Thursday, October 2, 2014

The Family (2013)



Number Rolled: 44
Movie Name/Year: The Family (2013)
Genre: Comedy
Length: 111 minutes
Rating: R
Affiliated Companies: EuropaCorp, Relativity Media, TF1 Films Production, Grive Productions, Canal+, Malavita
Executive Producer: Jason Beckman, Ron Burkle, Jason Colbeck, Jason Colodne, Martin Scorsese, Tucker Tooley
Director: Luc Besson
Writer: Luc Besson, Michael Caleo, Tonino Benacquista
Actors: Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dianna Agron, John D’Leo, Tommy Lee Jones, Jimmy Palumbo, Domenick Lombardozzi, Stan Carp, Vincent Pastore, Jon Freda, Michael J. Panichelli Jr., Paul Borghese, Anthony Desio, Ted Arcidi, David Belle, Raymond Franza, Christopher Craig, Cedric Zimmerlin, Serge Tranvouez

The Manzoni’s are a former mafia family. They gave up their life of crime when Fred Manzoni, the patriarch, ratted on his business associates. In return they got a sweet life of moving around and complete lack of stability. They’ve just been relocated, again, to Normandy where they’re having a little trouble adjusting.

The Family did exactly what it set out to do. It wanted to give a nod to all the awesome 80’s and 90’s mob films while pushing a comedy aspect. What it wound up being is something violently hilarious.

Robert De Niro (Goodfellas, A Bronx Tale, The Godfather Part II) and Michelle Pfeiffer (Scarface, Hairspray, Dark Shadows) have acted in movies together; namely Stardust (2007) and New Year’s Eve (2011). This is the first movie, however, that they actually had a scene together in. It’s about-fucking-time, too. I could praise them on their performances, but it goes without saying. Both are veteran actors with a long list of accomplishments. They don’t need my two cents.

Dianna Agron (Glee, I Am Number Four, Heroes) and John D’Leo (Wanderlust, Brooklyn’s Finest, Cop Out) were outstanding. I’m familiar with Agron’s work and I expected her to be good, but D’Leo caught me off-guard. Despite his young looks, he’s actually right around 18 in the movie, though his character is younger. He reminded me, physically, of Lillo Brancato from A Bronx Tale (1993). Acting wise, Brancato wishes he was as good in that movie as D’Leo was in The Family.

Rotten Tomatoes critics panned this movie. A lot of their comments lead me to believe it’s because they were expecting something more on the serious side. I think they’re all nuts; they need to lighten up. I loved this movie, I will likely watch again and I will definitely recommend it.

I might have renamed it, though. Would you have gone to see it if it was titled: The Art of the Word ‘Fuck’? Nah, I wouldn’t have either. It’s a terrible title.

Accurate, though.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 29%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 42%

Netflix’s Prediction for Me – 4.7/5
Trust-the-Dice Score4/5

Movie Trailer: 

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