The Family (2013)

The Manzoni family, a notorious mafia clan, is relocated to Normandy, France under the Witness Protection Program, where fitting in soon becomes challenging, as their old habits die hard. The Family is no Goodfellas, Casino or The Godfather Trilogy and at times i do wish it was. Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer do try their best but in the end it wasn't enough, Tommy Lee Jones wasn't even needed to be in there and at times i felt like he was just bored to even show up and even when he does he walks like a turtle. The action was also goofy at times and a bit stupid. Overall despite the terrific and talented cast this movie couldn't pick what it wanted to be in the end. (4/10)

This is supposed to be a comedy - but the major problem with this is that it just isn't very funny. It seemed to have potential. It's about a family (headed by Robert de Niro, who in my opinion seemed a little old for the part) who are in the witness protection program because dad (De Niro) has ratted out his former Mafia family. First - I wondered about the FBI stashing them in France? France? It just seems implausible to me that France would be host for an FBI witness protection program. But OK. It's a comedy. I can live with that. It was supposed to be about the challenges of the family fitting in with French society. That actually could have been funny - but it wasn't. At times it was violent, at times it was quite boring. But it was really never particularly funny. The whole family (including Michelle Pfeiffer as the mom, Dianna Agron as the daughter and John D'Leo as the son) just more or less continues on with their mob upbringing and lifestyle, with not much of an attempt that I could see to fit in. Tommy Lee Jones was added as the head of the FBI team responsible for them. So the cast is good and capable and should be able to pull of comedy - because they've done it before. But it just didn't work.I'll concede that while it may not have been funny, there was a bit of a "cute" moment when De Niro's character goes to a local film festival and watched "Goodfellas." Although, in all honesty, that might have been a bit too cute. The final scenes (where the mob shows up in the little town - more than half a dozen of them, which strikes me as a bit of overkill, but then again I'm not a mob boss) aren't too bad. They seem to be an attempt on the part of director Luc Besson to add some action into the movie. As I said, those closing scenes aren't bad - but one of the problems is that I never felt that Besson had a handle on what genre of movie he was supposed to be making. Perhaps (if you take away some of the nonsense) the film manages to give you a sense of how frustrating it must be to be in a witness protection program - constantly moving; constantly looking over your shoulder for whoever might be out to get you.Basically, I expected more from a movie with a promising plot and such a collection of names in the cast. But if I ever feel the need again to watch a movie about how hard it is for outsiders with a secret to keep to fit in, I'll stick to "Coneheads." (3/10)

This movie doesn't know if it wants to be a comedy or a gangster suspense thriller...so it winds up being neither--a flic you can't take seriously on an any level. Every name actor--deNiro, Pfeiffer, Jones, seems to sleep-walk through it, phoning in their performance. Couldda been a contender!

I was shocked to see this movie only has a 6.3 rating overall from those rating it on this site. This movie has absolutely everything you can ask for in a dark comedy. It is very well written and directed, and the actors are top notch. I think that this is one of De Niro's finer roles, and I'm a huge De Niro fan. Michelle Pfeiffer is her usual funny, sexy and engaging self. Tommy Lee Jones doesn't have a huge part in the movie, but when he does appear, he does a great job. IF you like dark comedy, mafia flicks, and some action in your movie, then you will definitely love this one. Everyone that I have recommended this one too has thanked me later.