He was one of a handful of congressmen who lived in a C Street row house owned by an organization known as “the Fellowship,” an unorthodox group home that the New Yorker once likened to a frat house for Jesus. Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dianna Agron, John D’Leo, Tommy Lee Jones, Jimmy Palumbo, Domenick Lombardozzi.In 2007, Senator John Ensign of Nevada was a glittering star in the Republican firmament, with a maple-syrup tan, born-again bona fides, and presidential ambitions. Camera (color), Thierry Arbogast editor, Julien Rey music, Evgueni Galperine, Sacha Galperine production designer, Hugues Tissandier costume designer, Olivier Beriot art directors, Gilles Boillot, Eric Dean, Dominique Moisan, Stephane Robuchon, Thierry Zemmour sound (Dolby Digital/SDDS/Datasat), Didier Lozahic, Ken Yasumoto re-recording mixer, Matthieu Dallaporta assistant director Ludovic Bernanrd casting, Nathalie Cheron, Amanda Mackey Johnson. Screenplay, Besson, Michael Caleo, from the novel “Malavita” by Tonino Benacquista. Co-executive producers, Ron Burkle, Jason Colbeck.ĭirected by Luc Besson. Executive producers, Martin Scorsese, Tucker Tooley. Produced by Virginie Besson-Silla, Ryan Kavanaugh.
Running time: 111 MIN.Ī Relativity Media release of a Relativity and EuropaCorp presentation of a Relativity, EuropaCorp, TF1 Films, Grive Prods. Reviewed at the Landmark, Los Angeles, Sept. Tommy Lee Jones, however, seems entirely disengaged in his scenes as Giovanni’s FBI handler. A characteristically sharp Pfeiffer provides most of the pic’s genuine laughs and nearest attempts at actual empathy, and it must be said that De Niro is at least never caught sleepwalking. These minor quibbles aside, “The Family” is technically well made, and Besson is still capable of staging horrifying murders and torture scenes in a uniquely casual, matter-of-fact way.
(The less said about the Martin Scorsese reference, the better.) For a film set in Normandy from a French writer-director (Besson and Michael Caleo adapted the script from Tonino Benacquista’s novel), it never even feels particularly French: Having every character onscreen speak perfect English is obviously a commercial necessity, yet it’s scarcely acknowledged that this is not the town’s native language. There’s no guilty glee in the sight of mob mother Maggie (Pfeiffer) blowing up a grocery store whose proprietor dares scoff at her peanut-butter fixation, and the explanation for an early scene in which the supposedly undercover family throws a barbecue for the entire town seems to have been left on the cutting-room floor. “The Family” showcases a slower, quieter strain of Besson’s signature style, yet it’s scarcely any smarter, and even its better comedic ideas wind up diluted by overly orchestrated setups or fumbled payoffs. But the film never seems aware it can follow any of these paths to interesting destinations, instead simply tossing a handful of one-joke sketches into a narrative Cuisinart and serving the resulting puree raw.Īlways an efficient orchestrator of balls-out ultraviolence, Besson has never quite grasped the rhythms of English-language comedy, and his earlier English pictures, like “The Fifth Element,” largely succeeded through megalomaniacal moxie alone. None of these are the most original of conceits (and the script never bothers to complicate or question any of its dunderheaded-Americans/effete-Frenchmen stereotypes), though they ought to at least be expected to provide decent distraction from the central plotline pitting Giovanni against a tireless would-be assassin (Jimmy Palumbo). And the Cosa Nostra strategies 14-year-old Warren (John D’Leo) uses to negotiate lycee politics could have perhaps made for a whole film on their own. (And in surer hands, De Niro’s role as a domesticated heavy still very much in touch with his sociopathic tendencies could have been a sly upending of his “Analyze This” and “Meet the Parents” parts.) Then there’s his 17-year-old daughter, Belle ( Dianna Agron), whose sudden shifts from moony high-school romanticism to brutal violence would seem to have plenty of potential. Watching Giovanni employ leg-breaking tactics to negotiate buck-passing French bureaucracy theoretically ought to resonate with disgruntled expats and Francophobes.
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Picking up with a mafia family as they arrive at a creaky house in Normandy - the latest of many witness-relocation destinations for Brooklyn wiseguy-turned- snitch Giovanni Manzoni ( Robert De Niro) - Besson would seem to have a full palette with which to paint. It isn’t that “ The Family” doesn’t have any good ideas.
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