While watching The Family, I was struck by how similar it was in ways to one of my favorite movies. No, not Goodfellas, although there was the obligatory reference to the film. Instead it was The Incredibles. Now granted, the Parrs were routinely moved around because of the country's disdain for their former heroes, not because he was a snitch against the mob. And in the Pixar film, only Bob seemed to have the problem of reverting to his old ways, as opposed to the family in The Family. Oh, and I'll have to watch The Incredibles again to confirm this, but I'm pretty sure none of the characters went around dropping f-bombs. Nevertheless, there was still a familiarity there, particularly with Tommy Lee Jones as the put upon government official who keeps having to cover the tracks of the violent family.
I wish it was as good as The Incredibles. It felt kind of half-baked, alternating between light-hearted "fish out of water" comedy with deadly-serious violence. Sometimes this works pretty well, but more often it is just confusing and jumbled. In addition, I can't imagine even a valuable and politically connected witness like Robert DeNiro's character would be able to get away with some of the crap he was doing.
I wouldn't call it a total waste of time, as there were a few good chuckles. For a movie from the doldrums of early September it was fine. I'd say it's worth checking out once it comes out on Blu-Ray and DVD, or if you are just itching to see a movie and have already seen better ones already.
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