The Family
Director: Luc Besson.
Screenplay: Luc Besson, Michael Caleo.
Starring: Robert DeNiro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Tommy Lee Jones, Dianna Agron, John D’Leo, Jimmy Palumbo, Domenick Lombardozzi, Stan Carp, Vincent Pastore, Jon Freda.
“It was a time when I had it all. People would ask me, “What was it like being untouchable?” The question they really should’ve asked was “What happens when it’s all over?””
During the 1990’s, Luc Besson was a director that I kept a very keen eye on. He delivered the dynamic French thriller “Nikita” before moving on to the kinetic and striking “Leon“. He followed this up with an outrageously unique Sci-Fi in “The Fifth Element” before tailing off with more obscure art-house and animation fair. “Angel-A” in 2005, was the last time I seen anything good from him and his latest in “The Family” would suggest that I’ll have to wait a little longer before he finds his feet again.
Giovanni Manzoni (Robert DeNiro) is a former mob man who enters the witness protection programme with his family and are relocated to Normandy, France to lay low. The problem for Manzoni, though, is that he finds it hard to keep a low profile and his old volatile habits bring just as much attention as they did back home.
A farcical French/American mob movie that has all the potential to be something quite exquisite; a (once) quality director in Luc Besson; three outstanding central performers in Robert DeNiro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Tommy Lee Jones and the great Martin Scorsese lending his hand to producing duties. With this abundance of talent involved, you’d be forgiven for expecting that nothing can really go wrong here but that isn’t entirely the case. For a start, the writing is very scratchy indeed. It’s farcical nature doesn’t gel with it’s sporadic violent outbursts and it can’t seem to make amends with it’s extreme tonal shifts.
In it’s favour, it has a snappy energy, buoyed by it’s solid trio of actors; DeNiro seems to be right up for it with his subtle comic timing in-check but it’s just a shame that he’s let down by Besson who doesn’t write any decent gags for him and those that are in place don’t work with the rest of the material. In fact, most of the sub-par gags are so forced that they’re delivered with some whimsical French accordion music playing overhead, reminding us that it’s supposed to funny – much in the same way that canned laughter is used. Pfeiffer is as watchable as ever and lends ample support with shades of her work in Jonathan Demme’s “Married to the Mob” and it’s great to finally see DeNiro and the great Tommy Lee Jones share the screen together. Unfortunately, their relationship is seriously underdeveloped and comes across as more of a missed opportunity than anything else. They do, however, share an amusing “Goodfellas” in-joke towards the end. It’s arguably misplaced but it’s still an enjoyable little moment between them.
As far as the actors go, they can’t be faulted but the material does very little for them. If only Besson had settled on a particular tone then this could have worked so much better. It would also have helped if he had a script in place that wasn’t so lazy or mediocre and didn’t overly rely on his strong cast to carry him. There are good scenes to be had but they just don’t come together as a complete whole with some plot strands woefully underdeveloped and, in some instances, completely forgotten about.
It’s a film that strangely finds itself caught between a rock and a hard place. It might have worked better had it been more in touch with its funny bone or it might have been wiser to omit the humour altogether. I can’t quite decide but, as it is, the final product is very much hit-and-miss with an emphasis on the latter.
Mark Walker
Trivia: Although Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer had both appeared in Stardust (2007) and New Year’s Eve (2011), they had shared no scenes. When Pfeiffer received the script, she told her agent that if she had no scenes with DeNiro she wouldn’t even read it.
MARKED MOVIES 
November 21, 2013 at 2:50 pm
Nice write-up Mark. I haven’t seen it but it sounds like a case of ‘how the mighty have fallen’ from your review. Think I’ll give it a miss, even though I also like Besson’s films from the 80s and 90s. Haven’t seen anything since The Fifth Element, even though his name pops up a lot as a writer/producer.
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November 21, 2013 at 3:01 pm
Cheers Stu! How the mighty have fallen indeed. There’s just too much talent involved for here for this not to work. Sadly, the talent counts for nothing. It has good moments and the potential was definitely there but the major fault lies with Besson on this one. His script and handling of the different tones just doesn’t work as well as it should.
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November 21, 2013 at 2:58 pm
Agreed. This doesn’t quite know what it is. Feels like it might be a dark comedy but it never settled on that identity, and so is dissappointing.
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November 21, 2013 at 3:04 pm
I hear you, man. It actually could have been a very good dark comedy. The idea was there and they had the cast and crew to make it work but they just didn’t have a script that was worthy of note. I haven’t read the book on which it’s based but apparently it stuck quite closely to it. Either the book is garbage itself, or Besson has really messed up this adaptation.
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November 21, 2013 at 3:51 pm
I haven’t read the book either. It’s probably better. They usually are.
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November 21, 2013 at 3:03 pm
I remember that I wanted to go see this and never did. Sounds like I made the right call.
Boat Drinks!
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November 21, 2013 at 3:11 pm
Yeah, you didn’t really miss much here bro! It had some good little moments and the performances were great but there wasn’t a lot else going in its favour. Man, what’s happened to Besson these days? His ass used to be beautiful.
Boat Drinks!
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November 21, 2013 at 3:21 pm
I don’t know… there’s nothing better than Leon and then he went off and made a bunch of kids movies, right??
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November 21, 2013 at 3:24 pm
I liked The Fifth Element and Angel-A was a great little French movie but, yeah, not much else of note really.
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November 21, 2013 at 3:25 pm
I think I’m in the minority but I liked that Joan of Arc movie he did, but after that, Nuthin…
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November 21, 2013 at 3:30 pm
Joan of Arc was okay. Visually brilliant but I wasn’t keen on the pacing of it. It felt a bit empty to me.
