Michelle Pfeiffer Robert Deniro Funny It Was Like a Dark
Cool black comedy - don't expect anything artful or serious and you're in for a fun ride.
I just watched "The Family" and I for one have had a very good time. This movie is gleefully dark, wickedly funny and offers great acting from all the stars involved, (who really seem to relish their parts). I was shocked when I checked IMDb and found so many comments and reviews from disappointed film fans. How can anyone complain about the violence in this dark comedy and at the same time love films like "Fargo" (or practically anything by the Coen Brothers, for that matter)? I came to the conclusion that the main reason behind all the negative reviews is that people expected something more akin to "Léon", "Goodfellas" or "The Godfather" (where the violence isn't played for laughs), when in fact this is something completely different: This is a black comedy about a group of predators who have to hide among - unbearably arrogant - sheep. You can imagine how well that will turn out (for the sheep). Anyway, I admit that with other actors involved, this would probably just have been an average mob comedy, but with the kind of talent you get here, it's hard not to have a blast. My rating: 7 out of 10.
Favorite films: http://www.IMDb.com/list/mkjOKvqlSBs/
Lesser-known Masterpieces: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070242495/
Favorite TV-Shows reviewed: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls075552387/
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Mildly Amusing Occasionally
Mafia boss Giovanni Manzoni (Robert De Niro) and his family are in witness protection, and relocated for the upteempth time to Normandy France. Agent Robert Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones) tries desperately to keep this crime family in line.
Director Luc Besson is trying to make a black comedy, but it's only mildly amusing occasionally. It's cute to see Dianna Agron smash a guy with a racket. And it's cool to see Michelle Pfeiffer blowing up the convenience store. Of course, Besson is winking at us as Robert De Niro enjoys a showing of Goodfellas. But it's doesn't translate into a funny comedy. At best, there were a couple of chuckle worthy moments.
The movie probably needs a comedian. Looking around, there isn't one known comedian in the bunch. I can't imagine somebody who thinks the pairing of De Niro and Jones would result in hilarity. They could be funny, but only if paired with a great comedian. De Niro needs Ben Stiller for the Meet the Parents movies, and Billy Crystal for 'Analyze This'. And Grumpy face Jones can really only do the straight man. The Tommy Lee Jones role would be better played by somebody funny. Grumpy face is not that somebody.
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It's brutally funny.
"Like Al Capone said, asking polite with a gun in your hand is better than asking polite with nothing." Giovanni
Family values in The Family are not your father's values unless, like me, your grandfather ran a numbers business in the basement of his barbershop. All of Kodak Park enjoyed that true color.
The Giovanni Manzoni/Fred Blake (Robert De Niro) family has a paterfamilias who is a notorious Mafia don in the FBI witness protection plan. (De Niro as a mobster is the fall's most unimaginative casting but he's funny.) His values are ratting on his fellow Mafiosi to save his legal hide, forcing him to hide with a $20 million reward dogging him. The family's love for each other is unconditional and treats challenges with a baseball bat rather than diplomacy. If a Frenchman disrespects Americans, he might find his supermarket in flames.
If this sounds like a story to turn the nuns' heads completely around, don't worry; it's ultra "black comedy," equal parts Italian-American gangster satire and laughable domestic shenanigans. That midway in the film Fred gets to speak on the merits of GoodFellas before a French crowd in Normandy is one of the nice meta-critical-comedic turns followed by carnage we've come to expect from Mob films. It's pretty much territory owned by Scorsese and De Niro. Additionally, the use of the "f" word has never been so deftly played in a comedy.
Besides the joy of seeing De Niro have a good time with the many tough characters he has played in his career, you get to see Tommy Lee Jones play a gruff FBI agent, Robert Stansfield, who can trade barbs with his charge, Fred, who has such a propensity for violence (he beats up the only plumber within 20 miles of town) that Fred is a full time job for Robert. If Jones's face can't scare Fred into being a good boy, then the threat of losing witness protection does the trick.
Directed with wicked tongue in cheek by La Femme Nikita's stylish Luc Besson, The Family sports an accomplished supporting cast: Michelle Pfeiffer as mom Maggie is gritty Brooklyn with her famous beauty well preserved. The two kids played by Diana Argon and John D'Leo are spot on sweetly dangerous as you might expect.
It's all in GoodFellas fun, a mildly amusing and unusual story that beats many mainstream comedies this year.
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Black Humor to the Best
In New York, the mobster Giovanni Manzoni (Robert De Niro) makes a deal with FBI agent Robert Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones) and snitches his mafia family. In return, Giovanni is included in the witness protection program and receives a new identity, Fred Blake. Giovanni, together with his wife Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer) and their teenager children Belle (Dianna Agron) and Warren (John D'Leo), are relocated to the small town Cholong-sur-Avres, in Normandy, under the protection of Stansfield and two other agents. Meanwhile the mafia offers a 20 million-dollar reward to the killer that executes Giovanni and his family. Soon the Blake family uses the mafia methods to improve their lives in the town. But when the mafia accidentally discovers the whereabouts of the Manzoni family, Cholong becomes a no man's land.
