Page 20 THE VILLADOM TIMES III & IV • September 25, 2013 Family in witness protection can’t keep low profile by Dennis Seuling “The Family” is the story of the Manzonis, an Ameri- can family hidden in a small French town through the witness protection program. Giovanni Manzoni (Robert De Niro) has testified against big time mob bosses and now has a price of $20 million on his head. Agent Robert Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones) is responsible for protecting Giovanni -- now called Fred Blake -- and family, making sure they don’t draw undue attention to themselves. While not exactly thrilled with their new home, wife Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer), daughter Belle (Diana Agron), and son Warren (John D’Leo) try their best to acclimate. Dropping old ways is tough, though, and none of the family members is much good at keeping a low profile. Before long, Giovanni is beating people up, Michelle is blowing up the local supermarket because of anti-Ameri- can comments she hears, and Belle and Warren are figur- ing the angles and manipulating the ecosystem at the local high school. To complicate matters, Giovanni/Fred has assumed the guise of an author and decided to write his memoirs as a means of self-administered therapy to see what drove him to the life he chose. Director Luc Besson (“The Professional,” “La Femme Nikita”) seesaws between dark comedy and graphic vio- lence as he chronicles the family’s adventures. Because viewers never see what Giovanni’s crimes were, he comes Giovanni Manzoni (Robert De Niro) holds one of his persuasive devices in ‘The Family.’ off more as a cranky curmudgeon than a monster. With De Niro playing him with a “Who me?” twinkle in his eye, Giovanni is almost a teddy bear or anyone’s eccentric uncle. When he does lash out, prompted by his perception of being treated disrespectfully or taken advantage of, it is quick and violent. Sometimes, viewers see what he would like to do in brief glimpses into his imagination. At other times, he actually engages in violence with nonchalant abandon. Maggie has more self-control. To keep tabs on the fam- ily’s safety level, she has befriended two FBI agents across the street and even cooks Italian dishes for them. She is no timid soul, however, and shares her husband’s intolerance of those who look down on her and her family. Jones, who seems to be channeling several previous movie roles, is less intense as a man frustrated by this family. In fact, his Stansfield is pretty ineffective at pro- tecting them from themselves. He and De Niro share a key scene in which “Mr. Blake,” in his identity as writer, has been invited to speak at a film screening and becomes a hit with the audience when he can’t refrain from recounting gripping incidents from his own background. “The Family” works primarily because of its cast. Both De Niro and Pfeiffer -- no newcomers to crime films -- balance lighter moments with more intense scenes. Agron (from TV’s “Glee”) and D’Leo both shoulder their share of the picture’s weight and offer an interesting, even touch- ing, portrait of siblings caught in a life not of their choos- ing but determined not only to survive but to rise above it. Though the film is set entirely in France, Besson has the locals speak in French-accented English, which dimin- ishes credibility and ignores the question, “How can this English-speaking family understand all these French people so easily?” Subtitles would have added credibility, but risked alienating those who don’t fancy reading movies and skew the film into jokes about language confusion. Although “The Family” is being marketed as a comedy, this R-rated movie has a lot of strong language and vio- lence. The concept is funny: placing a larcenous, mur- derous family in a completely unlikely setting where it is impossible for them to blend in and they can’t keep from resorting to the only means they know to get things done, whether as simple as having clean tap water or as compli- cated as disposing of a body.