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THE FAMILY Blu-ray Review

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The Family arrived on Blu-ray and DVD this week. Directed by Luc Besson, the dark comedy stars Robert De Niro, Tommy Lee Jones, Michelle Pfeiffer, John D’Leo,Dianna Agron, Dominic Chianese, and David Belle. If you can overlook a few faults, this is a mildly entertaining film that is worth a rental.

Besson should stay with directing action and sci-fi films (perhaps a sequel to The Fifth Element). Instead his latest film is a mix of genres – dark comedy and action. The story follows The Blake family who are in protective custody in France after the patriarch Fred (Deniro) testified against the mob bosses he worked for. Fred has a $20 million bounty on his head. so the government has

Tommy Lee Jones plays an FBI agent who has been tasked with the families safety. He is having a difficult time keeping the family under the radar. Unfortunately old habits die hard, and each member of the family has trouble assimilating, and soon revert back to their violent ways. Fred uses a bat to beat up a plumber that is not Fred’s wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) kicks off their first day in the town by blowing up the local market. Warren,the son, (John D’Leo) has started a black market operation using extortion and violence to take control of his high school. The daughter Belle (Dianna Agron) brutally beats up a group of local boys that try to take advantage of her.

The Family has a number of laughable moments that help balance out it’s flaws. The film is a bit long, too much time is spent trying to give the families backstory. I would have preferred this to be 20 minutes shorter or focus more on the comedy aspect. The final scenes are some of the best in the film as the family is able to come together to protect one another. One of the other great moments is when De Niro is invited to speak a local film group’s movie night. The film is supposed to be a special print of a war film, but due to a shipping error is Goodfellas. De Niro is asked to tell the audience how realistic Mob life is, which is a rather humorous scene.
De Niro is great as always, and is great at playing a mobster. He is also equally adept at comedy, as can be seen in his roles in the Meet the Parents films. Pfeiffer is at her best in this film, reminding me of how good she was as Catwoman (the best part of that Batman installment). I would love to see her in more films as a result. D’Leo and Agron are believable as brother and sister. Tommy Lee Jones is good at playing law enforcement roles, his character reminds me of the one he played in The Fugitive and US Marshalls.
The-Family_BD_Ocard

The Family Blu-ray has the following special features:

  • Making The Family
  • The Many Meanings of FU*%!
  • Sneak Peeks
  • Theatrical Trailer
The Family will make a good rental in my opinion, but is not a worthwhile purchase. You can rent or buy the film on Amazon if you are interested.
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The Author

Jim Napier

Jim Napier

Lover of movies and The Big Lebowski.

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