"The Family" is a funny black humor comedy by Luc Besson about a family that travels to France under the witness protection program. The story has memorable moments, and my favorite is the reaction of Maggie when she goes to the small supermarket and feels offended. The conclusion uses many clichés and is weak, but watching this movie is worthwhile. It was a great entertainment for a Saturday afternoon without beach in Rio. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "A Família" ("The Family")
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So Much Talent, So Little on the Screen
The Family (2013)
* 1/2 (out of 4)
Luc Besson returns to the director's chair for this "comedy" about a former Mafia member (Robert DeNiro) who rats out his friends and must take his family into the Witness Protection Problem. When he starts to write his life story this sets the Mafia boys off to try and track him down and put an end to him and his family. THE FAMILY has so much talent involved that we should have been given a great film but sadly just about everything that you could do right with the concept is turned into a complete disaster and in the end we're left with a really bad and disappointing film. The film is bad on many levels including the fact that this "comedy" simply isn't all that funny. The idea of a Mafia guy having to get used to a small, unknown place should have made for some laughs but the only thing the screenplay offers is him throwing a fit about his water not being clear. We get some fantasy violence scenes but these aren't funny either. The stuff dealing with the wife (Michelle Pfeiffer), daughter (Dianna Agron) and son (John D'Leo) also add up to very little. This is especially true with the daughter's subplot dealing with her relationship with a teacher. Even worse is the relationship between DeNiro and his FBI guy played by Tommy Lee Jones. I never would have thought these two actors in the same scene could lead to such boredom. The performances are okay but with this much talent you just expect so much more. DeNiro can be a master at comedy but the screenplay just never allows his character to do anything. Agron, as the daughter, certainly steals the picture. What's strong is that this "comedy" doesn't come to life until the end when it turns into a violent thriller. This "thriller" aspect is directed with some style and real energy. Had the comedy scenes been handled this well then we would have been left with a much better film. The entire film has an uneven mix and in the end it's just a complete mess that never pays off.
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Watchable
Warning: Spoilers
The Manzoni family is in Witness Protection in Normandy, France because Giovanni Manzoni (Robert DeNiro), who is now Fred Blake, ratted out the Luchese mob family. Don Luchese (Stan Carp), the old Don, now in jail, needs to find Giovanni to whack him.
This isn't exactly a comedy, not so much a drama, not really a thriller and I would say it's light drama with comedic overtones, although I didn't experience many chuckles. It's watchable and kind of enjoyable until we get 16-yr old daughter Belle (Dianna Agron) viscously beating up on a classmate with a tennis racket. Later Fred Blake takes a baseball bat to a local plumber. And, still later Fred beats up on the manager of a water distribution facility. The viciousness of the beatings were too extreme for this movie and went too far in my opinion. It was like watching someone beating a dead horse. Not good.
Fred's wife, Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer), blows things up when she gets upset. I guess old habits are hard to die when one is attached to a mob family.
On a less violent side, the son, 13-year old Warren Blake (John D'Leo) gets involved at school with black market cigarettes and prescription pills. See, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Then we have FBI Agent Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones) whose job it is to protect the family. Later he learns that Fred is writing the story of his life and if that ever got out well
The acting by all is fine, but you somehow get the idea that all is not as serious as it really is. In other words the door is left open for somewhat comedic comments.
The interactions among the family are good, supportive and genuine. They have each other's backs and that will be needed when Don Luchese's men find the family. You didn't forget about them, did you? (5/10)
Violence: Yes. Sex: Yes, Belle and her tutor teacher against a door. Nudity: No. Language: Yes, the kids too.
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"F**k" is a great way to describe this one
Wow, I just left the movie theater and I am shocked about the amount of bad reviews this movie had. I am a kind of huge fan of Tommy Lee Jones and Robert De Niro so perhaps my opinion about this movie is a bit influenced by that. Despite that, I must confess I truly enjoyed this movie. It was funny and it was very interesting to see how the family get used to an all new identity every time they had to move in. The plot is basically about a family, the Mazonis, that was relocated to Normandy under the witness protection program. So they had basically to try fitting in soon to avoid being caught by the mafia members who were trying to kill them. Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert De Niro were really great playing their characters and despite not being an excellent movie, "The Family" is enjoyable and is another great addition to Luc Besson's career.
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Watchable, but not memorable...
For a movie with stars like Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Tommy Lee Jones in it, then "The Family" didn't really live up to all that it could have been.
That being said, then I am not saying that this is a bad movie. I am merely saying that director Luc Besson didn't really fully cash in on the potential of the script and the talents of the actors and actresses. And as such, then the movie turned out to be watchable, albeit not overly memorable.
The story is about a family running from the mafia, hiding away in Normandy, where they try to blend in and trying to pass as a foreign family living abroad. However, their past is right on their heels and soon catches up.
