Luc Besson, the French director who gave us “La Femme Nikita”, “The Professional”, and “Taken”, knows violence but has a lot to learn about comedy. “The Family” has an all-star cast, Robert Deniro, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Tommy Lee Jones, but Besson puts them in a blackest of black attempt at action/comedy. The violence is graphic and excessive and we don’t care a bit about the family in question. It’s like “The Addams Family” meets “Goodfellas”
Deniro plays mobster Gio Manzoni, who ratted on his fellow mobsters and is now in the witness protection plan under the direction of Jone’s Federal agent, who keeps covering up for Manzoni’s sadistic behavior. In fact, the whole family has anger issues including Belle (Diana Agron from “Glee”) and Warren (John DiLeo). The mob eventually tracks them down and the unwarranted body count in the sleepy Normandy village that is the family’s current home is a disturbing way to go for laughs.
Besson could have scored with more fish out of water jokes, “The Jersey Shore” meets “Je Ne Sai Quoi”, but alas firepower silences the humor potential. Couldn’t wait for it to be over.
Rated R: for extreme violence
My GPA: 2.0
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