The Family is a good comedy with a decent action filled ending.

I am a fan of Luc Besson. I have been since The Big Blue, a movie I fully admit I was too young to understand, but I still enjoyed it. Then he did the Nikita movie and that was awesome and it has all be awesome since then. Unfortunately he doesn’t direct everything that he writes, and so though a movie carries his name, it may be his story but it’s not him directing, and the director can fuck a story up good if he wants to. Want proof, check out the American version of the Nikita movie, and just about any movie based on one of his screenplays and you’ll see it’s not up to the level of a movie directed by the man himself.

            The Family is a small movie, and one you can tell the people involved were having fun making. It’s not a masterpiece but they can’t all be that. This movie is more like a group of friends getting together to make a movie and in the process, get to live in France for a time and hang out between takes.

            There is no tension in the movie, and yes, though it is a comedy (and actually a pretty well put together movie) I think it could still have benefited from some seriousness. The one moment that would qualify as a serious moment for the movie was the most heartfelt, with the daughter of the family, tired of moving around because of the protection, believes that should she fall in love with a guy – and he in return – that she wouldn’t have to move, but could stay with the guy and finally settle down. Like in the movies, and real life, things don’t ever work how you planned on them doing.

            The movie is a good comedy, the family as a fish out of water scenario works well with the actors involved, and their nonchalance about being new to the town was perfect for a family that has been through it all a number of times and in turn made the comedy a bit more believable and harmless no matter how over the top it got.

            The movie ends with a pretty entertaining shoot out, and a slow and methodical takeover of the small town by the bad guys that was a pleasant change of pace from the rest of the movie. Luc Besson directed the action scenes with the same touch as his movies from the past, though all of it a bit more tame.

            I would compare this movie to Bay’s Pain and Gain, except that here Luc Besson cannot let himself get away without blowing a few things up and creating a chase as well as a few shoot outs, and that is perfectly okay with me.