The characters in the movie were good and well-detailed. And they were equally well portrayed by the actors and actresses, and especially Robert De Niro was doing a great job in carrying the movie on his shoulders.
"The Family" is the type of movie that you watch once, and then most likely never again. It just doesn't have enough leverage or material to sustain a second watching.
A mere mediocre 5 out of 10 stars from me.
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Fun
I vaguely remember when this movie was in the cinemas. I didn't go see it and I didn't even see a trailer, but I remember seeing the poster on the wall at the theater. Once it was up on Netflix, I wanted to see it.
I was expecting some kind of weird mixture between crime drama and a "unusual family" comedy like the Addams Family and We're The Millers. Not the best examples but they are the first ones I can think of. The Family wasn't exactly close to my expectation. The Family is way more refreshing the way it is. Still, it's hard to say what is the main type of this film. It's partially a comedy, it's hilarious and clever and all that. But then again it seems like a deep drama, because it's about a family who is trying to adjust to the new situation, and everyone is facing their own challenges. But of course it's also a crime thriller.
While it's hard to say which one of these mostly defines the movie, the thing is, the elements of all those types are used so wonderfully, that as the story goes on, it doesn't matter. The story and the characters are intriguing and it's exciting to see what is going to happen. That shows what an excellent writer Tonino Benacquista is. While I don't know the differences between his book and the screenplay by Besson and Caleo, but I'm guessing his Benacquista's writing involved a lot of the stuff I loved about this movie.
The Family is intriguing, thrilling and fun. It has excellent casting and excellent writing. While this movie doesn't really stand out, it's not astounding in anyway, it's still a good film and definitely worth seeing.
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Zany gangster comedy
Very few actors into their old age have been able to resist the temptation to play out their end years like the last five overs in a 50 over cricket match- keep featuring in any movie that pays decent money. Of late, industry stalwart Rober De Niro has been guilty of the same, but once in a while he does bring out the old sparkle, and more often than not, that is generally in a mobster themed movie. Ditto for The Family- a zany comedy about a family of criminals, who come in all genders and ages.
Robert De Niro is Giovanni Manzoni, a crime boss on the run from his gang, who he tattled on. Put under witness protection, he and his family have a hard time sticking to their given identities as Giovanni is unable to rein in his sadistic urges, leading to a murder here, and a bashing there. His family is not far behind though- Michelle Pfeiffer is one bad closet pyromaniac of a mother, Dianne Aragon is the beautifully dangerous daughter, and John D'Leo is the young wheeler dealer gun, waiting to make a name in the business. The kids are a chip off the old block - brave and shrewd, with extremely practical, no nonsense attitudes. Tommy Lee Jones is the FBI agent who has to help these lunatics maintain a low profile. But all they keep doing, in different doses of hilarity, is making a war-zone out of a mofussil town.
Luc Besson makes a fine comeback with this funny gangster comedy- the script is witty, the pace is fast, there are sudden scenes of shocking violence, and equal doses of laugh out moments. All the actors do a great job. This is a role meant for De Niro- he is a career don (Goodfellas, The Godfather, Casino) and this is right up his alley, a walk in the park. His interactions with his family are awesome, and at the end i was left wanting more of this family- a sequel on the cards? Michelle Pfeiffer's beauty has not dimmed one bit, and Tommy Lee Jones maintains a straight face throughout the antics.
The Family is as much about a real family as it is about thugs. Growing up pains, romance, responsibility, will to survive- all of it is nicely packaged into a decent entertainer which has loads of laughter, guns, hammers, baseball bats, explosions, and everything else you love about the gangster movie genre- 7/10
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Quick on its feet!
THE FAMILY is one of my favorite movies this year. It's funny, it's witty, it's quick on its feet and it's surprisingly heartwarming. It's got firepower, it's got action, though it has a hard time finding peanut butter. What a great blend of family drama and gangster comedy. Luc Besson, the great director who brought us such masterpieces as Leon The Professional and The Fifth Element, is back and he's bringing with him a family that's as tough as their patriarch is. Led by three great thesps Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Tommy Lee Jones, and complimented by young talents like John D'Leo and Dianna Agron, THE FAMILY aims to entertain those of us who love a bit of Goodfellas added a hint of humor. Just like that old saying: Never go against the family.
