By David Blaustein
Well, if you’re going to continue to exploit a tired Mafia stereotype,
you might as well do it with the best.Really, though, the idea of seeing Robert De Niro play yet another
mobster in “The Family” taxes my brain. There’s no challenge here for
one of Hollywood’s most gifted film stars. In fact, the only truly
brilliant scene in “The Family” references De Niro’s place in
Hollywood’s mob film canon. On the other hand, once you get over the
cliché of De Niro as a mobster, he’s certainly fun to watch.
Luc Besson (“The Fifth Element,” “Arthur” and “The Invisibles”), who’s
not exactly known for restraint and nuance, directs this dark comedy
about the Manzoni family, who are hiding out in Normandy, France,
after Giovanni Manzoni (De Niro) rats out his other “family.”
Manzoni was a ruthless mobster whose wife, Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer),
is every bit as tough as he is. Oh, and their kids? Daughter Belle
(Glee’s Dianna Agron) is as tough as she is beautiful, while
14-year-old son Warren (John D’Leo) is a cross between Ferris Bueller
and Brad Pitt’s Tyler Durden from “Fight Club.” Tommy Lee Jones is the
FBI agent charged with the thankless and exasperating task of keeping
the Manzonis alive.
The problem is, Giovanni and company – now calling themselves the
Blakes – have a problem keeping a low profile. If you rub Giovanni the
wrong way, he’ll either kill you or break all your bones. Maggie
doesn’t like the way she’s treated while shopping, so she burns the
market down. Belle beats a boy with a tennis racquet after he comes on
too strong, while Warren extorts, forges and steals in an effort to
run his high school.
Further complicating matters is that Giovanni is working on a tell-all
book, though it’s really just a bad plot device to feed us his back
story. Add to that the fact that a mob boss has put a $20 million
bounty on Giovanni’s head, and our poor FBI agent Jones has his work
more than cut out for him.
“The Family”‘s funniest moments aren’t derived from the writing but
from the performances. This is an extremely weak script that plays on
tired mob stereotypes, buttressed by a brutality that’s better suited
for a mob drama than a dark comedy. The saving grace here is the cast,
as De Niro, Pfeiffer and Jones mug their way out of Besson’s awkward
comedic choices. To his credit, Besson is at his best in the final
act, when the stakes are raised and comedy is not part of the
equation. ABC News via Yahoo News
