Review of The Family (2013) by Thomas W — 29 Jan 2014

The Family is a very dark comedy starring Robert de Niro, Tommy Lee Jones and Michelle Pfeiffer in a film directed by the very hit-or-miss French director, Luc Besson ... who swings and misses with this one.

Besson was somewhat of a directorial wonder in the 1990's with his films La Femme Nikita, The Professional (Natalie Portman's film debut!) and The Fifth Element as he hasn't achieved the same level of acclaim in over a decade-and-a-half.

The plot/central idea of his newest film, The Family, sounds as if it should work for a pitch black comedy although it also sadly sounds rather one-note. Robert De Niro (The Godfather, Meet the Parents) is the head of a former mafia family who has been relocated across the ocean to a small town in France for safe-keeping by the witness relocation program.

It is up to Tommy Lee Jones (The Fugitive, No Country for Old Men) and his crew to keep them alive as De Niro's one time family man has dirt on somebody important. This isn't an easy task as The Family quickly reverts back to their old ways and draws much unwanted attention to their everyday activities - queue the laughs as this is supposed to be funny (some is .

.. some isn't). There is a flirtatious but short-fused bombshell of a wife who loathes condescension (Michelle Pfeiffer - Hairspray, The Age of Innocence), an intelligent and too-wise for his own good son (John D'Leo - The Wrestler, Wanderlust) and a fragile mafia princess who just wants to be loved (Dianna Agron - "Glee", Burlesque).

The acting here is strong and some of the comedy bits are inspired (hello Goodfellas!) but The Family ends up being too long as its central joke is played over and over again with each character getting his/her turn to put a spin on it.

I found myself asking "what were they thinking?" a few times too many ... which is never good unless the film is about a family of illusionists and this film is not about a family of illusionists.