In a nutshell, it's about a family who was part of the mob right up until the patriarch, Robert De Niro ratted out the bosses and since then, De Niro's family has been in witness protection program, and the bosses in prison are still bent on finding them and killing them. De Niro's family got moved by the program to a new place in Normandy, France. Obviously it's a big drastic change from Brooklyn NY to France, so that in and of itself is already enough to let you know that hilarity that comes out of the difficulties of adjusting to a new place will ensue, including the bullish*t story that they have to come up with to explain where they're from or who they are to the new neighbors. Now.. unlike other gangster comedies, kinda like the ones that Guy Ritchie made, THE FAMILY does not show dumb bumbling criminals, the comedy in THE FAMILY banks on the short fuse and the temper that this Brooklyn family has, the violence exists because the reasons behind it are petty and that makes it funny. They try so hard to fit in and but because the new culture that they're in is extremely different, to a certain point it even looks down on them, they can't help but to unleash their old tough selves
Robert De Niro is a legend, we all know that, he makes things look so easy. He's played gangster or mobster roles countless times before, he's even done it for comedy, anybody remember Analyze This?! So THE FAMILY is a walk in the park for him, he could probably do this blindfolded, but of course, he doesn't take it too lightly especially when sparring with other greats like Michelle Pfeiffer and Tommy Lee Jones, whenever those three interact on screen, it's like the camera just wants more and more of them even when their lines are done and over. De Niro's character is a good father, with a terrible past, but is a good father to his kids, and it's killing him that he can't tell his story to the world. Pretending to be someone he's not, suffocates him. He starts writing his own memoir, which is discouraged by his handler, played by Tommy Lee Jones, but it's clear to see that all De Niro's character wants is some kind of appreciation, that despite the terrible things he's done, he's still a good man. Note the many use of the word F*CK that De Niro uses to express all kinds of range of emotions, it's definitely one of this movie's highlights. De Niro and Tommy's friendship relationship in this movie is a complicated one, you can tell that Tommy cares for De Niro and his family but at the same time there's duty that he has to uphold and strict protocol that must be followed by all involved if De Niro's family wants to survive. The kids, played by D'Leo and Agaron, face ordinary things that teenagers face, sexual tension, trying to fit in and figuring out how to be resourceful, there's also the matter of good ol' heartbreak, so this movie has a nice dose of family drama that doesn't beat around the bush, the pacing is just right. You can tell that they're aching, they're not enjoying life in hiding, they wish they could run away, but deep down they're not blaming each other because in a strange way, that lifestyle has brought them closer together.
Another thing I love about THE FAMILY is that you get it or you understand why these characters stay together; why these people love each other, why Michelle's character and De Niro's character ever matched, and even their kids, played by D'Leo and Agron, display their parents traits; their take-no-bullish*t attitudes. They're physical, they're cunning, they won't hesitate to use a bat or a hammer to prove a point, they're easily offended, and all of that equals hilarious. Inflicting pain, gangster-style, is always hard to watch mainly because in gangster world, there are no limits as to what you can use to inflict pain, you improvise, the creativity is boundless, so the shock value is always there, director Luc Besson doesn't shy away but at the same time he never means for this movie to be straight up Scorsese, who by the way helped exec-produce THE FAMILY, this movie at its center wants to show you a dysfunctional family, a family who we would quickly judge, but they're a family nonetheless.
-- Ramascreen.com
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The Family That Stays Together Slays Together
Warning: Spoilers
You cannot really appreciate "The Family" unless you've seen Robert De Niro's gangster movies. The Oscar winning "Raging Bull" actor mobbed up in "The Gang that Couldn't Shoot Straight" (1971), "Mean Streets" (1973), "The Godfather, Part II" (1974), "Once Upon A Time in America" (1984), "The Untouchables" (1987), "Goodfellas" (1990), "Heat" (1995), and "Casino" (1995). Later, he spoofed his wise-guy image with the psychological comedies "Analyze This" (1999) and its lackluster 2002 sequel "Analyze That." Now, De Niro and his "Stardust" co-star Michelle Pfeiffer topline an iconic but ironic epic about a notorious Brooklyn crime family in the Justice Department's Witness Protection Program. "La Femme Nikita" helmer Luc Besson and "Sopranos" scenarist Mike Caleo have adapted French writer Tonino Benacquista's novel "Malavita" with closer than usual fidelity to the source material. A synopsis of Benacquista's book sounds drastically similar to Besson's movie. Of course, minor differences crop up but few of significance. Appropriately enough, "Goodfellas" director Martin Scorsese received credit as an executive producer on "The Family." Not surprisingly, Besson has constructed an entire scene around "Goodfellas" as an obvious homage to Scorsese. After all, aside from Francis Ford Coppola, Scorsese is one of the Godfathers of Mafia movies. In general, "The Family" celebrates mob pictures. The hit men dress in black like those traditional Mafia gunsels hulking and skulking through Scorsese's mob operas. Besson stages the Brooklyn flashbacks of "The Family" with De Niro and his wise-guy cronies in settings reminiscent of those in the crime sagas of Scorsese and Coppola. Happily, the film benefits from this sense of authenticity and atmosphere. You don't so much watch "The Family" as take a whack at it.
Despite its laudable source material fidelity and its admiration for all things Mafia, "The Family" may alienate audiences with its audacious synthesis of comedy and violence. Rated R for language, violence and brief sexuality, Besson's film resembles those amoral Euro-trash epics from the 1970s when filmmakers toyed with gritty methods of torture and death. For example, director Tulio Demicheli's "Ricco the Mean Machine" (1973) with Christopher Mitchum boasts some horrific body disposal methods. In "The Family," Besson lets your own imagination fill in what good taste prevents him from depicting without landing an NC-17 rating. This is the kind of crime thriller where innocent bystanders die in the line of gunfire. In traditional Hollywood crime melodramas, only integral characters or their minions involved in the main plot ran the risk of death. Besson crosses this line and several of Giovanna's neighbors suffer the consequences for associating with him.
