The Family (2013), R, 2.5 stars

Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, Dianna Agron and John D'Leo.

When you anticipate a gangster movie, it could wet your appetite to see what the story is about and the fates of each character. A gangster flick is highly unpredictable due to its gritty violent nature and violence is highly the unpredictable outcome to end someone's life. I mean, who is the gangster or hitman going to target next? Is the victim realizing he may be whacked? Who knows? Would a head of a mafia snitch someone out and risk their whole mafia life? Well, De Niro would and he brings his whole family in the Witness Protection Program. This movie starts as a fun spoof of the gangster genre and turns into a confusing balance with tone.

Mafia Boss Giovanni Maznoni (Robert De Niro) snitches on Don Lucchese after he attempts to kill him and his family at a BBQ. He sends the don to prison and enter the witness protection program under Agent Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones). He and his family have to relocate due to the activity of which a mafia gang is alerted that Maznoni is in the particular location. They are relocated to Normandy.

Each family member is adjusting to whole new lifestyle of Normandy and everybody is frustrated and lonely. That's a con of being a part of a mafia organization. A family member cannot trust anybody when you're in the program and you have to be protective of yourself and your main family. It's like the end of Goodfellas where Henry Hill has to give up everything he loved and cared about to take care of himself enrolling in the program and he goes to his "prison": reality.

The family is now entitled in their aliases as the "Blake" family. Giovanni is ticked off because the water in the house is unbearable and no one takes action of fixing it. So, he basically he beats the plumber with a wrench. Maggie, Giovanni's wife, (Michelle Pfeiffer), headlines a hilarious scene where she goes into the grocery store and blows it up because of the employees saying stereotypical comments. Daughter Belle (Dianna Agron) falls in love with a college student who needs "fake" help with math and eventually has sex with him. Warren, their son, (John D'Leo), develops intel in the local school and contacts Don Luchese accidentally and tells him of their location and hell breaks loose.

Pfeiffer and De Niro enjoying each other's company.

This movie was fun and aggravating at the same time because I wanted to like this movie based on the trailer itself. It looked good but I was contradicting myself saying that if an advertisement is good or bad, don't pay attention to what you think based on the ad, but attend to or watch the movie with an open mind and judge what your think in your opinion after the movie has concluded. Luc Besson, director of The Fifth Element, wants to really balance the graphic violence with the comedy. Together, it doesn't work. Separately, some scenes do work.

For example, Stansfeld and Giovanni are talking about stuff while watching a gangster movie (I'm not going to tell you what it is because it is a hoot.) but really, there's a timed explosive in a factory. I felt like that scene had a good set-up but it does not really pay off. The explosion kind of shifts its tone in the narrative. The scene that really worked is when Maggie blows up the grocery store. You don't mess with a mobster's wife.

De Niro does what he does best in a gangster movie and it looks like he has fun and it is a good performance. It's 2 good roles in a row. Pfeiffer, however, steals the movie as his wife. She is gritty, tough, sexy and charming. She's even all of that at once sometimes. The actors playing the kids are terrific. Jones does not deliver anything special out of the ordinary. He looked like he did not want to participate but has to in order to get a good paycheck in my opinion. It was a disappointing performance.

The movie, as a result, I enjoyed in one aspect because of the way a gangster family is struggling and goes through after enrolling in the program. But, graphic violence mixed with comedy is somewhat of Luc Besson's touch. I mean, it is really graphic and I don't think his style works here. I felt it was jumbled and not attentive to the narrative. Scorsese and Tarantino can do it masterfully well, but Besson switches the tones suddenly and confusingly. I admired the cast a lot, but it is a mixed bag.

**1/2