The Family (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

I'm looking forward to The Family with the hope it's so over the top with violence and profanity that I'm laughing my butt off.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_family_2013/

 

[Michael Elliott]

DeNiro and the director have had many questionable projects to where my expectations would be low but with Scorsese being the executive producer I'm hoping it's a return to form for both of them. I'm certainly going to be watching them and hopefully it's a quality picture.

 

[mattCR]

Great potential cast. Interesting core concept. But it just is never very funny, and never dark enough to fulfill either role. We walked out and my friend turned to me and said 'Death to Smoochy'. The reason hit me pretty quickly, though frankly the funny bits in Smoochy were far funnier then anything in The Family. Pretty disappointing. D

 

[Patrick Sun]

I still managed to enjoy it for what it was, even if the script stretches the viewer's sense of disbelief to connect all the players together in the drama to keep the plot moving.

Luc Besson must have had a ball with playing around with scene transitions.

Good use of the F-bomb sprinkled throughout the film.

I give it 2.5 stars, or a grade of C+.

 

[DaveF]

A preview got me interested, but Rotten Tomatoes response is terrible. So I'm going to skip it unless there's an upswell in new acclaim.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_family_2013/

 

[Michael Elliott]

What a complete and utter disaster. My expectations were mixed but with so much talent and a good idea this thing should have been great but in the end it's just a real mess and a complete disappointment. The strange thing is that the "comedy" never works and most of the time you have to wonder what the hell the screenwriters were going for. The only "laughs" they attempt to get comes from dirty water? The scenes with the family getting "even" with their enemies just seems like they're from a different movie. The entire film is so uneven that I couldn't help but wonder what the director was trying to do with any of it. And I never thought having DeNiro and Tommy Lee Jones in the same scenes could lead to so much boredom. What in the hell is up with the subplot dealing with the daughter and the teacher?

The film finally comes to life at the end with some style and energy but it turns into a rather mean thriller that doesn't mix with anything that happened before it. After all the chaos and violence we're left with closing lines that are meant to be cute but they had me wanting to get out of the theater as quick as I could.

* 1/2

Now, the real question is whether this or DeNiro's KILLING SEASON is worse.