What makes "The Family" relatively entertaining is it focuses as much on the parents as their children as they struggle to fit into French society. Basically, "The Family" is a fish-out-of-water saga. Fish-out-of-water because the protagonists are strangers in a strange land. The action opens with former Mafia chieftain Giovanna Manzoni (Robert De Niro), wife Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer of "Married to the Mob"), their 14-year old son Warren (John D'Leo) and 17-year old daughter Belle (Dianna Agron) departing from the French Rivera in the dead of night to drive to Normandy. Giovanna is in the Witness Protection Program, and FBI Agent Robert Stansfield (a curmudgeonly Tommy Lee Jones of "U.S. Marshals") supervises him. Agents Di Cicco (Jimmy Palumbo of "Beer League") and Caputo (Domenick Lombardozzi of "S.W.A.T."), maintain around-the-clock surveillance for Stansfield on Giovanna. After they arrive in Normandy, Giovanna decides to masquerade as a writer. Actually, Giovanna has found a portable Brother typewriter, and he is banging out his memoirs, much to Stansfield's chagrin. Rarely do Stansfield and Giovanna see eye-to-eye, and the veteran FBI agent has grown weary of moving the mobster-in-hiding around every three months.
Giovanna has been in Witness Protection for about six years, but he behaves as if he were running things for himself. Giovanni's cavalier attitude creates no end of problems for the long-suffering Stanfield. De Niro and Tommy Lee have about four scenes together where they argue with each other through grimaces. Meanwhile, Maggie blows up a market after the employees ridicule her. She is especially upset because nobody in France sells peanut butter. Later, she discovers the drinking water is brown and insists Giovanna resolve the issue. Simultaneously, Warren and Belle find themselves attending a French high school. Belle defends her honor against lusty lads with pimples, while Warren succumbs to a black & blue beating at the hands of the school bullies. Like most of the violence, everything is larger-than-life, so Warren gets the snot beaten out of him. Eventually, everybody pays back everybody who requires pay-back, but in terms of flesh and blood. If this weren't enough, the Mafia figure that Giovanna snitched on, Don Luchese (Stan Carp of "The Sopranos"), wants him dead and has assassins scouring Europe for him. "The Family" never runs out of plot.
Although "The Family" purports to be funny, Besson doesn't direct it like a laugh-out-loud comedy. Besson's shoot'em up shares little in common with the Steve Martin comedy "My Blue Heaven." The protagonists in "The Family" walk on the wild side, and they do nothing by halves. Most comedies would refrain from the brutal violence that Giovanna and his family resort to without a qualm of conscience. When a smart-aleck plumber disrespects Giovanna, the former mafia chieftain cites Al Capone and brandishes a Louisville slugger. Giovanna's daughter Belle wields a wicked tennis racquet when a quartet of teens invites her to a picnic. Giovanna's torture scenes look downright dreadful. Besson takes into consideration our reaction. Some of the violence that he stages is imaginary. Giovanna imagines what it would be like to shove a glowing barbecue coal down an obnoxious man's throat at a cookout. The performances in "The Family" are excellent, but Michelle Pfeiffer really stands out. Altogether, "The Family" is an immoral but hilarious criminal comedy of errors where the good guys—De Niro and his family—are more villainous than heroic, but the villainy of their enemies far overshadows their own villainy.
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Crime comedy.
The Family (2013) is a gangster comedy movie starring Robert de Niro, Tommy Lee Jones and Michelle Pfeiffer. The movie shows A crime family living in witness protection and trying to get used to their new lives. I thought the comedy was great and some of the gags really made me laugh. I enjoyed this movie. I watched it as it was produced by Martin Scorsese, but stayed for Robert de Niro's performance. I found the aspect of the mafia mixed in with the comedy really interesting and would like to see more.
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"Your future depends on women,," (dialog)
Warning: Spoilers
Every now and again, a film comes along that contains a scene so memorable that , the moment you see it, you immediately know that you will still be remembering it long after the rest of the film is lost to history. This is one of those films. Overall, it is yet another "drama-dy" of the type that de Niro has been losing himself in, at this later stage of his spectacular career. It is one of those films which, as the professional critics say, was doomed to fail, since the premise is so weak that, even if it were to fire on all cylinders (which it does not) you would still not get much of a bang.
