“The Family” was a unique take on a mobster film.

Robert De Niro was a mob boss who ratted out his mob family and is then placed under the Witness Protection Program. It is not often that those films take place while the mobster is no longer in that profession.

The movie follows his unique family, whose children would not mind taking over the family business, and also follows members of a mob family who is out to seek revenge on De Niro.

“The Family” contains a unique story. The most exciting parts of the movie are not those that involve the former mobsters tracking down De Niro, but those that are centered around the family.

A special focus is devoted to following the daily lives of each member of the family. There is plenty of action, as both Giovanni (De Niro) and his wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) have comically short tempers that give them fits of aggression and violence.

Small remarks by people around them lead them to whack said people in a fit of rage, or, in certain situations, play out that rage in their minds. These instances provide both insight into the psyche of these former mobsters in hiding and ironic humor, as we laugh when De Niro beats a swindling plumber to a pulp, or when Pfeiffer blows up a local grocery store after the grocer trash-talks Americans for eating fatty foods like peanut butter.

De Niro’s children, Belle and Warren, played by Dianna Agron and John D’Leo, possess the flare for violence and provide intrigue and comedy with scheming. Agron feels a need to fall in love, and so she plots to seduce a temporary math teacher working to become a full time teacher. D’Leo, on the other hand, is out to be like his father. To him, the school becomes his neighborhood, and he networks it so he becomes the most powerful student in the school. Each child also comes into their own as a member of a mob family, as they each “put their hand in cold water” or kill someone for the first time, as the family is finally tracked down.

The acting was sensational. De Niro is, well, Robert De Niro. Enough said. Pfeiffer adds an Italian sensuality to the film with her character. She is both smart and sexy, though nothing like when she was Catwoman. Agron provides a wondrous contrast of innocence and both violence and sexuality. She, of course, showed a similar contrast as a cheerleader on the hit show Glee. D’Leo then gives credibility to a scrawny teen who is much more than he seems, as he schemes with ruthless vengeance against his enemies. Tommy Lee Jones also joins the cast, as the FBI agent assigned to protect the family. He plays a tough character who brings a seriousness to this comedic drama.

The film is directed by Luc Besson, who is known for creating action-packed thrillers like Taken. His style is clearly reflected in this movie, and he also did a good job of allowing ironic comedy to come through the seriousness of the violence and mob storyline.

“The Family” is an entertaining production, filled with relatable, yet unique, even extreme, main characters and an exciting story. It provides intellectual stimulation with simultaneous stories that clash in the end, as the audience plays a game of “what will happen?”

4/5