The Family (2013)

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  TheMovieDiorama

  5 / 10

  The Family lacks unity but plays with typical gangster tropes. Not a hundred percent sure what Besson was trying to do here. A homage to classic gangster flicks but without the ferocity and brutality. A light-hearted comedy but with limited laughs. A depiction of a dysfunctional family but with a minimal amount of heart and drama. It's tonally confused, however that's not to say it isn't enjoyable. The frivolous endeavours that each family member undertake surprisingly made for some watchable moments. On the run and protected by the FBI, a family of gangsters move to Normandy and must adjust to normal life. The children go to school, the mother shops for groceries and the father has a mid-life crisis whilst writing his memoirs. The problem is that there is no impact, no alluding sense of conflict and no tangible unity. It's just four family members doing their own thing. The son monopolises on playground businesses. The daughter falls in love in an attempt to escape her crazy family. The mother is constantly cautious about her husband doing something stupid. And finally the father is pretending to be a writer and suppressing his passive aggression. Each of these segments were enjoyable to watch. Rapidly paced, well written (for the most part...) and buoyant. But for a two hour film to culminate into an underdeveloped dull ten minute shootout is a slap in the face. And it all came about for the most stupidest of reasons I may have ever seen. Luck would have it that a newspaper with the son's school poem in would travel from Normandy to America and indirectly to a rival gangster in prison, where they happen to read the poem...! Y'know, it's tenuous scenes like that which make me question life. Still, not every film has De Niro watching 'Goodfellas', made me chuckle for some unknown reason. I feel like Besson could've taken these characters and do so much more with them, particularly with Pfeiffer and De Niro involved. Alas, it's just a generic enjoyable action comedy that will quickly be forgotten about.

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