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 FBI 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:

Michelle Pfeiffer is one bad mother

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, language and brief sexuality

Did You Know?

Trivia

After beating up the plumber with a baseball bat, Robert De Niro's character quotes a line by Al Capone: "You can get further with a kind word and a gun, than you can with just a kind word." This same line is said by De Niro when he played Al Capone in The Untouchables (1987), in which he also beat an underling with a baseball bat.

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Goofs

When the hitmen arrive in the train station they take two cars, a Mercedes and a BMW. The BMW is a 5 Series (E39) which production began from September 1995. Since the action is taking place according to the school newspaper in May 1995, this car model isn't on the market yet.

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Quotes

Belle Blake: I have something that I'd like you to solve: What's more beautiful than life itself... devours you inside... makes you laugh and cry all day... and makes you do anything... anytime... any place?

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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 Rocky (1976)

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Soundtracks

Life or Death
Written by Jono Brown, Jeff Kollman
Ed. X Ray Dog - K Musik

User Reviews

Zany gangster comedy

Very few actors into their old age have been able to resist the temptation to play out their end years like the last five overs in a 50 over cricket match- keep featuring in any movie that pays decent money. Of late, industry stalwart Rober De Niro has been guilty of the same, but once in a while he does bring out the old sparkle, and more often than not, that is generally in a mobster themed movie. Ditto for The Family- a zany comedy about a family of criminals, who come in all genders and ages.

Robert De Niro is Giovanni Manzoni, a crime boss on the run from his gang, who he tattled on. Put under witness protection, he and his family have a hard time sticking to their given identities as Giovanni is unable to rein in his sadistic urges, leading to a murder here, and a bashing there. His family is not far behind though- Michelle Pfeiffer is one bad closet pyromaniac of a mother, Dianne Aragon is the beautifully dangerous daughter, and John D'Leo is the young wheeler dealer gun, waiting to make a name in the business. The kids are a chip off the old block - brave and shrewd, with extremely practical, no nonsense attitudes. Tommy Lee Jones is the FBI agent who has to help these lunatics maintain a low profile. But all they keep doing, in different doses of hilarity, is making a war-zone out of a mofussil town.

Luc Besson makes a fine comeback with this funny gangster comedy- the script is witty, the pace is fast, there are sudden scenes of shocking violence, and equal doses of laugh out moments. All the actors do a great job. This is a role meant for De Niro- he is a career don (Goodfellas, The Godfather, Casino) and this is right up his alley, a walk in the park. His interactions with his family are awesome, and at the end i was left wanting more of this family- a sequel on the cards? Michelle Pfeiffer's beauty has not dimmed one bit, and Tommy Lee Jones maintains a straight face throughout the antics.

The Family is as much about a real family as it is about thugs. Growing up pains, romance, responsibility, will to survive- all of it is nicely packaged into a decent entertainer which has loads of laughter, guns, hammers, baseball bats, explosions, and everything else you love about the gangster movie genre- 7/10

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official Tumblr

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

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