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November 21, 2013 at 4:00 pm
Good review Mark. Whatever this movie tried to be, a comedy, drama, action-thriller, it didn’t work and just came out like something of a jumble. A very boring jumble, to say the least.
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November 21, 2013 at 5:06 pm
I enjoyed parts of it, Dan, but like you say, it was a bit of a jumble and at times I found my concentration waning. Quite disappointing overall.
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November 21, 2013 at 5:02 pm
I was cautious about this film, but was still hoping for a decent comedy. Great review btw. I was shocked to discover this was directed by Luc Besson.
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November 21, 2013 at 5:09 pm
Yeah, Luc Besson, Chris. Not Besson on the best of form, though. He’s done much better in the past and squanders a very promising cast here. Your caution is wise young man. 😉
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November 21, 2013 at 6:13 pm
Unfortunate but not unexpected. Like you mention, Besson use to be a name I looked forward to. Now, sadly, I tend to avoid anything he touches. Oh, how the great have fallen.
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November 21, 2013 at 9:21 pm
I suppose you’re right there, Nick. I had heard poor things about it beforehand but hoped against hope that I would still really enjoy it. I did enjoy some of it but wanted more. Sadly, Besson no longer commands my attention either.
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November 21, 2013 at 9:26 pm
Nice one! There’s an issue with the De Niro Blogathon; it’s virtually impossible to keep up with the amount of films he’s releasing at the moment!
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November 21, 2013 at 9:31 pm
Cheers Mark. Yeah, as much as I’m directly involved in the DeNiro Blogathon itself, a few of my recent posts on my site have featured DeNiro as well. Everything I seem to touch just now is all about this guy. I could have kept this for the DeNiro site but I wanted to get it done quick and I’m afraid Marked Movies comes first. 😉
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November 21, 2013 at 10:06 pm
Fantastic review. Loved how you brought up the fact that there’s some music playing softly over a few of the jokes — they truly were that bad. Brilliant analogy. It’s a shame this one stinks because I really wanted to like it. And you’re absolutely right about TLJ and DeNiro together being a missed opportunity here.
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November 22, 2013 at 7:40 am
Cheers Tom. Yeah, what was with the music playing every time it was supposed to be funny? They must have known their jokes were shit and that was the only thing they could come up with. I really wanted to like this one too. In parts I did, but overall it was very disappointing.
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November 22, 2013 at 12:35 am
Nice review. I was thinking about seeing this in theaters, but decided to skip it after seeing some of the reviews. It’s a shame since like you said De Niro has very good comic timing, though he seems to star in plenty lame comedies.
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November 22, 2013 at 7:34 am
Cheers man. Yeah, I’d save your hard earned coins and see something else instead. What is potentially a good movie just doesn’t hit the mark. DeNiro is good but totally wasted.
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November 22, 2013 at 4:47 am
Hi Mark! You’re way too generous w/ this one, he..he.. I think it’s a big stinker and though as you say, it’s not the actors’ fault. Such a big waste of talents, I can’t believe Scorsese was one of the producers!
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November 22, 2013 at 7:37 am
I probably am being a tad generous Ruth. In all honesty there were moments that I liked and I also like the concept but it was woefully handled. Such a shame, as all the actors were great. Even young Agron and D’Leo who played the kids. For this one, I lay the blame solely on Besson.
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November 22, 2013 at 7:39 am
Good review Mark. Sounds like a missed opportunity…shame.
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November 22, 2013 at 7:41 am
Thanks Amon. A big missed opportunity, man. This could have been great but sadly ended up rather dull.
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November 22, 2013 at 12:59 pm
Great review Mark. I haven’t heard a single good thing about this film, and it is definitely not something that I am looking to go and see.
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November 22, 2013 at 1:14 pm
Thanks Zoe. It’s pretty forgettable to be honest. More frustrating than anything else as it had so much potential.
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November 22, 2013 at 1:19 pm
Ah, I HATE it when that happens in a movie. It frustrates me more than if it was just outright crap you know?
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November 22, 2013 at 1:57 pm
I hear you! I’d rather it was just complete shit with no chance in hell but this really had something good and blew it.
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November 22, 2013 at 2:01 pm
Pfffff. Some people should burn for that.
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November 25, 2013 at 9:08 am
Had this one pegged as a stinker man. Great cast but if the script isn’t there there’s nothing for them to work with. Great review mate.
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November 25, 2013 at 12:33 pm
Yeah, there’s really not a lot going for this, man. I enjoyed some scenes and could see what it wanted to do but sadly, it never achieved it. Thanks man!
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January 4, 2014 at 2:02 am
Good review Mark. I walked into the theatre, sat down, and waited. After the endless ads and trailers the title of the film came up on screen and instead of it reading Prisoners, which is what I had paid for, it read The Family. Needless to say, I walked, and judging from review, it was probably a good move. 😛
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January 4, 2014 at 11:19 am
I think I was slightly more positive than most on this one film, Allan. In all honesty, though, it was a bit of a disappointment. This could have been great instead of the misjudged effort it became.
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January 4, 2014 at 1:57 pm
Indeed, as you said, all the pieces of a great film where in place, just not executed well enough resulting in a bit of a mix-mash and poorly written script. That is enough for me to know its anything but my bag.
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January 5, 2014 at 8:07 pm
That pretty much sums it up, Allan. I did find the occasional moment that appealed and the performances were good but there just wasn’t enough, overall. Wait till it comes on tv or something.
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