Robert DeNiro takes on a lead role that feels part Meet the Parents and part GoodFellas, which is ironic as the storyline has a scene that actually touches on DeNiro in that very film. But in this, he’s been sent into witness protection from his mafia roots, this time nearly escaping death in St Tropez, then Paris, and now living in Normandy with his neurotic wife, Michelle Pfeiffer and their two children under their fake name “The Blake’s.” Their FBI go-to man is played adequately by Tommy Lee Jones.
The family immerses themselves into the community while DeNiro becomes a self-proclaimed writer working on his memoir “Giovanni.” His bored and unappreciated wife, Pfeiffer, gets to tap into her naughty behavior reminiscent of her work years ago in The Witches of Eastwick.
Watching the Soprano-ish family deal as violent fish-out-of-water newcomers to a French community with miserable shop keepers and high school bullies is amusing, until the plot suddenly takes a dark turn and becomes a serious spoof. [spoiler alert] That said, I can promise you it’s not like any movie you’ve seen before, as you watch the history of one mafia family and how their behavior is intended to carry on into the next generation. And who would know better about that type of thing than Americans’ gangster King, Martin Scorcese who teams for this with director Luc Besson for their familiar genre of film. We don’t need to be reminded of Scorcese’s resume, but Besson does films like Transporter and Taken so this storyline is right up his gun-slinging alley. ♕ ♚ ♛