But in the first 20 mins of this film, viewers get a treat. Transplanted to France as part of some not very credible WPP (witness protection program) de Niro's daughter Belle, well played by Dianna Agron, gets "offered a lift home" by a quartet of local punks looking to see that the girl's first day at school is memorable. She accepts. They drive to a secluded spot and she protests. Punk #1 basically ignores her and meaningfully brushes some of her clothing aside. She excuses herself, goes to the car, picks up a tennis racket (iconic, of course, in American gangster fiction) and promptly beats the %^$% out of the guy while his friends watch. She then effectively steals the car and drives herself home. While beating him senseless, this is the art in the scene, she lectures him as if he were a small child. She concludes her monologue with the epic line, "WOMEN ARE YOUR FUTURE" and then one more smack upside the head with the bat to drive the point home. I do believe this scene is right up there with the best talking points in Thelma and Louise, and maybe one or two other feminist classics also. But that folks is where the wonderment ends. The rest of the film is not much to write home about, except perhaps for the annotation that, in her late 50s, Pfeiffer is still one of the most beautiful women in the world.
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It's no Leon, but still a fun ride.
"I didn't kill him, I took him to the hospital."
Luc Besson is a director whose work I respect and tend to enjoy. The Family doesn't rank amongst his best efforts, but I still had a great time with this dark comedy. It isn't a film for everyone because it mixes some violent action scenes with comedy and has some major shifts of tone, but it worked really well for me. The Family counts with a very strong cast including lead performances from Robert de Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer, and supporting performances from Tommy Lee Jones, Dianna Agron, and John D'Leo. They were all great in this film and I especially enjoyed the small scenes between Tommy Lee Jones and Robert de Niro. The Family isn't exactly innovative, we've seen this sort of film before, and De Niro even starred in another similar movie: Analyze This. We've seen him make fun of the vary roles that made him such a huge star (Goodfellas and The Godfather II) and here he does it once again. Even Michelle Pfeiffer agreed to play the wife of a mobster once again. It was fun to see these Hollywood stars make fun of their stereotypical roles even though they'd done it before. Luc Besson did a great job adapting Tonino Benacquista's novel, and some of his classic trademarks can be found in The Family. Next to Leon and The Fifth Element, The Family really doesn't live up to its predecessors, but it still is an entertaining watch. The film is hit and miss and superficial at times, but it's still worth a watch thanks to some very exciting and funny scenes. Besson also pays homage to Scorsese's gangster films in his own satirical way. The cast makes this worthwhile, especially the beautiful Dianna Agron who is just menacing here.
The Family focuses on the Manzoni's, a former Mafia family that has been relocated to the small french town of Normandy under the witness protection program. Fred (Robert de Niro) and his wife Maggie (MIchelle Pfeiffer) along with their two children Belle (Dianna Agron) and Warren (John D'Leo) have had trouble in the past adapting to these new locations due to the fact that bad habits die hard. They always end up trying to solve the problems around them on their own and that makes CIA Agent Stansfield's (Tommy Lee Jones) job more difficult as he continuously has to relocate the family. They are under the witness protection program after snitching on the mob and therefore have many gangsters searching for them so they will have to be on their best behavior in this new town if they don't want to attract attention their way.
The Family doesn't add anything new to the film genre and will probably not be mentioned in any of the actors' resume, but I still had a fun time and was entertained. The film never aspires to be an artistic one, it just puts its strength on the cast and lets them entertain us by playing with their stereotypes and tonal shifts. Besson relies heavily on the performance from the cast and in my opinion they make this film an entertaining one. They just bring so much energy into their roles that it comes through in the film. I even enjoyed the climatic final scene which most have criticized, and the film was energetic enough to make me care for these characters and their outcome.
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The dog was good
Warning: Spoilers
**Spoiler**
The dog was the best actor in the film. Had all the best lines but never hogged the scenes. He delivered his lines with style, feeling and perfect diction. His role demanded a harmonious interaction with the other actors.
Everybody else? You've got to be kidding. Their lines came right off a cereal box, their characters were despicable. Setting a family of illiterate gangsters in rural France where all the French people speak near-perfect English -- even in school -- was insulting. The audience is supposed to buy into this bull?
I've come to the conclusion that certain 'actors' are rotated thru on a cycle, repeating their signature performances for audiences more interested in killing time than in being entertained. The audiences are as typecast as the actors.
The dog was good.
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Tries hard switching between genres
The Family is a 2013 black comedy-action-crime-drama by director Luc Besson. Having a good past track record of great enjoyable films, this film was more than definitely excited among fans of Luc Besson for a successful comeback. Well within the film, the first time we meet the Manzonis (known as the Blakes after relocating), they're arriving at their provincial home in Normandy, France, after an exhausting 11- hour car trip.
Everyone is eager to settle in after the long ride, but before Giovanni (now "Fred Blake- DeNiro") can relax, he has to bury the corpse he has stashed in the trunk of the car. Over the course of the next 24 hours, Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer) has blown up a grocery store, Warren has concocted a plan to hustle the bullies who gave him a beating on his first day of school, and Belle (Dianna Agron) has suffered a crush over math substitute who's agreed to become her personal tutor. It's a fairly lighthearted setup for the obvious chaos to follow.
