I’ll admit it, The Family surprised me. I do my best to walk into these movies without preconceived notions of their quality, but it’s hard not to look at this film as a bit of an Analyze This clone – De Niro back to his old familiar habit of parodying the mafia image his early film career created for him. But there’s more to The Family than that.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of fish out water mobster shenanigans and that ends up feeling exactly as fresh you might expect. Yet there’s a deep emotional undercurrent that you probably wouldn’t expect in The Family. And in the end, it kind of dominates the movie.
Robert De Niro plays Giovanni Maznoni, a former mobster in the witness protection program for snitching on his former crime family. Giovanni is essentially Ray Liotta’s character at the end of Goodfellas (a fact the film does little to shy away from) – he longs for his former life at the top of the food chain even if he doesn’t regret doing what he had to to survive.
So he tows his family along with him across the southern half of France (under the assumed name Fred Blake), moving from location to location until the heat on them makes it too dangerous to stay. His wife Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer) finds solace in the church (and her cooking). Daughter Belle (Dianna Agron), a hopeless romantic, tries to find love. Son Warren (John D’Leo) develops his own criminal rackets at the school.
In some regards the film tends to over rely on mob stereotypes for humour, especially early in the film. There’s a scene in a grocery store with Michelle Pfeiffer’s character that seems entirely unnecessary. Violence springs up almost out of nowhere, as if to remind us that yes, this is still a mob family from Brooklyn.
But at the same time these characters are complex and nuanced. That’s what’s so confounding about The Family – the movie goes to a ton of trouble to develop these characters into something more than just walking accents, yet whenever it needs a laugh it goes right back to that well. It makes you care and then pulls the rug out so quickly you wonder why you ever bothered.
Still, at the risk of sounding like a jilted lover the vast majority of The Family was the smart, interesting character work that can make it so compelling. The stories are very low stakes, which gives the movie an aimless feel at times. There’s not a lot in terms of plot. But there isn’t a weak link among this family, and I managed to find something sweet, or amusing, or dare I say even devastating in all of the intersecting story threads.
The cast is what holds it all together. You expect a certain level of brilliance from Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer (not to mention a small but noteworthy appearance by Tommy Lee Jones). But the kids (if you can call them that – Dianna Agron is 27 years old) prove themselves more than capable of holding their own. D’Leo – who isn’t even famous enough to garner his own Wikipedia page – was certainly inspired casting.
My only other qualm was the ending. I won’t ruin it – though I doubt it will come as a surprise to most – but it felt abrupt. For a movie that was most decidingly an ensemble piece, Giovanni/Frank was the only character who really got proper closure on his storyline. Granted, it’s possible that was intentional.
The Family may play a little fast and loose with what’s considered acceptable (or even believable) behaviour for a family in the witness protection program. And there are moments where it can lean a little too heavily on the typical mobster schtick. But I was never bored – there’s perhaps no more telling an endorsement than that.