Let’s call a spade a spade, or to be more accurate, call Robert De Niro a talented actor who has apparently contracted an extremely virulent case of Cant-turn-down-scrip-itis. The Oscar winner has had a run of poor movie choices over the last couple of years, and while I’m definitely not saying that his latest pick, Luc Besson’s The Family (or is it’s known in France where movies don’t need catchy titles, Malavita) is continuing that run, judging from this new trailer I’m definitely not saying that it isn’t either.
In the off-beat action comedy “The Family,” a mafia boss and his family are relocated to a sleepy town in France under the witness protection program after snitching on the mob. Despite the best efforts of Agent Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones) to keep them in line, Fred Manzoni (Robert DeNiro), his wife Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer) and their children Belle (Dianna Agron) and Warren (John D’Leo) can’t help but revert to old habits and blow their cover by handling their problems the “family” way, enabling their former mafia cronies to track them down. Chaos ensues as old scores are settled in the unlikeliest of settings in this darkly funny film by Luc Besson (“Taken,” “Transporter”).
This is the first mainstream feature film that Besson has both written and directed since 2006′s Arthur and The Invisibles, so it will be interesting to see what he can do with his own ideas again. His writing and directing of other people’s stuff has been very hit and miss, but the problem is that so is this trailer, despite the fact that is has a stellar cast.
At least we have another movie now where Michelle Pfeiffer walks away from an explosion, though I am missing the backflips and “Meow” at the end.
You can see how The Family ends on September 13, 2013.