Robert De Niro and
Michelle Pfeiffer play husband and wife in the comedy-drama “The Family” which
follows a mob-connected clan unable to keep their New Yawk F.U. attitude in
check while living in rural France under witness protection. Dad
pummels a shady plumber with a hammer, mom blows up a grocery for its lack of
peanut butter, while the children (Dianna Argo and David Belle) pull of blackmail and crush anyone who crosses them. Tommy Lee Jones, haggard and grouchy
as always, plays the haggard and grouchy U.S. federal agent who has to keep the
family safe from assassins. See, De Niro’s dad snitched his mafia bosses and is
now wanted. Director Luc Besson -– he made “The Professional” –- eyes slapstick
comedy upfront, and drama and suspense later, asking us to sympathize with
these hard-ass ’Mericans when the guns come. It’s an ugly shift: We’re not
talking Bernstein Bears here. This family proudly dishes cruelty, yet when
tables turn, suddenly violence is wrong? (Never mind the high body count of
innocents.) Love the “Goodfellas” bit, though. B-
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