Leigh Paatsch reviews The Family

ROBERT De Niro seems vaguely interested by his role as a decommissioned mobster. Which is a subtle way of saying he's actually trying for the first time in ages.

THE FAMILY [MA15+]

Rating: 2.5/5

Director: Luc Besson (The Fifth Element)

Starring: Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Tommy Lee Jones, Dianna Agron

THIS ain't so bad an option in the action-comedy stakes. Particularly if the recent dominator in that field (2 Guns with Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg) left you juiced for more of the same.

It must be said the initial setup is a bit of a let-down: an American family with roots in organised crime enter a witness protection scheme, and are placed in a small village in rural France.

Soon come all the expected culture-clash gags you can handle as the brash Yankee hoods get up the noses, and on the nerves of their new fellow citizens.

After a very predictable first act gets all of the above out of its system, The Family assumes a leaner, meaner shape that improves the film's prospects quite noticeably.

Nevertheless, when all is said, bled and done, there are pluses (such as a confidently black sense of humour) and minuses (many to do with excessive violence) cancelling each out all over the place here.

Robert De Niro seems vaguely interested by his role as a decommissioned mobster. Which is a subtle way of saying he's actually trying for the first time in ages.

A rejuvenated De Niro aside, it's really Michelle Pfeiffer as his imposing wife - an unconvicted and unhinged menace to society in her own right - that saves the day here.