The Family Reviews
CinemaBlend.com
I recommend The Family in the same way I might mint-flavored gum. It's not what you would hope for, but when choosing at random, you'd do worse a little more often than not.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
Quad City Times (Davenport, IA)
Neither comedy nor drama, 'The Family' is a combination of both that sometimes works when it decides what it wants to be.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/4
Leonard Maltin's Picks
De Niro is a pleasure to watch in a role that calls on him to exercise his comedic chops with some degree of subtlety.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.1/2
MediaMikes
Well cast and sharply directed by Besson, who also co-wrote the script, "The Family" flows easily for the first half.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
East Bay Express
Writer-director Luc Besson can do much better than this.
Q Network Film Desk
a surprisingly flat satire
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/4
ReviewExpress.com
Beware of This Family
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
American Profile
A strange mash-up of a vicious mob yarn squeezed into a foul-mouthed, movie-length sitcom.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/5
Tucson Weekly
Why does stuff like this have to happen?
Full Review
| Original Score: 1.25/5
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Besson and Michael Caleo just never manage to hit that sweet spot between comedy and drama, much less give us a reason to care about this unrepentant family of criminals.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2/4
Austin Chronicle
The film's remorseless brutality in response to relatively minor transgressions is hard to swallow, even for those with the darkest senses of humor.
Full Review
| Original Score: 1.5/5
ComingSoon.net
The Family is filled with Besson's signature visual wit, boasting occasionally sharp satire aimed equally at both sides of the Atlantic, but he lets us down in the end through the deadly combination of broad characters and a rambling narrative.
Full Review
| Original Score: 6.5/10
Entertainment Spectrum
Great chemistry from the cast and the thrilling action made it entertaining for all.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
jackiekcooper.com
Talent abounds but the movie can't balance the comedy and drama.
Full Review
| Original Score: 5/10
Willamette Week
Quite literally self-parody--only without the self-awareness of Analyze This.
Full Review
| Original Score: C
Film Threat
Obviously Robert De Niro was abducted by aliens, and the fellow we've watched sleepwalk through nearly 20 years of shlock is a pod person. A pod person with a terrible agent.
Tolucan Times
Despite the excessive violence, this is an enjoyable film providing needed escapist entertainment, well directed by Besson with fine performances by all, especially Argon.
Full Review
| Original Score: 8/10
New England Movies Weekly
"Luc Besson has done the seemingly impossible. He's resuscitated the corpse of Robert De Niro's career."
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/5
Creative Loafing
While it qualifies as OK entertainment -- especially for early September (that dead zone between summer blockbusters and fall award contenders) -- The Family is ultimately nothing to write home about.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/4
SSG Syndicate
Facetious and amusingly amoral, it lacks cohesion and consistency - and the carnage is far from comedic.
Full Review
| Original Score: 6/10
