'THE FAMILY'

'THE FAMILY' (R) (3 STARS)

Written by Michael Caleo and Luc Besson based on book by Tonino Benacquista
Directed by Luc Besson
Actors: Robert DeNiro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dianna Agron, John D'Leo, Tommy Lee Jones, Domenick Lombardozzi

There is something refreshing about a "Mob" movie playing with the clichés of your usual "Mob movie and then adding some new touches. There are familiar scenes in "The Family" that you have seen before but also some deeper, smart material that I didn't expect. Plus the characters are fascinating and Robert DeNiro and Michelle Pfeiffer playing a Mob family husband and wife!? There are also some surprising subplots that I haven't seen in this type of story.

Imagine Henry Hill from "Good Fellas" after he is relocated in the witness protection program and what his life would entail. Then you have a feeling of what "The Family" will be like. Though in some ways the movie is unpredictable, that is until the last half hour shootout. Until that violent ending teeming with bullets "The Family" is fun and entertaining. The black comedy tells the story of married couple Fred and Maggie Blake or the real family name, the Manzoni's. The family also includes their son and daughter Warren and Belle.

The Manzoni's are relocated to Normandy, France by their FBI handler Stansfield, played by the great Tommy Lee Jones. Giovanni (Fred Blake) ratted on some Mob family heads and now the family is living in France and they are not fitting in. Fitting in with the Normandy residents is hard and Fred finds it hard to hide himself in the fake story that he has come up with, that he is a writer.

"The Family" surprised me with some of the directions it takes with it's few subplots concerning each kid and the parents. The movie is a black comedy and it can be very violent but it has an endearing quality to it. DeNiro is delightfully playing a parody of his usual Mobster character and along with "Silver Linings Playbook" he is back after the last few, safe, horrible comedies he has been in. He looks like he is having fun here. You grow to like these characters like you shamefully do with a lot of crime family characters in other "Mob" movies.

It is also wonderful to see Michelle Pfeiffer given her best role in ages as a "Mob" wife and I automatically thought of her Oscar caliber performance in Jonathan Demme's "Married to the Mob". Pfeiffer is charming, very funny and great here as her character tries to adjust to the snooty town residents. John D'Leo and Dianna Agron (Glee) are very fine as the two siblings and we like following their side stories. Agron is very beautiful and reminds me of a young Michelle Pfeiffer! Add to this Tommy Lee Jones's deadpan, delightful turn as the FBI agent. Jones's reactions to the wild lies Fred makes are priceless!

"The Family" has a very entertaining, twisted and funny middle section and just wait for the big surprise joke towards the end of the movie. It had me laughing out loud and though I should have seen it coming, I loved it still. "The Family" is fun if you like violent, twisted black comedies about mobsters. I think it will go down easy because it is fun, the characters are interesting, the acting is solid and the movie is smarter than you would think. It should please "Mob" movie fans because it doesn't insult your intelligence and it does all the usual clichéd material right while also throwing us some curves.