The Family

This thing is just a mess on so many fronts. Director Luc Besson gives us Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer riffing on past mafia movie roles in something that is supposed to be a comedy but winds up being freaking weird. De Niro plays a former hit man relocated to Normandy with his family after ratting on his pals, and Pfeiffer plays his wife. With their two children in tow, they try to make a go of it while Tommy Lee Jones inexplicably pops in every once in a while as the agent assigned with keeping an eye on them (apparently, nobody told the grouchy Jones he was supposed to be in a comedy). Obviously, De Niro has tried to mine his mobster role past with his Analyze This movies. This role requires a more subdued De Niro, except for when his character goes violently psycho. The movie goes for odd laughs and never gets them. It also tries to be a family drama, and in this respect it is insincere. Besson makes good-looking movies, and this one looks OK, but not good enough to cover up the fact that he is working with a shit script and concept.