The Family, 2013.
Directed by Luc Besson.
Starring Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dianna Agron, John D’Leo, Tommy Lee Jones, and Jimmy Palumbo.
SYNOPSIS:
A Mafia boss and his family must relocate to France under the FBI’s witness protection program. Instructed to keep a low profile, the Manzoni’s end up attracting more attention then they want as their old habits rear their ugly heads. Inevitably, chaos ensues as ‘The Family’ try to tame their violent ways.
Oh dear. That’s what you might say when you leave the cinema. It’s understandable that you had high hopes for The Family: great cast, fun trailer, good director. But I bet you thought the same about Last Vegas… Full of ridiculous stereotypes and thoroughly unlikeable characters, you should only go and see this if you’ve seen every other film out at the cinema, are eager for an afternoon nap or just love Robert De Niro.
The Family is about an ex-Mafia boss, Giovanni Manzoni (Robert De Niro – Goodfellas), who has had to move his wife, Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer – Hairspray) and kids, Belle and Warren (Dianna Agron and John D’Leo – Glee and Wanderlust respectively), to Normandy after snitching on the mob. Having entered into the FBI’s witness protection program (and becoming the Blake family) with the help of FBI guy Agent Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones – Men in Black), hijinks ensue as the Manzoni/Blake family struggle to keep a low profile and end up partaking in all manor of violent activities, resulting in them finally having to act like a ‘family’ in order to survive.
The Family is based on a French book called Malavita by Tonino Benacquista and sure enough, the story isn’t too awful. With a director, producer and writer like Luc Besson (Nikita, The Fifth Element, Leon) at the helm and Academy Award winning stars like Robert De Niro and Tommy Lee Jones (as well as Michelle Pfeiffer who has been nominated 3 times), in starring roles, it is totally understandable why The Family would appeal to an audience. However, the awful French accordion music that plagues what feels like every scene, the constant American-bashing by the French natives and the incessant garlic-guzzling French jibes by the Americans are just three of the annoying stereotypes running through the core of this film. One could argue that this is merely a French director, who has been very successful in Hollywood, displaying his sense of humour and his ability to make fun of the characteristics that he is perhaps most familiar with due to his is background. This would be fine if these stereotypes were alluded to maybe once, perhaps twice, but they’re not; it feels constant! If you think this sounds bad then couple this with the characters and you are in for a truly painful time.
As previously mentioned, Robert De Niro plays the head of a Mafia family. Perfect role for De Niro you might say. Yes sure but how many times do we need to see a re-imagining of the same character by the same actor? And when I say re-imagining, I mean he’s changed his outfit because his shrug and his raised eyebrows remain the same. De Niro is good in everything he does, but you can’t help but think that with his run of recent films (Last Vegas, Meet the Fockers, The Big Wedding), he’s just cashing in the cheques for his retirement fund.
Michelle Pfeiffer plays a slightly unhinged Mafia wife. Pfeiffer playing a crazy chick annoyed when she doesn’t get her own way, this is new! Oh wait… it’s not. This isn’t the only issue with the character of Maggie Blake though. You can’t help but think that Carmella Soprano would never condone her husband’s violent behaviour. And there is no way that she would let Meadow and AJ get away with it either. Maggie seems to be the least maternal woman on the planet; pair this with the fact that she is the matriarch of a well known Mafia family then you are confronted with a thoroughly unlikeable woman who just doesn’t fit in with the Mafia-mother norm.
Last but not least there is Tommy Lee Jones playing FBI Agent Stansfield. Jones playing an agent of the law. Blimey, need I go on?
Some might think, ‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks; give them a break’ and maybe you are right. But these are three terrific actors (okay well, one terrific, two teetering on the edge) playing the same role over and over just because they’re good at it. This film with these actors could have been at least half decent had someone done it properly: take out the annoying, constant stereotypes; encourage De Niro, Pfeiffer and Jones to play their roles ever so slightly differently and include a more subtle reference to their pasts (Yes Goodfellas scene, I’m talking to you! Hell, that scene could have been genius if it wasn’t so cringeworthy). Maybe Luc Besson was the main problem…
However, there is at least one positive aspect of The Family. The shining light of this film is that it is an easy 1 hour and 52 minutes. If you just fancy going to see a film on a Saturday afternoon with a chunk of violent action, a hint of comedy and some big names then by all means, go! Take away all of the negatives, then as a piece of entertainment, it is not the worst thing to have come out of Hollywood. Even though the characters are nothing new, the performances from the cast are far from terrible.
Overall, if you like nasty characters, enjoy stereotypes and just want a nice easy 112 minutes, then go and see this. Also, if you are a massive fan of De Niro then go and take a look (although you will be adding it to your recently compiled list of De Niro disappointments). But if this sounds like your worst cinematic nightmare (and for at least 80% of you, it will be), then for your own health, stay the hell away!
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Sadé Green
Originally published December 6, 2013. Updated April 13, 2018.
