The Family

The Family follows mafia-figure-turned-informant Giovanni Manzoni (Robert De Niro) as he and his brood (Michelle Pfeiffer’s Maggie, Dianna Agron’s Belle, and John D’Leo’s Warren) are relocated to the French countryside, with the movie detailing the various characters’ less-than-subtle efforts at blending into their new surroundings. It’s a decent setup that’s employed to consistently underwhelming effect by filmmaker Luc Besson, as the director, working from a script cowritten with Michael Caleo, has infused the proceedings with an excessively deliberate pace that’s nothing short of disastrous – with the lack of momentum paving the way for a palpably stagnant midsection. The Family‘s middling atmosphere is exacerbated by an emphasis on segments and sequences of a less-than-engrossing variety, with, for example, Giovanni’s ongoing faulty-pipes battle and Belle’s wooing of a local boy perpetuating the movie’s rough-cut feel (ie it’s impossible to wholeheartedly care about any of this). (Not helping matters is Besson and Caleo’s decision to stress decidedly lackluster comedic elements, including, most notably, a monumentally stupid scene wherein De Niro’s character watches Goodfellas.) And although the film does improve slightly in its action-heavy final stretch (ie it’s finally about something), The Family has long-since established itself as a misguided comedy that ultimately stretches its one-note premise to a punishing 111 minutes.

** out of ****