The Family is, I admit, a strange, strange film, but I found it hypnotic and highly entertaining. It shifts tones more than once, but plays overall as a crime comedy with an acidic sense of humor and an over-the-top, this-is-not-the-real-world visual style. In a role which blends his iconic ability to be a masculine, menacing force of nature and his more recent interest in lampooning this persona, a bearded Robert De Niro plays a former mob kingpin on the run with his wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) and two children (John D'Leo and a transfixing Dianna Agron) after turning informant for the FBI. As the film begins, they have come to a pastoral, serene French hamlet with yet another false name. For a while, the film has a loose structure as it focuses on each family member's inability to relax and fit into their new environment (the son becomes a schoolyard godfather wheeling and dealing during lunch, while the father goes on a violent rampage inspired by bad plumbing). These set pieces are defined by a just-right blend of morbid hilarity and uncomfortable violence, and along the way, due in large part to the quality of the performances, one begins to have an unexpected sympathy for the main characters, however flawed and volatile, which is important for the action and mayhem centric third act. Mix in numerous playful moments large and small, including a daring feat of self-referential lunacy involving a local film-society screening of Goodfellas attended by De Niro's character, and the result is a distinct and fulfilling popcorn movie with bite to spare.

B+

What the? This movie is a complete tonal mess, a wildly uneven comedy/thriller/action/family drama hybrid bizarro work. I spent most of the movie mouth agape, as it wandered from subplot to subplot, scene to scene, zigzagging all over the damn place. But when the film does work, it's largely because of its cast. A post-Oscar nom DeNiro appears in another "comedy" acknowledging his image, while Michelle Pfeiffer (come back to us full time, Michelle) is a hoot and Tommy Lee Jones does more deadpan shtick effectively. The kids, Glee's Dianna Agron and John D'Leo, are also solid and are well-cast. I can't say I loved this movie but I'll give it credit for being so zany. C+

Translation: awesome.

It's definitely uneven but when it works it's a blast. Especially loved Michelle Pfeiffer, Dianna Agron and John D'Leo. B

the goodfellas scene was brilliant

Goodfellas scenes aside, the movie was boring. I would rather watch Adam Sandler yell at inanimate objects while Kevin James falls down.

C

The Family

I must say, I much more enjoy De Niro's latter career to his first half. This dark comedy crime thriller is a breath of fresh air, and captures De Niro in a retro-filled wink at his earlier career. Add in a tired and pissed off Tommy Lee Jones, a haggered but still game Michelle Pfieffer, the gorgeously sexy Lolita, Diana Agron, and the layer of light humorous entertainment mixed with cross-cultural pokes, and this film is a really great ride.

Executely produced by Martin Scorsese, and directed by Luc Besson, and you can see where the class comes from. In a scene where De Niro attends a film screening (the film appropriately being Goodfellas), the film is at its most ridiculous, but never not entertaining. Sometimes I feel that dark comedies are very hard to accepted by the mainstream, but for me they work perfectly. I adore them.

Getting back to De Niro's career of late. I much prefer Killing Season, The Family, Silver Linings Playbook, Killer Elite, The Fan, Heat, Casino, Cop Land, Ronin, Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers, Limitless, The Score and 15 Minutes to his career defining starters like Goodfellas, The Godfather: Part II, The Deer Hunter, Angel Heart, Taxi Driver, Mean Streets, Raging Bull, Once Upon a Time in America, and The King of Comedy. The truth is that he's been making fantastic movies for 30 years; Midnight Run in 1988, for example, being on the first half of his career. But I just really like the new De Niro. No longer pigeon-holed and able to juggle the comedy with the serious, and he still demands the utmost respect in his performances.

A fantastic year for De Niro: Killing Season, The Family and American Hustle, then Grudge Match. I cannot wait for his 2014 releases.

B+

I thought it was enjoyable. Dianna Agron was a lot of fun to watch and really sexy. And the college guy she had a thing for was gorgeous.

7/10 (B-)

Falls apart in the last act.

B-

I started watching this again last night. It's really entertaining.