Malavita
There are certainly worse ways to spend two hours at the theater than by watching De Niro play an old Mobster in a self-reflexive action/comedy.
The Familyrevolves around the Manzonis , a ill-famed Mafia family that ’s been hiding out in and around France ever since the patriarch Giovanni ( Robert De Niro ) ratted out his fellow mobsters to the Feds . Giovanni and his wife Maggie ( Michelle Pfeiffer ) , daughter Belle ( Dianna Agron ) and Logos Warren ( John D’Leo ) have been a constant thorn in the side of Witness Protection Program agent Robert Stansfield ( Tommy Lee Jones ) for the past ten years , since their customary psychotic behavior is perpetually blowing the U.S. government ’s covert operation .
Giovanni , now expire himself off as American Fred Blake , relocates with his family to the sleepy-eyed town of Normandy , where at first it seems as though the ( former ? ) criminals will be able to steady down down quietly and keep a low profile . However , as the expression goes , sure-enough habits die hard and soon enoughallof the Manzonis start getting themselves into bother - the form that , earlier or afterwards , is border to earn unwanted aid from the gunslinger await to collect the bounty on Giovanni ’s header .
On the surface , the tagline for Benacquista ’s source novel -“Imagine The Sopranos transplanted to the French countryside”- seems to be applicable toThe Family , yet Besson ’s approach harken back to the French New Wave , in the way his plastic film thumb on and deconstructs the " Mobsters in suburbia " premiss by shift the legal action to the European countryside . The Familyisn’t Besson ’s strongest work , but he and cobalt - author Michael Caleo - who knows a thing or two about re - examining the gangster anti - hero myth after having process as a tarradiddle editor onThe Sopranos- are successful in making a picture show that ’s fun to check and yet has something to say about the way that Hollywood glamorizes the mobster life-style .
On a related note , there ’s also a average amount of ego - automatic fabric in the flick , whether it ’s the casting of mobster music genre king De Niro and Pfeiffer - who present a gangster wife inMarried to the Moband / orScarface- or the way of life that factor from the cinema of Martin Scorsese ( an executive producer onThe Family ) are referenced using a wry , but often sledgehammer personal manner . The best meta - antic are also the most insidious single - but even the on - the - nose shout - outs are excusable , partially because the direction they are handle often makesThe Familyfeel more consanguineal to a sly criticism than a love letter to Scorsese ( and the latter ’s involvement with this movie suggests that he might even be okay with that ) .
De Niro and Pfeiffer are , likewise , good sport when it comes to how they riff on their screen bequest inThe Family , while at the same time fleshing out their own characters so that they feel three - dimensional enough ( within the context of the film ’s universe ) . likewise , Agron often seems to be having the most fun , while she thumb on her average American teen look-alike fromGleeand movies likeI Am Number Four ; that hold true to a lesser extent with D’Leo , who take on the brilliant yet neglectful son in the story .
Jones play his usual no - nonsense curmudgeon purpose here , but he at leastseemsto be comfortable with being in this movie ( unlike some of his recent blockbuster appearance ) . Meanwhile , the patronize cast let in Jimmy Palumbo ( piece on a Ledge ) , Domenick Lombardozzi ( The Wire ) , Stan Carp ( Magic City ) and Vincent Pastore ( The Sopranos ) - all of whom get a moment or two to glisten while playing variations on their well - bear cop / reprehensible personas , in keep with the meta nature ofThe Family .
The Familydoesn’t represent Besson at his best , but here the film maker once again proves that he is a storyteller who knows how to bring out European pop - art movie theater that is far more delightful ( and , in many ways , more intelligent ) than you might expect , based on the film ’s situation comedy - style description . There are certainly uncollectible ways to spend two hour at the theater than by watching De Niro recreate an quondam Mobster in a self - reflexive action / comedy ( stress on the comedy ) made by an flakey French autuer .
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The Familyis now playing in U.S. theaters . It is 110 moment foresightful and is Rated R for violence , lyric and brief sexuality .
