The Family (2013) Movie Review

THE FAMILY (2013) MOVIE REVIEW

You know when you go into a movie expecting it to be exactly what you think it is going to be? Well in the case of The Family, it is actually the polar opposite situation. 

In this dark comedy, the Manzoni family are a notorious Mafia clan who have to go under witness protection after a hit has been made on them. Members of this family include the father Fred (Robert De Niro) who is currently going through a mid-life crisis, Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer) who is a mother trying to undue her past, Belle (Dianna Agron) who attempts at sparking a relationship with a fellow teacher and Warren (John D'Leo) who begins an extremely thought out system at his school, which involves elements used in the Mafia. Upon beginning their new life as the Blake family in a small country town in France, they soon realise that changing their entire personality and dark ways isn't as easy as they have been lead to assume. On paper, the premise actually sounded really interesting as it could have been a great way to show the emotional struggles that each family member has to go through on a daily basis. While the movie does mention this, I would have liked it if the film focused more around that aspect. Instead, we are left with a generic plot about another rival gang attempting to find them. This would have been fine if I the film's execution wasn't so choppy as the film in general just seems a little rushed. Overall, the premise for the film could have been interesting, though just didn't quite make the cut, still fairly good though. 

Still of Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer

Like I stated earlier, the premise on paper for this film does actually sound like an interesting and potentially award winning concept. However, the way that it was executed just didn't sit quite right with me at least. From I understood, the entire plot of the film is more or less about the family attempting to adjust to the change from killers to civilians. Now this is exactly what I wanted the movie to be like, however, I just feel something was off about the way it was handled. For example, at the beginning of the film, they don't really establish too much as basically what occurs is a family gets killed and then it cuts to the Manzoni's travelling to their new home. Now what I gathered from that scene was that the family that got murdered were filling in for the other family, or perhaps just got mistaken for them. While this may seem not relevant, it does raise the major problem with the film which is that everything isn't explained as well as it could have been. The film just expects the audience to pick up on something that may or may not be important to the plot of the film. Now this is OK if you are foreshadowing messages in the film like "know your enemies and know who to trust", but when you foreshadow important plot lines in the film, it just creates a confusing and to be frank, boring movie. This is yet another unfortunate problem as while he film does pick up the pace during the end, the lead up to the grand finale, in my opinion, is just extremely slow and boring. While there are actually some funny moments sprinkled throughout the film, it doesn't make up for the slow pacing throughout the entire film. If the movie was about 10-15 minutes shorter, I feel like it would have been a perfect length for this extremely dark comedy. 

Still of Michelle Pfeiffer walking away
from explosion

As for the acting in the film, I actually thought it was exceptionally strong. Robert De Niro pulls off the old, wise and ruthless father figure very well. Michelle Pfeiffer plays the headstrong, confused and seemingly nice mother very well and manages to play the borderline between bad and evil well. As for Tommy Lee Jones' character, I never quite understood why he is in this film at all. From what I gathered, he is more or less the agent that is checking on them and letting them know on any updates regarding the investigation. While I can see the relevance of his character, that doesn't quite translate onto the screen which goes back to one of the problems of the film that were previously mentioned. By far the best characters in this film were the two teenagers, Belle and Warren played by Dianna Agron and John D'Leo. I think the best I liked about these two were the chemistry that they had between each other as you actually believed that they care for each other, considering that they are brother and sister. As well as this, I also liked how they handled an everyday day at school as while many may see it as a waste of time, they see it as an opportunity to lie and cheat their way to the top of the popularity food chain. How they do this however is just hilarious and intriguing as when the girl feels uncomfortable around a group of men, she grabs a tennis racket and goes to town with it. While on the other side of the spectrum, the boy uses his wits and hires different students to protect and more or less serve him as long as he does something in return. This had me thinking about how their methods are very different and the way they work off each other considering their personalities are polar opposites was actually really cool to behold. 

Still of Dianna Agron and John D'Leo

Overall, I have mixed feelings about this film. On one side of the spectrum I really enjoyed the premise and the acting. However, I disliked the pacing and overall choppiness of the film. In the end, I have to go with my gut and judge this movie on what it is supposed to be, a dark comedy. Considering this, I must say this film is actually a good one at that. It has darker tones though managed to keep me intrigued, guessing and laughing all the way through. In the end, while the film isn't as good as I wanted it to be, I am glad I saw it. 

OVERALL: 7.0/10