The Family

We have seen a plethora of mafia, mob related films in the past--enough to have our fill of them for years to come. But, once in a while there is a film or two that parodies this entire genre, and considering the genre, it would make for great fodder in which to create a great farce on the subject. "The Family" is a film whereas the parody is subtle, but definitely puts a smile on your face.

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 CIA Agent Robert Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones) to keep them in line, Fred Manzoni (Robert De Niro), 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").

Others to round out the cast are Jimmy Palumbo as DiCicco and Domenick Lombardozzi as Caputo, Stansfield's CIA assistants, Stan Carp as Don Luchese, Vincent Pastore as Fat Willy, Jon Freda as Rocco, Michael J. Panichelli Jr. as Billy the Bug, Oisin Stack as Henri, Paul Borghese as Albert, Anthony Desio as Bernie, Ted Arcidi as Tommy, David Belle as Mezzo, and Raymond Franza as Paulo.

This was directed with amazing subtlety by Luc Besson ("Le Dernier Combat" ("The Last Battle") '83, "Subway" '85, "The Big Blue" '88, "La Femme Nikita" '90, "Atlantis" (Documentary) '91, "Leon: The Professional" '94, "The Fifth Element" '97, "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc" '99, "Angel-A" '05, "Arthur and the Invisibles" '06, "Arthur and the Great Adventure" '09, "The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec" '10, "Arthur 3: The War of the Two Worlds" '10, "The Lady" '11). This could've been depicted in such over-the-top ways, and Besson saw the subtlety in its characters to portray them in more underlying intensity. It was written by Luc Besson and Michael Caleo based on the book, "Malavita" by Tonino Benacquista. As stated above, this is a film where the main character--Fred Manzoni is portrayed as a parody in that the actor who plays him--De Niro clearly is parodying his mob leader roles he's done in so many dramatic films. This is very much like the film, "The Freshman" '90, where, in that film, Marlon Brando basically parodied himself as a character from his 'Godfather' films portrayed to the hilt in that hilarious comedy bouncing his lines off of the very naive Matthew Broderick.

There were a few inconsistencies in script, but if you're looking for a parody in the form of a subtle comedy, and with top notch actors, this will certainly fit the bill.

Out of 4 Stars: 3                            Rated: R                         110mins.