The Family is categorized as a comedy but it's clear this film is more of a black comedic style. The problem is even with black comedies, they (the good ones) are generally funny. However, this film doesn't contain laughs, just more unnecessary scenes of violence and pointless action. This film is quite similar to We're the Millers, but obviously this is more of an action-violent crime mob film, as to We're the Millers is straight forward comedy. Another problem with this film is the characters. They weren't as interesting as they could have been, especially the mother, son and daughter. Robert DeNiro is great as his role, though the other members (Warren and Belle) felt as if they were robots, bland acting.
For character study type films like this, the main characters need to be at least likable or enjoyable enough to root for. This isn't the case here. Tommy Lee Jones also appears to be miscast as he looks more stressed and tired throughout the picture. In the end this film tries being a comedy and a crime film but fails at being both. Would not recommend.
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Don't do it.
Warning: Spoilers
Expecting a comedy? This isn't what you had in mind. It is difficult to mix genres. Here they are trying to mix comedy with blood bath violence. The violence is over the top.
The comedy doesn't work. The premise of being relocated to Normandy feels like a needed stretch to get the financial participation to get the film made. The performances are good, but you don't care about any character in the movie. Tommy Lee Jones is getting too old for these roles.
There is a good score but it's often loud and too noticeable. The movie is too long and drags in the middle on the way to the blood bath ending. Don't let the cast or fun trailer suck you in. This is a no fun waste of time and money.
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I Expected Something Better
This is supposed to be a comedy - but the major problem with this is that it just isn't very funny. It seemed to have potential. It's about a family (headed by Robert de Niro, who in my opinion seemed a little old for the part) who are in the witness protection program because dad (De Niro) has ratted out his former Mafia family. First - I wondered about the FBI stashing them in France? France? It just seems implausible to me that France would be host for an FBI witness protection program. But OK. It's a comedy. I can live with that. It was supposed to be about the challenges of the family fitting in with French society. That actually could have been funny - but it wasn't. At times it was violent, at times it was quite boring. But it was really never particularly funny. The whole family (including Michelle Pfeiffer as the mom, Dianna Agron as the daughter and John D'Leo as the son) just more or less continues on with their mob upbringing and lifestyle, with not much of an attempt that I could see to fit in. Tommy Lee Jones was added as the head of the FBI team responsible for them. So the cast is good and capable and should be able to pull of comedy - because they've done it before. But it just didn't work.
I'll concede that while it may not have been funny, there was a bit of a "cute" moment when De Niro's character goes to a local film festival and watched "Goodfellas." Although, in all honesty, that might have been a bit too cute. The final scenes (where the mob shows up in the little town - more than half a dozen of them, which strikes me as a bit of overkill, but then again I'm not a mob boss) aren't too bad. They seem to be an attempt on the part of director Luc Besson to add some action into the movie. As I said, those closing scenes aren't bad - but one of the problems is that I never felt that Besson had a handle on what genre of movie he was supposed to be making. Perhaps (if you take away some of the nonsense) the film manages to give you a sense of how frustrating it must be to be in a witness protection program - constantly moving; constantly looking over your shoulder for whoever might be out to get you.
Basically, I expected more from a movie with a promising plot and such a collection of names in the cast. But if I ever feel the need again to watch a movie about how hard it is for outsiders with a secret to keep to fit in, I'll stick to "Coneheads." (3/10)
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Death by repetition
Luc Besson's "The Family" is a dark comedy about a Brooklyn mob boss who's sent to live in Normandy, France as part of the witness protection program after he's ratted out some fellow mobsters back home. The twist here is that his wife (Michelle Pfeiffer), son (John D'Leo) and daughter (Dianna Agron) are every bit as high-strung, immoral and violent as he is.
The movie tries to have some fun with not only gangster movie stereotypes and clichés but the Ugly American writ large, but a rambling, disjointed and repetitious screenplay by Besson and Michael Caleo, based on Tonino Benacquistas' novel "Badfellas," undercuts the effort. The humor seems to be based on the rather dubious premise that there's nothing quite so hilarious as watching a group of seemingly mild-mannered Americans beating the crap out of anyone and everyone who happens to cross their path. It's an idea that's mildly amusing at first, but which loses its flavor the 9th, 10th, 11th time around. And, oh yeah, there are at least six dozen comedic swipes at the unpalatable nature of French food.
The cast is game, but, let's face it, De Niro comically riffing on his long established gangster persona comes a bit too easily for him at this late stage in his career. The movie also wastes the talents of Tommy Lee Jones as an exasperated FBI agent who's been assigned the unenviable task of keeping this decidedly uncooperative family as inconspicuous as possible.
Heck, the movie doesn't even make effective use of its French locales.
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Violent Action/Comedy
Warning: Spoilers
I saw "The Family", starring Robert De Niro-Silver Linings Playbook, Machete; Michelle Pfeiffer-Dark Shadows-2012, Batman Returns; Tommy Lee Jones-The Men in Black movies, Batman Forever and Dianna Agron-Glee-t.v., I Am Number Four.
