the same time is living in her mother's shadow. Casting a dark light over all the proceedings is the fact that Kathryn is still suspected of murdering her husband, Zoe's step-father, many years ago. A fact that her current partner Dean Winters (Jake Kelly) and her P/A Molly Price (Edie Fontaine) keep bringing to her attention due to a series of accusing cards that arrive in the mail or on her pillow. Cue a lot of jealous recriminations between mother and daughter as they try to upstage each other and you have the basis for a solid if not very imaginative plot. Unfortunately this is where the movie goes belly up in a big way. We eventually find out that Kathryn DID murder her husband during a flashback where you see him making moves on the teenage Zoe (Played by Jennifer Lawrence) and that she and Dean were responsible for the notes. The Direction is horrible, the script laughable and the dialogue very bland. The chemistry between all the leads is practically non-existent and somewhere along the line Pike and Olin forgot how to act. To cap it all, some very drastic cutting left the running time at a little over 68 minutes. The result is an in-cohesive mess, very tediously plotted with little or no charm. Even the soundtrack is boring. I can't recommend this to anyone, not even die hard Jennifer Lawrence fans as her appearance is limited to a very brief appearance of her, admittedly looking stunning in a pair of shorts and tights,pouting seductively at her step-father. It really isn't worth the bother.

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.

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.