The Family Movie Review

 “The Family” is a heartwarming tale of a mafia family hiding out in witness protection in Europe after the dad (played by De Niro) turns state’s evidence against the mob; well as heartwarming as a mobster and family can be.
The dad doesn’t take crap from anybody, the mom is just as bad, and the son and daughter are tougher than your average suburban teenagers; which has the FBI moving the family every few months because they can’t stay out of trouble, but still trying to stay one step ahead of the mafia who is looking to kill them.
Robert De Niro and Tommy Lee Jones’ characters have this love hate relationship/friendship that adds a great underlying chemistry to the film; the film is worth watching just for their portrayal of these roles while together on the screen.
De Niro’s character starts to write his memoirs and starts becoming known as an American writer, who is asked to review/debate an American movie, which happens to be “GoodFellas”. I found this quite amusing, and so will anyone who is a fan of “GoodFellas” or of De Niro’s work.
Another great De Niro throwback is when he grabs a baseball bat and says, “Al Capone always said, 'Asking politely with a gun in your hand is better than just asking politely.'" Al Capone never really said that, or was at least was never quoted as saying that. What Capone really said was, "You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone." The throwback part is that Robert De Niro said those exact words while playing Capone in “The Untouchables”; so “The Family” in a way is playing homage to De Niro’s gangster past, which to me is fantastic.
This movie is a great gangster flick without it being a gangster flick. I liked it a lot and I give it two thumbs up, but even with that I recommend you wait to see it when it is released on DVD.