This is an action/comedy directed by Luc Besson, best known for his action movies-La Femme Nikita, The Transporter & Taken-and not so much for his comedic ones. He does pretty good for his first attempt. Robert plays a mob boss on the run from the Mafia, after he ratted on them. There is a $20 million bounty put on his whole family, causing lots of eager hunters looking for them, so they are put into witness protection. Tommy plays the F.B.I. agent that is in charge of his family's safety, Michelle is his wife and Dianna plays his daughter. Old habits are hard to break, being from the mob life and doing things like beating people up or even killing them instead of reasoning with them does tend to make Tommy relocate the family a lot. Their latest place of residence is in France, not one of the most friendly of places, especially to Americans. There is humor in the way the whole family-even the kids are Mafioso savy-handle themselves but near the end of the movie, it does take a dramatic turn towards the violent side, not that I minded, but I'm just saying, don't think that it is a straight comedy, because it's not. It's rated "R" for violence, language and sexuality-no nudity-and has a running time of 1 hour & 50 minutes. I enjoyed it enough that I would buy it on DVD.
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Low expectations but high Hopes. Exceeded both!
When I received the premier passes to see "The Family", I was really expecting with such great actors/actresses, that this movie would be good; but more-so expecting it to fall flat like so many before it. I was greatly surprised.
The Movie is based on the French author Tonino Benacquista's novel Malavita, which is know as Badfellas in America. And "BadFellas" is an interesting way to view this film. It does have all the wonderful elements of the great Mobster movies, but with a touch more humor. The family dynamic is a refreshing one that invokes what a modern mob family would probably be going through. You found yourself "going" for the family as a whole and not singling out one for their idiocy.
The movie starts off fast to quickly usher you thorough the character introductions and development, which is a good thing, because it allows you to experience their personality and growth throughout the film. You watch the stupid mistakes of a teenage girl, a boy who's intuitive yet still flawed. A mother who's trying to do the best she can to hold her family together, and a remorseful (somewhat) father.
If you are wanting Goodfellas or Casino, this isn't it. What this IS is DEFINITELY what "Analyze This" could have been if it was a better movie. There is plenty of action, and the previews don't give away the best of the movie. It is definitely a must see and Smush Approved.
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ONLY for people who get a Kick out of Violence and Brutality...
Warning: Spoilers
This movie is total crap.
You have some well known actors trying their luck to some kind of black comedy which tries to glorify violence as the solution for everything. Problems with the local supermarket? The mayor's office? The plumber? Some other minor injustice? Even love problems? The solution is ONLY one: Express your inner anger with brutality and violence.
To pile over this mess, in the middle of the movie you get an obvious meta-joke asking De Niro's character about ...Goodfellas (1990) only to get another glorifying description of the ways of the mob.
Luc Besson directs these while is trying to build a "palette" of elder actors who kick ass, like Liam Neeson, Kevin Costner and now De Niro.
Overall: An unfunny and disturbing black comedy which tries to glorify violence as the solution for everything. If you want to see a teenage boy and a teenage girl hitting repeatedly other kids in the skull and De Niro change to a hammer after he broke the baseball bat which he was using to break the feet of a poor plumber who ask for an advance for his work, then go and watch this crap...
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An ugly, unfunny, dull mess. Trying to be a comedy counterpart to Goodfellas, but misses on every level
Director Luc Besson has a history of mixing great style, strong characters, and bright violence, most notably in his cult classic, "Leon the Professional". It would seem that a gangster comedy that is essentially shooting to be a funny "Goodfellas" could be right down his alley. And while Besson presents some of his signature flair for stylish editing, and there are decent performances within, the comparisons to "Goodfellas" and "Leon" end there. Unfortunately, "The Family" is an ugly, unfunny, dull mess.
The film follows an American mob family who are relocated to France under the witness protection program and are doing their damnedest to blend in. As expected, old habits die hard and they soon fall into their old ways (espionage, beatings, murder...you know, the usual). This is where most of the movie resides, asking us to laugh at this despicable family doing despicable things. This is a formula that can work ("Ocean's Eleven", the TV show "Arrested Development"), but characters must be sympathetic, charming, or likable in some way, and in "The Family", they simply aren't.
The movie is not completely devoid of merit. There are some unique elements to the cat-and-mouse scenes with the villains, there are some killer editing choices (i.e. the way the movie fades to credits at the end), and De Niro has an absolutely righteous beard. But the tonal inconsistencies and weak script make it impossible to completely support. If you wanna go to the theater, see "Blue Jasmine" or "The Conjuring".
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I can't believe I watched the whole thing
Ric-7 24 September 2013
Warning: Spoilers
I could hear a thunderstorm outside, so I stayed and watched it all. In retrospect, I would have had more fun standing in the rain. Early in the film, there may have been a smile or two in the lines. Once the gratuitous violence and killings began, I sat there wondering where did I go wrong? I am probably too old to laugh at needless killings. I find it about as funny as teen suicide. In slasher films, the body count is the point; here, well . . . what's the point? Whenever things got boring, another character was killed needlessly. The filmmakers at least had the restraint not to shoot the dog, but had no qualms about the needless killing of a friendly neighbor.
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Source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2404311/reviews
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