TheBloodyCritique’s ‘The Family’ Film Review
The Family is about an ex-Mafia boss, Giovanni Manzoni, who, after entering the witness protection programme and being relocated to a small village in France with his wife and two children, struggles to adapt to his new life and rid himself of his criminal ways. This proves hard for the whole Manzoni family with all of them being used to the outlaw lifestyle and each of them go straight back to their roots! The Family is a black comedy crime film, it’s written and directed by Luc Besson and stars Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, John D’Leo, Dianna Agron and Tommy Lee Jones.
Luc Besson’s other work includes Leon: The Professional (haven’t seen it in a while but I remember loving it as a kid), The Fifth Element (Enjoyed it as a kid, re-watched it recently it was a load of shit!), The Messenger: Joan of Arc (This was decent if I remember correctly) and he wrote the screenplay for Guy Ritchie’s Revolver and Pierre Morel’s From Paris with Love, two of the worst films I’ve ever seen! Basically he’s more miss than hit but I still have fond memories of Leon so I’ll give him that and The Family wasn’t bad at all, it’s a good solid effort!
I was entertained, it’s not a perfect film by any means but I enjoyed it, it’s only got 29% on Rotten Tomatoes which is ridiculous! It’s fairly well written, very well directed and features good performances from Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer, they’re professionals they’re always good and no one stood out to me as particularly bad except maybe Dianna Agron who plays the daughter but I’d blame that more on the sloppy writing though, her storyline was completely stupid and just fell flat on its face, it’s a silly little love story based on nothing shoehorned in out of nowhere!
I liked the premise, I thought it was a fun film, it’s not something you take away anything profound from but it’s an entertaining experience with fun characters. It’s a little offensive if you’re French though, it portrays them all as pretentious and rude which was unnecessary, Luc Besson’s French himself though so I suppose it’s okay? As well as Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer, who were both great, I also liked John D’Leo’s performance as the son, his story doesn’t really go anywhere but I liked watching him take over the school, sussing everyone out and taking over the school in a very Mafia style way.
Overall The Family is a solidly good film, it’s nothing particularly special, it’s not gonna stick with me I don’t think but it was entertaining, I was invested in the story and I liked the characters, I’d give it a recommendation! Not as a comedy though, it wasn’t funny, at all I don’t think, I mean I may have cracked a couple of smirks but as a comedy it’s not that funny, there’s definitely a light comedic feel to the tone but I didn’t laugh much. If you’re a fan of the Mafia genre you’ll probably find some enjoyment here, if not, you probably won’t but it gets my recommendation either way! I’m gonna give The Family 7/10.
What did you think of The Family?