The Family ***

The ‘most Hollywood of French directors’ Luc Besson has some fun with his new black comedy, The Family, toying with an impressive A-list cast, and placing lead actor Robert De Niro straight back into his Mafioso comfort zone – even spoofing it at the end. The film may seem a tad odd tonally, but it has a certain European quirkiness and double the trademark Besson ‘tough cookie’ character in both Michelle Pfeiffer and Dianna Agron’s roles. The issue some might have is the marrying of slapstick comedy moments and sporadic brutality that feels unsettling, rather than gleefully deviant.

The Blakes, Fred (De Niro), Maggie (Pfeiffer), Belle (Agron) and Warren (John D’Leo, is an American family living in the heart of rural France, but there’s something different about them: They are part of the notorious mafia clan, The Manzonis from New York, under witness protection and the watchful eye of weary Agent Robert Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones) who has to pick up the pieces. The trouble is, once a mobster, always a mobster and each family member can’t help using their skills to get their own way with the locals. However, Fred or Giovanni Manzoni is being hunted by the men working for a big boss who has been disrespected and has sent out a hit squad. The Blakes are trying to move on but their past just keeps catching up with them, even when Fred decides to turn writer and pen his will past.

The buzz you get from watching this film is seeing the interplay between De Niro and his belligerent family cast members who individually make their sinister mark in a dramatic fashion on certain members of the local community. There is a reaction to the usual Yank tourist gibe that gets wonderfully explosive. It just all gets too cartoonish at the very end when the Blakes are found out, even though there is a nice comeback action scene involving the younger Blakes, with Argon doing a Nikita impression.

The cast is a fabulous collection of talent, especially Pfeiffer who takes the sinister matriarch role in her stride, and exudes both icy chills and friendly demeanour in equal, delightful measure. De Niro almost takes a passive aggressive stance, leaving the stage to his relations, and there is a standout performance from D’Leo who holds his own in the confidence stakes. The actors do their best with Besson’s material, but it could be argued that it could have been darker or funnier but never quite reaches either mark.

That said as a piece of comedic light entertainment, The Family gives a decadent account of Mafioso hiding out in a foreign country, and the cast is a tonic to watch in action.

3/5 stars

By @FilmGazer

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