The Family (2013)

The Manzoni family, a notorious mafia clan, is relocated to Normandy, France under the Witness Protection Program, where fitting in soon becomes challenging, as their old habits die hard.

Director:

Luc Besson

Writers:

Luc Besson (screenplay), Michael Caleo (screenplay)

Stars:

Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dianna Agron

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert De Niro	...	Fred Blake / Giovanni Manzoni
Michelle Pfeiffer	...	Maggie Blake
Dianna Agron	...	Belle Blake
John D'Leo	...	Warren Blake
Tommy Lee Jones	...	Robert Stansfield
Jimmy Palumbo	...	Di Cicco
Domenick Lombardozzi	...	Caputo
Stan Carp	...	Don Luchese
Vincent Pastore	...	Fat Willy
Jon Freda	...	Rocco
Michael J. Panichelli Jr.	...	Billy the Bug
Paul Borghese	...	Albert
Anthony Desio	...	Bernie
Ted Arcidi	...	Tommy
David Belle	...	Mezzo

Storyline

A mafia boss and his family are relocated to a sleepy town in France under the witness protection program after snitching on the mob. Despite the best efforts of CIA Agent Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones) to keep them in line, Fred Manzoni (Robert De Niro), his wife Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer) and their children Belle (Dianna Agron) and Warren (John D'Leo) can't help but revert to old habits and blow their cover by handling their problems the "family" way, enabling their former mafia cronies to track them down. Chaos ensues as old scores are settled in the unlikeliest of settings.

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Plot Keywords:

mafia | france | family dog | barbeque grill | girl beating up a boy | 

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Taglines:

Dianna Agron is the mobgirl next door

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, language and brief sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA France

Language:

English French Italian

Release Date:

13 September 2013 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Family

Filming Locations:

Studios de Paris, La Cité du Cinéma, Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, France

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$14,034,764, 15 September 2013, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$36,918,811

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$78,418,811

Company Credits

Production Co:

EuropaCorp,Relativity Media,TF1 Films Production

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

Datasat Dolby Digital SDDS Dolby Surround 7.1

Color:

Color Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Giovanni (Robert De Niro) is invited to talk about the movie Goodfellas (1990) at a special screening. De Niro starred in that movie, with the two movies also sharing several supporting cast members.

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Goofs

Fred Blake talks to M. Chambard who is lying on the road. In some camera shots M. Chambard's hands are over his chest. When viewed from behind, his hands are on the ground.

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Quotes

Robert Stansfield: [while driving in car and listening to phone] Jesus, the police switchboard is down!
Fred Blake: What's goin' on?
Robert Stansfield: I don't know, but if I find out if you had anything even remotely to do with this, you're gonna go away for a hell of a long time.
Fred Blake: Calm down. I was with you all night.
Robert Stansfield: That's the problem. Your alibi is too good.

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Crazy Credits

At the beginning, the words "father", "mother", "son" and "daughter" are shown and intersected. Some of the letters vanish, and the remaining ones spell the film's title.

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Connections

References Batman (1989)

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Soundtracks

O.C. Boy
Written by Timothy Stithem, David Jones

User Reviews

Fun

I vaguely remember when this movie was in the cinemas. I didn't go see it and I didn't even see a trailer, but I remember seeing the poster on the wall at the theater. Once it was up on Netflix, I wanted to see it.

I was expecting some kind of weird mixture between crime drama and a "unusual family" comedy like the Addams Family and We're The Millers. Not the best examples but they are the first ones I can think of. The Family wasn't exactly close to my expectation. The Family is way more refreshing the way it is. Still, it's hard to say what is the main type of this film. It's partially a comedy, it's hilarious and clever and all that. But then again it seems like a deep drama, because it's about a family who is trying to adjust to the new situation, and everyone is facing their own challenges. But of course it's also a crime thriller.

While it's hard to say which one of these mostly defines the movie, the thing is, the elements of all those types are used so wonderfully, that as the story goes on, it doesn't matter. The story and the characters are intriguing and it's exciting to see what is going to happen. That shows what an excellent writer Tonino Benacquista is. While I don't know the differences between his book and the screenplay by Besson and Caleo, but I'm guessing his Benacquista's writing involved a lot of the stuff I loved about this movie.

The Family is intriguing, thrilling and fun. It has excellent casting and excellent writing. While this movie doesn't really stand out, it's not astounding in anyway, it's still a good film and definitely worth seeing.