REVIEW - THE FAMILY

A film that relies largely on one's memory of these classic actors' (Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Tommy Lee Jones) prestigious and memorable back catalogues to generate interest in itself, and in failing serves as proof that nostalgia is extremely overrated. Luc Besson is one of those consistently underwhelming directors bankrolled by French production companies for the singularity of his vision - many better artists in similar positions have developed themselves an entire style of filmmaking unique to them and influential to others, but Besson remains isolated as an inspiration, due to the incoherent nature of his clumsy style as director. Some scenes into The Family, we glean that said family is connected to the Mob, though exactly where is not initially clear, and that they're in hiding, but how, why and from whom is also not initially clear. Besson identifies the fish-out-of-water American mob family in rural Normandy as an opportunity for comedy, and for violence, which might suggest to you or me a black comedy! Goodness knows he tries, but both comedy and violence are so lazily staged that neither makes any notable impact. Possibly to liven things up, Besson introduces a number of bizarre elements to the film, like the outrageously tenuous means by which the villains discover the whereabouts of their targets, a series of cringeworthy coincidences in the undercooked finale, and, most bafflingly of all, a local film society screening of Vincente Minnelli's Some Came Running that goes to the one place you're sure they wouldn't dare go. No, no, surely not, not with Martin Scorsese producing. De Niro, Pfeiffer and Jones collectively lift the material, Pfeiffer relishing her bitchy role early on in a manner that implies she knows Besson only has limited use for her, and Jones' signature deadpan most enjoyable, his chemistry with De Niro making one wish Besson had cut the rest of the film and delivered two hours of those two, having a wee convo. Now that would be genuinely memorable.