Luc Besson, Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer all together in one movie? Besson writing and directing and De Niro and Pfeiffer “acting”? Sounds great doesn’t it? At this point in his career any movie that Robert De Niro stars in, that has got anything to do with the mob, is nothing but a big fat cliché. And for Luc Besson’s latest cinematic offering, cliché has never been more appropriate.
Relocated to Normandy in France, a once notorious mob family are under witness protection until they find that old habits die hard, in more ways than one. From Giovanni’s (De Niro) lust for blood, murder and mayhem to his son’s (John D’Leo) wheeling and dealing, this is a pretty dysfunctional family unit, who predictably come together when they need it most.
The Family, while delivering a fairly good looking movie, with some top notch and clever editing (scenes cut away at just the right time, and not in a frustrating way either), is nothing but one big epic cliché. From the Goodfellas connection to the stereotypical mob uniforms, its nothing but a cliché. De Niro delivers an incredibly clichéd performance and never looks like once does he break a sweat. And that god awful beard, looking like something Chewbacca coughed up, is nothing but a distraction. Michelle Pfeiffer, while watchable can’t seem to whole down an accent to save her life, and thus turns into another mafia wife cliché.
On the other hand, their kids played by Dianna Agron(Glee) and John D’Leo (The Wrestler) are positively refreshing. Likeable and convincing, they are the best thing about The Family. And you could throw Tommy Lee Jones in there too, except he’s in the entire movie for about 5 minutes, collectively.
After what seems like half a life time of pointless sub plots involving romance, writing and Christ knows what else, things pick up. Its only in the last 25 minutes that things start to get interesting, And then…. Bam! Roll credits. Ultimately, there is a good story (ableit predictable) in here somewhere, but The Family is bloated with a number of scenes adding nothing, only to fatten up the near 2 hours running time. Besson may have well created something that would have been thoroughly enjoyable with lesser known actors and presumably he has had to deliver an “American” movie, and one that is full of boring clichés that are as out dated as De Niro’s beard. The biggest issue for The Family is it pitches itself as comedy and tries to deliver a thriller and stumbles every step of the way, as it doesn’t know what the hell it is.
If you want to see De Niro play a mob guy, go watch Goodfellas. Overall, The Family is an incredibly frustrating and disappointing experience. This is certainly one offer that you can refuse
